Only half of Trump’s age, Vance can say what Trump won’t say on the campaign trail, leaving it to the former president to stick to the high road and try to be a unifying voice in the wake of his near assassination.

Originally Published: July 16, 2024 at 5:17 a.m.

I wrote this review using JetBlue’s free wifi while aboard an Airbus A321neo flying from London Gatwick to Boston. My wife and I bought economy tickets and used Move to Mint certificates to upgrade (we had these thanks to a very generous but short lived status match from Delta last year).

JetBlue Mint Airbus A321neo Bottom Line Review

Overall the JetBlue Mint experience on this flight has been excellent. The flight attendants have been great. I especially appreciated that once we were in the air, one attendant came to each Mint suite to ask if we had anything in the overhead bin that we’d like brought down to us. Additionally, the food has been very good, and the physical space is terrific. The suites feature very good seats, plenty of leg room, lots of near-seat storage, and plenty of privacy. Note that JetBlue has near-term plans to lock-open the suite doors (see this article for details). That’s a shame, but I don’t think it will detract too much from the experience. My suite seemed private even when the door was open.

Of course, Mint isn’t perfect. I found the seat to be slightly uncomfortable in reclined positions and a bit too hard when lying flat. Additionally, I found it weird that when offered champagne upon boarding, it came in plastic cups. It didn’t bother me at all — I don’t even like champagne much, but it made a poor first impression. Wasn’t this supposed to be a luxury experience? Maybe the idea was to set expectations low from the beginning and then to exceed them every step of the way thereafter. If that was the goal, it was firmly met.

Would I fly JetBlue Mint again? Absolutely!

Mint Routes to/from Europe

At the time of this writing, JetBlue flies to the following European destinations:

• Amsterdam AMS (to/from Boston and JFK)
• Dublin DUB (to/from Boston and JFK)
• Edinburgh (to/from JFK)
• London LHR + LGW (to/from Boston and JFK)
• Paris CDG (to/from Boston and JFK)

Booking Mint

We booked a one-way economy flight and used Moved to Mint certificates to upgrade to Mint business class. Each upgrade required 3 certificates. I had 4 in my account and my wife had 2. I couldn’t upgrade online since my wife didn’t have enough in her own account, but a phone rep was able to push it through.

Another good option for booking JetBlue Mint is to use Qatar Avios. For Mint flights from the U.S. to Europe, Qatar charges 78,000 points plus $10.10. For flights in the other direction, taxes will be higher (and vary based on which country you depart from).

To find Mint seats bookable with Qatar Avios, use ITA Matrix and do the following:

• Check the “Show Advanced Controls” button
• Add the routing code “C:B6” which tells the matrix you want to limit the “Carrier” to JetBlue, since B6 is JetBlue’s carrier code. You can find an airline’s carrier code with a simple google search.
• Add the extension code “F BC=I” which sets the fare basis code to Mint.
• Select “See calendar of lowest fares”.
• If a price shows up on the calendar, that means there’s availability on that date. So then you should be able to find this same result by searching for award flights on Qatar’s app or website.

Photos

Cabin & Seats

Suite Features

Food & Drink

I thought it was very cool that you order food on the touch screen. On the other hand, it wasn’t cool that the welcome champagne came in a plastic cup.

Amenity kit and bedding

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Shortly after New York City abruptly halted its congestion pricing program, a Boston City Council committee held a hearing discussing the potential for a similar plan.

Boston City Council’s Planning, Development and Transportation Committee recently discussed the idea of congestion pricing with a five-person panel. In February, Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson introduced an order for a hearing to discuss the possibility of congestion pricing.

There were mixed feelings about congestion pricing among the committee members, with some indicating support for the idea and others expressing several concerns. Council member Edward Flynn pointed out that the city is already too expensive. According to Flynn, Boston is experiencing staff shortages among public safety, traffic enforcement and emergency response teams due to residence requirements. He suggested that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority be fixed first.

Dr. Michael Manville, professor of urban planning at the University of California, Los Angeles, emphasized that the goal of congestion pricing is to reduce congestion and that other policy instruments should be used to achieve other goals, such as pollution reduction or a shift to public transit. He also said that revenue is merely a byproduct of congestion pricing, not the main goal.

There are a variety of congestion pricing mechanisms from which Boston could choose. Adie Tomer, senior fellow at Brookings Institute, said one idea is to charge only for peak-time road usage during rush hour commutes, while keeping road usage free on weekends.

Tomer also suggested prioritizing truck trips. Trucks typically do not cause city congestion, as they make up a minority of trips. However, Tomer said trucks produce more emission with less fuel-efficient vehicles when they do get stuck in traffic.

Several committee members brought up New York City’s congestion pricing program, which was suddenly put on pause by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Jarred Johnson, executive director at TransitMatters, suggested the pushback was in the form of conjecturing and opinion pieces.

“There was very little hard economic evidence that (congestion pricing) would have been bad,” Johnson said. “I think this was the governor relying on bad political advice, and I think it has harmed her.”

The hearing was only a discussion about congestion pricing in general, with no specifics about how such a program may be implemented in Boston. Johnson said the quickest path to any kind of congestion pricing plan would take five to seven years. However, a timeline closer to a decade or longer would be more likely.

Currently, the city administration is not actively pursuing a congestion pricing program in Boston. Even if the city decides to move forward with a plan that could charge motorists for accessing certain roads, it would need the blessing of the state legislature.

Testimony from experts may have raised more questions than it answered. Rather than moving the measure of congestion pricing to the full council, committee members agreed to keep the conversation going in committee. LL