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JetBlue Shrinks Coach Legroom To Add First Class Premium "Suites"

By

John Del Signore

Published Aug 6, 2013

Modified Aug 6, 2013

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Courtesy JetBlue

By

John Del Signore

Published Aug 6, 2013

Modified Aug 6, 2013

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JetBlue is finally joining the gilded 21st century and introducing a separate VIP section for elite travelers that will keep them comfortably removed from the sweaty rabble back in Coach. The new seats will debut next year on Airbus A321 planes, starting on flights between NYC, LA and San Francisco. The first class "experience," as JetBlue describes it, will consist of 16 lie-flat beds—including four extra-exclusive "suites"—and an enviable array of luxuriant options you'll probably never experience:

• 15-inch TV screens
• Complete 180-degrees lie-flat capability
• Massage capable
• Air cushion adjustable
• "Wake me for service" light
• Four single mini suites per transcon aircraft, each with closing door feature
• 110volt power port with USB port (two outlets in every seat)

The JetBlue PR team hastens to add that this proprietary premium seat experience is exclusive to JetBlue; this is not some off-the-shelf design you're going to get on Spirit. Of course, in order to improve life in the air for some, others will be asked to make sacrifices. Coach passengers must lose legroom to make way for the New Experience, but only one inch, which doesn't seem like too much to ask for the sake of making our betters more comfortable.

The four suites come with sliding doors for extra exclusivity. (Courtesy JetBlue)

The legroom in Coach will shrink from 34 inches to 33, but spokeswoman Tamara Young insists you'll barely notice it, because you are a coarse vulgarian incapable of understanding the pleasures that come from space and refinement anyway JetBlue is also installing new Coach "Core" seats that will be slimmer. "With our new slimmer seats, we actually maintain the same amount of industry-leading living space," Young tells the Wall Street Journal.

Oh, and the new Coach seats will ALSO feature a power port and a drink holder, because JetBlue knows how the masses always have to have their soda and beer handy. It's called civil rights. This is the '90s.

Dim the lights, pour yourself a SOLO cup of your finest OE, and take a tour of the new Airbus A321:

Introducing JetBlue’s New Interior Design from JetBlue on Vimeo.

Tagged

air travel

coach

elite

first class

jetblue

John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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