Flight Details:
Departure: JFK, 11:35am (scheduled) 11:47am (actual)
Date: October 2018
Duration: 5h 59m
Seat: 4F (single suite)
Class: Mint
Date: October 2018
Duration: 5h 59m
Seat: 4F (single suite)
Class: Mint
Another standard JetBlue Mint flight. See my other JetBlue reviews if you wish to hear about the seat, overall experiences, other meals, etc.
The only real notes were that it was far far colder than usual on this flight. We were all bundled up in blankets, something I don't normally see. When I asked to check on cabin temp, the FA was surprised by how cold it was, and quickly fixed it.
It also was by far the worst Mint service I've ever had ... for the first 5 hours. The FA seemed to hate me from the start. She was really nice with the old couple behind me, but was grumpy at me the entire time. Rude. Visibly annoyed by everything I ever asked for. I felt bad the entire time. It really ruined the experience fro me. She didn't allow anyone to have their windows open at *ANY* point during the flight, saying it was too bright. Not even cracked a tiny bit. For a day flight, this meant it was dark and dreary the entire time.
And then, about an hour before landing, everything changed. I have *no* idea what changed. She went from truly rude and mean to me, to ... over the top friendly. "Anything you want, enjoy!" was her enthusiastic response when I ordered another round of drinks, seemingly not snarky. "I have an extra cookie, would you like it?" followed by a *third* cookie, "Oh, I had one more.". And then, "Oh, I know you didn't have the fruit because you were allergic, I have extra ice cream, would you like it?", followed by ... not just the normal 3 scoops, but a bowl with 7-8 scoops of ice cream?! #soConfused. But, wow.
It also wasn't a very smooth flight. It was an hour and a half into the flight before the seatbelt sign went off.
And the food? Meh.
That about sums up the entire experience.
The only real notes were that it was far far colder than usual on this flight. We were all bundled up in blankets, something I don't normally see. When I asked to check on cabin temp, the FA was surprised by how cold it was, and quickly fixed it.
It also was by far the worst Mint service I've ever had ... for the first 5 hours. The FA seemed to hate me from the start. She was really nice with the old couple behind me, but was grumpy at me the entire time. Rude. Visibly annoyed by everything I ever asked for. I felt bad the entire time. It really ruined the experience fro me. She didn't allow anyone to have their windows open at *ANY* point during the flight, saying it was too bright. Not even cracked a tiny bit. For a day flight, this meant it was dark and dreary the entire time.
And then, about an hour before landing, everything changed. I have *no* idea what changed. She went from truly rude and mean to me, to ... over the top friendly. "Anything you want, enjoy!" was her enthusiastic response when I ordered another round of drinks, seemingly not snarky. "I have an extra cookie, would you like it?" followed by a *third* cookie, "Oh, I had one more.". And then, "Oh, I know you didn't have the fruit because you were allergic, I have extra ice cream, would you like it?", followed by ... not just the normal 3 scoops, but a bowl with 7-8 scoops of ice cream?! #soConfused. But, wow.
It also wasn't a very smooth flight. It was an hour and a half into the flight before the seatbelt sign went off.
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| Westbound Lunch, October. |
That about sums up the entire experience.
Food & Drink
Menu & Ordering
As always with JetBlue Mint flights, it takes ... a while before the staff were ready to take orders once underway. This was exacerbated by the fact that there was a fair amount of turbulence during takeoff, and so the crew remained seated for quite a while. Still, economy got their drinks long before us.
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| Lunch / Dinner Eastbound. |
WELCOME TASTE
- PEA RICOTTA PESTO DIP WITH CROSTINI
Choose three. Please note: The first two dishes listed below are chilled
- KALE COBB SALAD / confit chicken, tomato, avocado, bacon, blue cheese, green goddess dressing.
- CITRUS SALAD / grapefruit, oranges, heart of palm, pickled red onion, ricotta salata.
- 7 GRAIN RISOTTO / mushrooms, crispy rice, parmesan, chervil.
- PAN SEARED HALIBUT / fingerling gratin, asparagus, red pepper sauce.
- CITRUS-BRAISED PORK / red rice, spicy pickled onions, cilantro, cashews.
Enjoy both.
- ICE CREAM: Blue Marble, Brooklyn, NY
- FRESH FRUIT: watermelon, honeydew, pineapple, papaya.
- COOKIE, milk bar, NYC and beyond
Not a great menu for me. I love the welcome tastes usually, but that is because I like plantain chips and yucca chips, which are often the dipping mechanism. Crostini were not an exciting outlook.
For my dishes, I also wasn't excited about ... any. The first salad had avocado and chicken (allergy and dislike), the second had lots of citrus (meh). Risotto is ... risotto, I wished for pasta. Fish is always dried out. Eh to pork.
I settled on the Cobb salad, the risotto, and the halibut, but, slightly half heatedly.
We were also asked our dessert order at this time, which they've never done before. Usually you decide that after the meal. I hoped this meant that the ice cream would be allowed to properly soften. It didn't. I obviously could not have the fruit due to my melon allergy.
Drinks
Before we took off, we were offered the signature RefreshMint, but I just went for sparkling water (with mint!), since it was early, and I wasn't ready to go for alcohol.
The drink lineup featured a sparkling, two red, one white, and one rose wine, plus cider, beer, liquor, soft drinks, tea, and coffee. The exact same lineup I had on my SEA-JFK Eastbound route the prior week.
- SPARKLING: RAVENTOS I BLANC DE NIT BRUT ROSÉ, 2016, Penedès, Spain.
- WHITE: MATTHIASSON LINDA VISTA VINEYARD CHARDONNAY, 2017, Napa Valley.
- ROSE: ROSÉ OF THE MOMINT (no details provided)
- RED: WIND GAP SOIF OLD VINE RED, 2016, North Coast, California.
- RED: TURLEY, JUVENILE ZINFANDEL, 2016, California.
Last time I tried the chardonnay (fine, but kinda acidic) and the old vine red (easy drinking, but not interesting).
So this time? Rose and zinfandel it was. Gotta mix it up ...
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| Rose of the Moment. |
I asked what the rose was, and the FA was really rude, pointing me at the menu. "It just says 'Rose of the Moment', and to ask about it," I replied. I was presented, quickly, with the bottle. I didn't catch the name.
I ordered it, but it didn't come with my Welcome Taste. I reminded her, politely, that I wanted it. "It will come with lunch", she said. I was confused, because normally drinks come with the welcome taste, and, um, everyone else got theirs then?
When I did get it, I did like it at first. Light, refreshing, floral.
And then ... I stopped liking it. Too harsh and acidic.
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| TURLEY, JUVENILE ZINFANDEL, 2016, California. |
"Our favorite Zinfandel is back on board! Turley remains California’s benchmark for this grape, and the Juvenile is produced from younger vines in their top sites. It’s complex but approachable, full of vibrant berry fruit and the spiciness of black pepper and licorice."
"I'd like to try a small glass of Zinfandel" ...
Yup. "small", lol.
Anyway, this was fine. A fairly bold zin, and what I was ready for later in the flight. A complete contrast with the other red, much more of a table wine.
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| Decaf Coffee: Dunkin' Donuts. |
With my dessert, I asked for decaf coffee. My FA, who clearly hated me, grumpily said, "Well, I'd have to brew that". I confirmed that I did want it. She stomped away.
When it finally came, it wasn't great. Tasted like instant, even though I think it wasn't. Ooph. I thought she'd hate me if I didn't drink it, but I really didn't care for it, so I dumped it in the bathroom sink. She scared me.
Food
The meal service also took forever to get going.
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| Welcome Taste: PEA RICOTTA PESTO DIP WITH CROSTINI. |
The dip was ... rich. You could clearly taste ricotta and peas, both somehow quite prominent. I think it would make for a fantastic ravioli filling, but it was a bit heavy to just eat. It had a very springtime feel to it.
The crostini, 3 of them, were actually better than I expected. Herby. Buttery. Toasted but not too hard. Basically, cold garlic bread. A decent snack actually.
I tried to save the pea dip for later, but my FA, as she said the words "are you doing with the tasting", was already taking it away. Oh well.
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| Lunch: Kale Cobb Salad / 7 Grain Risotto / Halibut. |
I was glad that I had eaten a huge breakfast, and that I had backup food. Nothing was great.
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| Kale Cobb Salad. |
"Confit chicken, tomato, avocado, bacon, blue cheese, green goddess dressing."
JetBlue makes some good salads. This ... was one not one of them.
The chicken I didn't try, since I don't like chicken, but it was a strange gray color. The bacon chunks looked promising, but, were chewy and flavorless.
The tomatoes were also flavorless, and mealy. The kale was soggy and lost in the dressing, way too much dressing. The avocado I avoided since I'm allergic, but it looked freshly applied at least. I don't think there actually was blue cheese. No idea why the egg was purple, and why it wasn't listed on the menu.
I took a few bites of this, but quickly moved on, glad I had brought a backup salad with me. This was the worst dish, no question.
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| 7 Grain Risotto. |
"Mushrooms, crispy rice, parmesan, chervil."
The risotto was a mixed bag. On top was a lot of herbs, I liked the micro celery.
I loved the crispy black rice on top, a really nice touch. As was the generous shake of Parmesan.
The risotto itself was ... fine? I mean, kinda gloopy, reheated risotto. I didn't expect otherwise. I was hoping for big chunks of mushroom, but, alas, there were just little bits integrated throughout.
I wasn't really into this, besides the toppings, but, I didn't expect to be. Second best dish, for the topping only.
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| Pan Seared Halibut. |
"Fingerling gratin, asparagus, red pepper sauce."
And lastly, the fish, which I ordered entirely for the gratin.
It came with ... a lot of garnish. Little pea shoots? They were a little wilty. Too generously applied, sometimes the garnishes make the dishes look classy, this just looked sloppy.
I eagerly bit into the "gratin". It was ... more like quiche, really. It had a souffle-like, quiche-like, eggy top layer and layers throughout. I was expecting a cheesy cream sauce. The potatoes were nicely cooked though, soft but not mush. And it was really warm. Once I added my own ssam sauce (which, uh, I had as leftovers from Momofuku Noodle Bar that I wasn't willing to give up), it was great.
Next, the "asparagus". If you are thinking "uh, what asparagus", that is exactly what I was thinking. Instead, the dish came with peas and corn. It was ... fine? But kinda like cafeteria style veggies.
Lastly, the halibut. It wasn't as bad as I feared, actually. I mean, it wasn't good, but it wasn't dried out and totally hammered. Instead it was just ... boring?
I did enjoy my gratin with my own sauce, but, overall, this wasn't particularly great either. Still, the best because I enjoyed the thing I made from it.
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| Midnight Mint Ice Cream && Vanilla Ice Cream, Blue Marble, Brooklyn, NY. |
Every single person on the flight ordered the ice cream. Wow. I've never seen that before. And our cabin was full. Darn. No extra ice cream for me (not that I DARED even mention that to my FA!).
I might frequently mention that ice cream is served hard on flights and takes a while to soften to eating temperature, but this set a new record. ROCK SOLID. As in, could not even get a spoon into it to chip off a piece. It was also completely covered in ice crystals, clearly freezer burnt. I gave up on trying it for a while, and let it set to melt ... of course, my FA tried to take it away thinking I just sucked and didn't touch it or something. I don't know. "Let me take that away for you," was her wording. I hadn't even managed to chip of a single bite! I told her I was just waiting for it to get softer. She stomped away.
Even 35 (!) minutes later, it was still more solid than I'd like, but I was ready to try it. The verdict? Um, hello freezer burn. Wow. Yeah, this ice cream was ruined, clearly not handled properly. Sadness.
The vanilla tasted ... sour. And not vanilla. Not good ice cream.
The Midnight Mint was ... ok. I liked the mint flavor, but disliked the mushy cookies inside. The ice cream wasn't very creamy.
Major meh, and I don't know if this is Blue Marble's fault for just not having good ice cream, or a handling error, or both. First time I've ever not finished the ice cream.
And then this happened.
"I have an extra cookie, would you like it?" followed by "Oh, I had a third, would you like?" followed by "I know you didn't have the fruit, would you like the extra ice cream?"
3 cookies. 6 (!) MORE scoops of ice cream.
I took the cookies with me, and actually enjoyed the ice cream, it was properly soft this time, lol. And it went great with my red wine!
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| Cookies & Ice Cream. |
"I have an extra cookie, would you like it?" followed by "Oh, I had a third, would you like?" followed by "I know you didn't have the fruit, would you like the extra ice cream?"
3 cookies. 6 (!) MORE scoops of ice cream.
I took the cookies with me, and actually enjoyed the ice cream, it was properly soft this time, lol. And it went great with my red wine!
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