In an odd turn of events, JetBlue launches a new ‘BlueFirst’ product, says very little about it, and slaps a ‘basic’ fare on it. Hope you like the eventual product!

JetBlue introduces a new ‘BlueFirst’ first class product

JetBlue has been on a quest lately to improve its product lineup.

• The airline added a premium credit card that preemptively included lounge access (before there were any JetBlue-operated lounges) in early 2025.
• In late 2025, JetBlue introduced ‘BlueHouse’, its airline lounge at JFK, at the end of 2025.
• And, now, JetBlue adds in a first class product intended for non-Mint routes.

Why is JetBlue focusing more on premium? The airline recognizes that after the ‘revenge travel’ craze ended after the COVID pandemic, the average customer changed. No longer are the customers looking for the cheapest product. Instead, the average customer has more money and is more willing to pay more for a better experience. But with only the Mint product to compete against the incumbents, JetBlue needed to pivot.

What does BlueFirst give you? Actually, they didn’t really say. We knew they were in the market to create a non-Mint product, but all they did at this point was just announce the name. It seems awfully strange to reveal a product and not actually say anything about it. More details will be revealed later in 2026.

New fare classes are coming for EvenMore and BlueFirst

Both the EvenMore and BlueFirst products will get the ‘basic’ treatment and mirror the restrictions on JetBlue’s Main product. EvenMore is the name for JetBlue’s extra-legroom seating section.

JetBlue’s basic product is simply called ‘Base’ and includes (or doesn’t include) the following:

• A carry-on bag that doesn’t exceed 22″ x 14″ x 9″
• Seat selection not included
• Changes, including same-day switches or standby, cost money on top of the fare difference
• Cancellations will give you a travel credit minus a fee
• Only 1 base TrueBlue point per dollar (instead of 3)

At this time, there is no ‘Base’ version of Mint fares. Even though Delta recently is going through the weakening of its business own product, JetBlue isn’t joining them as of yet.

Couldn’t JetBlue have just waited to put the new fare class on BlueFirst at a later date?

Welcome to bizarro world. It’s a world where we learn the name of a product, and even before understanding what the product is, the company offers the opportunity to make it worse. Call me crazy, but the timing doesn’t seem to make sense. It would seem more logical to introduce a product, see how the financials work out for it, then explore tweaking it. There’s no guarantee that people will be buying the product, so why make it worse already?

Sure, you could argue that it’s just making more fares available to serve a wider range of customers. But then why not also do it to the Mint customers? JetBlue could be thinking there is a difference between the average BlueFirst customer and the average Mint customer. Or, it could be thinking that the market can’t support basic business fares (or at least basic Mint fares).

JetBlue needs an incentive to have people choose them over the others. It’s a low cost carrier that cannot win based on the strength of its product alone. Low cost carriers disrupt the traditional full-service carrier by providing a cheaper price point for consumers. And they do that with a lower cost structure. You can’t just layer on a first class product (and lounges) on top without adding on more cost. Thus, the airline needs to walk a fine line.

So, from that perspective, perhaps it makes sense that JetBlue would eventually tack on the Base fare on its first class product. But it sure would be nice to know what we’re getting first before announcing that they’re doing it. The way they did it just feels like an afterthought: oops, we didn’t tell anyone about it, so here’s a short sentence before talking about everything else.

Moral of the story: buy your JetBlue fares now before it takes effect

If you’re in the market for EvenMore seating, this is your warning to buy the fares now before they go up in price. JetBlue’s FAQ even says the following:

When will I begin seeing these changes?
The new fare options will begin rolling out in the coming days.

That seems pretty imminent. At least they gave fair warning before making the change, but they’re not telling you exactly when the fares will officially become available. That’s not the best heads up they can give, but at least they said something.

If you’ve been thinking of doing it, might as well do it now.

Suggested reading:

• Why You Need to Collect JetBlue Points
• The New United-JetBlue Partnership: Scarce Award Deals
• Review: JetBlue Mint A321 Neo BOS-LAX