JetBlue Adds Mint Service To Costa Rica

I love to see news that re-affirms our selection of Costa Rica as the country outside of the United States we have chosen to invest in, and the one that we intend to spend some of our time in, once we are location independent.

This weekend I saw in Q Costa Rica that JetBlue has announced they are adding their “Mint” service in Costa Rica.

“Costa Rica’s Liberia becomes JetBlue’s first Mint city in Latin America and JetBlue will be the only airline to operate regularly scheduled flights with a lie-flat premium seat between Costa Rica and the United States.”

The article goes on to say that service will begin in December and serve JetBlue’s JFK to Liberia route during the high season.

Why is JetBlue Mint important to us

JetBlue is considered a budget airline and one of the things that has always made it different from other traditional airlines is the lack of a 1st or business class space on their planes. In recent years they have started to change that by introducing a new tier of service on longer routes, called Mint, a premium class that has lie-flat seats, enhanced TV screens and seat storage/power, hot and cold meal options, and privacy.

The news is notable to us because of all the Latin American countries that JetBlue flies to, Costa Rica is the one they felt was the best investment for their first Mint service!

Also, we fly JetBlue a lot. And by a lot, I mean A LOT! As in, when I searched my gmail history, I saw 21 itinerary confirmations in the last 2.5 years!

In fact, I rode on the same JetBlue plane twice in this year alone, and it is only July! It was easy to tell because it was painted in New York Jets Green! First was when we went to Costa Rica in March, and more recently was when I was returning home from a trip to Jacksonville in May.

Not as helpful to us as originally thought

Initially, we were super excited about this news, especially since we will be travelling to Costa Rica in January and would love to try out the Mint service. But, close scrutiny shows that it will not work for us.

While the service starts on December 15, and appears to run on Saturday’s until the end of April, which is far as you can currently book JetBlue flights, for some reason there is a gap between January 12 and February 8, and sadly it is during that gap when we plan to take our next trip.

But will be helpful to someone who acts fast!

While not helpful to us, if you are flexible with your travel dates and you want to try out Mint at a reasonable price, some of the Saturday trips are quite inexpensive for Mint. In fact, some of the pricing is pretty incredible.

For example, as shown here, the cost for a Mint ticket from JFK to LIB on March 2 is $276 (one way, per person), which is cheaper than the $348 the regular seat! Returning a week later on March 9 is only $300 on Mint vs $372 for a regular seat. So to travel to Costa Rica on March 2 and return on March 9, you’ll spend $576 round trip on Mint vs $720 to take the same flights to sit in the regular seats!

Incredible! I assume this is promotional pricing with the launch of this new service, and not normally the way they will price it out.

Reminder that booking ahead can save you money

The bad news is that we cannot take advantage of Mint on the dates we are travelling to Costa Rica in January, but the good news is that looking closely at the pricing of flights showed us that prices are currently reasonable for the high season.

Last minute bookings to Costa Rica during the high season can be quite costly. From New York City, flights will run you at least $800 round trip during the high season, and is often $500 during lower times of the year unless you can catch a sale. Holiday travel is even more expensive, with flights upwards of $1500 round trip per person for Christmas and New Years!

For the dates we were looking for, with a little flexibility, we were able to get our tickets for $407 each, round trip.  Last year when we bought ahead for our trip, we paid $480 each, and when friends were looking to potentially join us last minute, the tickets were over $800, so we are happy that the cost for our flights this year will be reasonable.

That is why when you are travelling during popular travel times, it pays to plan ahead and buy your tickets early. While often times you can take advantage of last minute deals when travelling, and Caroline and I intend to take advantage of that when we are more flexible, those last minute deals won’t necessarily go to the places you really want to go at the times of year you really want to go.

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Have you ever traveled JetBlue Mint? How far in advance do you generally purchase airline tickets?