JetBlue’s London flights to New York are bookable – from £956 return in Business

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JetBlue has been promising flights between London, New York and Boston this Summer for some time now, but it is only today that the flights are finally bookable.

Now that it is selling tickets we know the confirmed schedules it will operate. It appears that JetBlue will operate flights to New York from both Heathrow AND Gatwick, with Stansted, which had been a contender, falling by the wayside. Boston will only be served from Heathrow.

The Heathrow flights from Terminal 2 will launch first, operating daily from 12th August. The flights are initially as follows:

B620 (London – New York) departs Heathrow at 6:10pm
B67 (New York – London) departs New York at 10:05pm

Gatwick flights will commence from 29th September from the North Terminal, also daily:

B644 (London Gatwick– New York) departs Gatwick at 12pm midday
B643 (New York – London Gatwick) departs New York at 7:48pm

Earlier rumours suggested that these will be joined by a Boston route from the 12th September, although in its press release JetBlue says Boston won’t be on the cards until 2022.

All flights are now bookable on the JetBlue website here.

Heathrow or Gatwick?

It sounds like Gatwick may become JetBlue’s permanent home, with the JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes saying:

“Our initial [Heathrow] schedule is made possible due to temporary slot availability from the past year. We continue to work with the slot coordinators and the U.S. and U.K. governments to identify long-term pathways to continue serving Heathrow, as we believe the public benefit from true competition into this market will be extremely meaningful.”

“We have an incredible opportunity to secure long term slots in London’s second-largest airport, and we look forward to building our presence there over the long-term. Gatwick will perfectly complete our London service, giving customers options as they plan their travel. Gatwick is an attractive choice with its low costs, speed and convenience to Central London.”

What is JetBlue’s onboard experience like?

JetBlue is often called a low cost carrier. In truth, it operates more of a hybrid model, with a ‘proper’ business class cabin up front on many of its US transcontinental flights and soon-to-launch transatlantic flights.

JetBlue will be one of the first airlines to use the single-aisle A321LR aircraft for transatlantic flying, although Aer Lingus has used used this aircraft on select routes since 2019.

Despite being a ‘low cost’ airline in its domestic US market and charging for ancillaries, JetBlue will offer a lot of ‘included in your ticket’ benefits on flights to London. This includes free, unlimited Wi-Fi for all as well as a new approach to economy food that will let you mix and match items:

JetBlue transatlantic Core economy dining

“Customers will have the option to choose one of three main selections including a protein or vegetable that comes with a base, and two out of three hot and chilled side options.”

In February, it unveiled its new business class ‘Mint’ seat that would operate the London flights. This looks like an impressive product given the restrictions of a single aisle aircraft. It features improved bulkhead seats with even more personal space and the option for buddy dining, which it is calling ‘Mint Studio’:

How cheap are JetBlue’s transatlantic flights?

Is JetBlue still able to honour its promise of cheap fares given that it will match (and even exceed) the amenities offered by other major airlines on transatlantic flights?

It appears it can. JetBlue has announced that prices for its Mint business class will start from £999 (round trip) whilst return economy flights are priced from £329. We found flights slightly cheaper – from £990 in Mint from Heathrow, for example:

If you are willing to head to Gatwick, you can pay as little as £956 return. The flight time outbound is substantially better too, giving you an extra six hours in New York on the first day.

It goes without saying that these are excellent fares, and fairly widely available. Business class fares typically bottom out at £1,300 in British Airways sales, so JetBlue is undercutting these by a considerable margin.

In economy (which it calls ‘Core’) fares pretty much match some of Norwegian’s lowest fares except that, unlike on Norwegian, you’ll get free Wi-Fi, food and in-flight entertainment.

Conclusion

Flights for JetBlue’s transatlantic services now bookable. By the time flights launch in August it is expected that a USA-UK travel corridor will open, allowing leisure travel between the two countries.

We have yet to see whether JetBlue can live up to expectations and help pressure legacy carriers into improving their customer experience and pricing. All the signs so far point to an airline that is intent on providing a quality experience at a competitive price.

JetBlue is not part of any airline alliance, unfortunately, so you can’t earn or redeem miles with either British Airways or Virgin Atlantic. It is a partner with Emirates but redemptions are only allowed for economy seats.

You can book on the JetBlue website here.

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

ChrisC says:

20 May20 May 04:01

VS have reduced prices to slightly undercut B6 but only on ex JFK return trips and not trips starting at LHR.
- tony says:
  
  20 May20 May 06:36
  
  Probably says a lot about how quickly VS believe the US will be opening to passengers coming from the UK….
  - Memesweeper says:
    
    20 May20 May 10:29
    
    Virgin won’t feel threatened by Jet Blue soaking up their UK customers. JB have no following here.
    
    In the states JB have a strong brand, and my hunch is that’s what Virgin are reacting too.
    - Rob says:
      
      20 May20 May 11:11
      
      True. There is a HUGE disconnect between the coverage that JetBlue is getting from the aviation and frequent flyer websites in the UK (including us) and the awareness amongst Mr UK Average, even Mr UK Average Transatlantic Flyer.
    - David says:
      
      20 May20 May 16:33
      
      Agree that B6 has almost zero profile in the UK. I suspect that when the US opens up again, there will be a lot of publicity around them featuring low fares and also a high quality experience in Y.
      In the longer term, my sense is VS has the most to lose from them (and is generally more vulnerable at the moment anyway). VS positions itself as the cool airline and B6 can capture a lot of that.
      - Kevin D says:
        
        20 May20 May 23:28
        
        The average Joe Bloggs hasn’t heard of Jetblue. I asked my girlfriend, her parents, my parents and siblings and several friends and only 1 out of 20 knew who they were. 2 others had “heard the name somewhere”. Airline advertising spend has reduced by up to 90% over the past year. Now that things are opening up again, expect to see a lot of Jet Blue billboards! Good luck to them. More choice for us all.
Froggitt says:

20 May20 May 08:38

Surely Stansted much better positioned than Gatwick for passengers north of London.
- Nick says:
  
  20 May20 May 09:12
  
  Not really. Thameslink runs a fast and very frequent service direct from Gatwick to places north of London. From stansted, there’s only one northbound train per hour, and it only goes to a few places (unlike thameslink, which goes to loads). Add in very easy tube connections to the City, Canary Wharf and similar, plus trains across south London, and LGW wins easily.
  - Froggitt says:
    
    20 May20 May 10:16
    
    Rail is only 30% of passengers into Stansted. The other 70% it is a much shorter drive than Gatwick.
    - JK says:
      
      20 May20 May 16:29
      
      That’s the point. Why drive to STN when you can easily get the train to LGW. I live in North London and wouldn’t go to STN even if someone paid me to. STN also has a reputation similar to LTN, ie: low cost, with associated passenger demographics and queues.
      - Blindman says:
        
        20 May20 May 17:27
        
        Because not everyone is a merchant banker like yourself….
  - Kevin D says:
    
    20 May20 May 23:33
    
    Good point. But I doubt Jetblue would be worried about this. Both airports within the Greater London catchment area. They have probably researched that this is where they will gain most customers, with second biggest catchment area being the south of England. Northern England “customers” have greater choice from Manchester. Although if you lived in say Birmingham, would you go to Manchester for £1000 a seat in business on a Aerlingus A321 or Gatwick on a £1000 a seat Jetblue A321?? We’ve only 1 option here in Belfast. Dublin only. Belfast lost its only transatlantic route some years ago.
Vistaro says:

20 May20 May 09:35

Great schedule timings too
Prins Polo says:

20 May20 May 13:31

Wondering if they’ll still try to squeeze in a meal service on the eastbound – presumably yes? BA has generally been my choice on the eastbound as I find it most conducive to maximizing sleep (although 64K is gone…). Full meal service with lights on is not… Lounge access doesn’t matter to me as I always try to eat in Manhattan before heading to the airport.

On the westbound, the fun factor comes into play and I’ve done a lot of these flights on VS for that reason. Lounge access may be slightly more important on that end, but again, the only two lounges at LHR that I’d go out of my way for are (were) VS and CX. I wouldn’t bother with BA’s lounges so the lack of lounge in B6’s offering doesn’t make a difference for me from that perspective.
Greenpen says:

20 May20 May 19:50

Jet Blue served blue crisps last time I flew with them; I hope they still do, that’s the clincher!
Mark J says:

20 May20 May 23:18

I wonder what the cabin noise levels are like in the A321 vs a modern wide-bodied aircraft?
- Tom says:
  
  21 May21 May 07:05
  
  It’s an A321 NEO, rather than an A321… which makes very little difference, except when discussing engine noise or fuel efficiency, both of which are vastly improved on the NEO versus a traditional A321.
  How the noise compares to a modern wide-body (A350 or 787), I couldn’t tell you scientifically, but anecdotally from my own experience, the NEO cabin is a pleasant, noticeably quieter aircraft than the CEO.