JetBlue is rolling out its first-ever first-class fare.
As of Friday, JetBlue customers could start purchasing tickets to fly first class on JetBlue. The first route with first-class fares will take off on Dec. 8 between Boston and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fort Lauderdale was the airline’s first-ever destination, and now it’s the first official destination for BlueFirst.
“Domestic first class has become easy to predict,” CEO Joanna Geraghty said in a press release announcing BlueFirst last month. “We think it’s time for a fresh take.”
JetBlue is the latest in a long line of airlines to sell first-class fares. Across the industry, carriers have been investing in premium experiences, trying to capture wealthier customers willing to pay more for experiences and diversify their revenue streams amid rising fuel costs.
JetBlue, which has failed in recent quarters to report a net profit, saw premium as an answer to its woes, and the airline made BlueFirst the largest initiative in its JetForward turnaround plan.
“JetBlue, along with other U.S. low-cost carriers, has been rethinking its strategies when it comes to new customer acquisition,” Katy Nastro, aviation correspondent at Flighty, told CX Dive. “Legacy carriers have gone ‘premium’ crazy in the last few years, and in a market where the players all copy one another, it makes sense JetBlue would look at where they can invest to hopefully earn more in the future, especially with higher revenue per seat miles.”
BlueFirst was not an easy decision for JetBlue. The airline debated introducing the option for a long time because it didn’t want to lose its reputation as an “egalitarian brand,” Geraghty said in April at the Semafor World Economy summit in Washington.
“But our first class is accessible first class,” Geraghty said at the time.
Still, some see JetBlue’s premium push as risky.
“It’s a risky move for a company that has lost money for the last six years, but the saying goes, bet big to win big,” Nastro said. “They also could be priming themselves to become more attractive for a bigger buyer in the future.”
While JetBlue’s premium experiences may not have the luxury associated with, say, Delta Air Lines’ Delta One, which provides a dedicated in-cabin flight attendant and flat-bed seat, it does have some notable perks. The first-class seats offer more legroom and recline, seat-back ordering and an upgraded entertainment.
JetBlue isn’t completely new to premium experiences. The airline pulled from its experiences and insights launching Mint, its premium business class lie-flat seats, in 2014 and EvenMore, a premium-economy experience featuring extra legroom, in early 2025, according to President Marty St. George.
The carrier expects that as BlueFirst and its other initiatives mature, JetForward will produce approximately $1.2 billion of annual incremental EBIT in 2028, according to the carrier’s second quarter 2026 earnings release in July.
“That's actually the benefit we're going to get with BlueFirst, which is getting new revenue on the airplane that we didn't have before,” St. George said on a second quarter earnings call in July.
