It’s been more than 25 years since JetBlue’s first flight took off, and the airline that was once a distinctive outlier in the commercial aviation space has gradually become a more familiar sight. That’s a familiar story in countless industries: you can’t be an upstart forever, after all, so it’s far from surprising that JetBlue’s recent big-ticket items have involved doing things a bit more like, well, every other airline.
That includes their plans to open a dedicated lounge space in John F. Kennedy International Airport later this week, and it definitely includes what One Mile at a Time’s Ben Schlappig reported on Monday: next year, every JetBlue flight will have a first-class cabin, based on the airline’s existing Mint service.
This information comes via the X account @xJonNYC, who offered some details on the timing of this new offering. “Certification for Domestic First seats continues,” he wrote. “Prototype slated to be installed on the first aircraft in JUNE 2026 with installations beginning in AUGUST for the A320s at approx. 20 aircraft per month.”
One Mile at a Time provided some more details on the planned rollout, including that the seats JetBlue will use for this class are the same ones that American Airlines uses for first-class seats on domestic flights.
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The partnership will begin on some flights in 2027Based on this reporting, it sounds like JetBlue will be adding these new premium seats without losing too many existing seats. (Schlappig reports that only JetBlue’s A321ceos will see a net loss in seats when the new seats are added.) That will come at a cost, though, and it’s another way that JetBlue is echoing the rest of the industry: its economy seating will lose some legroom. The changeover is currently set to begin next year and will continue through the end of 2027.
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