Heading to your gate at New York’s JFK Airport is a pretty standard experience. After battling the Air Train, bloated security lines, and miles-long hallways, you arrive sweaty, wrinkled, and discombobulated. But for JetBlue‘s inaugural flight from New York City to Dublin, you arrive at Terminal 5 with the sound of Irish folk music playing in the distance.
To mark the occasion, which JetBlue announced back in October 2023 as part of its massive transatlantic expansion, the airline pulled out all of the stops. Former New York Congressman Peter King worked the crowd at Gate 14, where Irish flags and clovers decorate the walls and balloon archways and grass walls affixed with neon signs keep up the festive mood. A troop of Irish dancers taps, kicks, and twirls for the crowd of onlookers. Green-iced sugar cookies are served along with heaping piles of Irish meat and potatoes. A JetBlue ribbon is cut, and green, orange, and white confetti covers nearly every inch of the gate-turned-event space.
Everyone from JetBlue baggage handlers to the airline’s CEO Joanna Geraghty were in attendance of the airport ceremony—which defied any previous notions of what could happen in an airport terminal. The dancers and the congressman, for instance, weren’t boarding any flight. Instead, they’d exit the airport the same way they came in. But all of the hullabaloo made one thing clear: This flight was important for JetBlue. And, based on the presence of Irish officials, important for Ireland too.
“We are delighted that JetBlue has chosen to initiate new nonstop services to Ireland. The introduction of the new routes from New York and Boston to Dublin is exciting news for tourism to the island of Ireland,” said Alice Mansergh, Tourism Ireland CEO, in a statement about the new route. “We look forward to working closely with JetBlue to maximize the promotion of these services. Direct, convenient, and competitive access is critical to tourism.”
After about an hour of festivities and speeches from various officials from the Irish consulate and the Irish tourism board later, it was finally time to get on the plane. In what felt in some ways hauntingly similar to the boarding of the Titanic, people at the gate wished us farewell in our very-Irish transatlantic crossing. The similarities didn’t end there. Once aboard the Airbus A321neo, passengers found American and Irish flags in their seats, which we were all encouraged to wave when Geraghty came aboard. With the flight departing on March 13, just a few days before St. Patrick’s Day, plenty of passengers were already decked out in festive green apparel.
Soon enough, the lights were lowered and the flight took off. In my Mint seat, which is JetBlue’s equivalent to business class, I was offered an endless supply of cocktails and a menu from Delicious Hospitality Group’s NYC hotspot Legacy Records. The menu included small plates like a Tuscan kale salad, burrata, and chicken cacciatore.
After I gorged myself while watching Anatomy of a Fall, I laid the seat back and got a pretty decent three hours of sleep. When I woke, I was greeted with a warmed croissant and a glass of orange juice. It was, in the realm of business class experiences I had, one of the most seamless and value-intensive.
Considering Mint’s pricing for this Dublin route, which runs $1,999 from Boston and $2,499 from New York City, it’s not exactly priced for budget travelers. But, for people seeking a more affordable high-end flight experience to Europe, the Mint seating beats out competitors on pricing and value.
With the JetBlue Core class, which is like economy at other airlines, you can find roundtrip flights to Dublin starting at $399 from Boston, and $499 from New York. Here, the airline has also tried to capture the zeitgeist. Core passengers were offered meal selections from trendy bowl spot Dig.
When JetBlue’s flight 841 (the number signifies the year that vikings first settled in Dublin) landed for the first time in city, there was a similar celebration at the Irish airport. A row of Dublin airport employees were there to welcome us, and each passenger was handed a little clover pin as a memento. After making it through customs, a string trio played even more Irish folk music, bringing the entire journey full circle.
While future flights will not likely include a rollout of Irish dancers, executives, and a hearty potato dish—the most important features of the new JetBlue flight will be in place. You’ll get some better than average airplane food choices whether you’re in Mint or Core class, a reasonably priced ticket, and a direct flight into one of Europe’s most exciting cities.
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