Welcome to BlueHouse
Jetblue opens the doors to its first ever lounge
I remember flying Jetblue for the first time from Orlando to JFK back in 2002. I’ll never forget the gate agent grabbing the PA microphone after boarding completed and announcing, “Thanks for flying Jetblue. Please tell your friends about us!” To this day, I’ve never seen that level of enthusiasm from a gate agent.1
At the time of its launch, Jetblue set a new standard for coach class travel in the domestic US market. Leather seats were certainly not the norm back then, let alone personal TV screens with satellite television. Like any airline, Jetblue has had its challenges over the past two decades, but they continue to evolve into a more “full-service” carrier. The latest step in this growth is the launch of their new lounge at JFK. It’s dubbed, appropriately enough, BlueHouse.2
One of the things I have admired the most about Jetblue over the years is their commitment to their brand and doing things their way. This creates a sense of identity not only for their passengers, but also for their employees. They did things differently with their Mint premium cabins. They did things differently with their (relatively new) transatlantic service. They’re clearly doing things differently with BlueHouse.
Jetblue is all about New York, and the design of BlueHouse is based on a New York apartment, albeit a very expensive art deco style one.3 There are several different kinds of spaces in the lounge along with unique touches like a photo booth and a game room. Food and beverage eschews the traditional buffet, but there’s nothing more New York than being able to get a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich to-go in the morning.
Now, all of those features are great, but none of that matters if you can’t get in. The thing I noticed the most in BlueHouse press coverage was the insistence that there won’t be lines to get inside. Jetblue will achieve this by limiting access to a very small group of eligible passengers.4 Wait times and overcrowding are the biggest issues for lounges in the US domestic market, whether they be airline, credit card or independently operated.5 If BlueHouse can establish the reputation of never having a wait and always having a place for you to sit, then that might be the biggest win of all. No one wants to have to eat their bacon, egg and cheese IN the Photo Booth.
The other thing I’ll keep an eye on is Airport Gravity.6 It’s one thing to launch a new, shiny lounge with lots of unique features. It’s another to keep it that way. Airports are brutal environments that can take very nice things and beat them up in a hurry, and that is magnified tenfold at a place like JFK. No one knows this better than the Jetblue folks, but they’ll still need to be vigilant about keeping BlueHouse fresh, functional and most importantly, line-free.
Notes
I should specify “positive” enthusiasm — I have seen plenty of enthusiasm in the other direction from gate agents
Not to be confused with the Blue Room, a world-class dive bar in my hometown of Burbank, CA
Jetblue’s HQ building is in Queens — not suburban-y Forest Hills, Queens, but “across the street from the subway tracks” Queens
This list does NOT include non-transatlantic Mint passengers but DOES include Jetblue’s new premium credit card holders — another “big airline” style move from B6
I am still flabbergasted at the waits people will endure to get into the AMEX Centurion lounges — I cancelled my Platinum card as it was no longer worth it . . I’ll see you at Chili’s
This is a trademarked Al on the Airlines term to describe how everything in an airport works against things being nice — it’s nearly impossible to overcome