Over the past several years, I’ve taken the opportunity to try the “better” economy seats on the major US airlines. Some of those opportunities were from getting upgrades with temporary airline status. That’s how we tried United’s Economy Plus and American’s Main Cabin Extra seats. I also paid for Delta’s Comfort + and Spirit’s Big Front Seat.
I had paid for JetBlue’s Even More Space seats before when they were the only available seats on a flight we needed to take. This was the first time I voluntarily paid for the upgrade, which cost $59 per seat on a flight from Orlando to Newark.
This flight was on one of JetBlue’s “Restyled” A320s. According to Airfleets.net, our plane, “Bravo Lima Uniform Echo,” is 16+ years old. JetBlue has almost finished remodeling its A320 fleet, a project it started in 2016. There are still 11 A320 “Classic” planes in the fleet, so you’re almost out of time to fly in a leather recliner while watching a screen smaller than your iPhone.
If you didn’t know better about its age, the plane looked great.
But back to JetBlue’s Even More Space Seats. True to its name, that’s what you’ll get. There are no free drinks, but passengers who pay for the best seats do get additional perks, including:
- Early Boarding – ensuring easy access to your bags, even if you booked a Blue Basic fare.
- More Speed – Access to priority security checkpoints at select airports (if you don’t already have TSA Precheck and/or CLEAR)
I think JetBlue offers the best experience for customers, even those who pay for cheap seats. Legroom is better than on other mainline airlines and way better than you’ll find on LCC and ULCC airlines.
Even More Space seats provide an additional 3 to 7 inches of legroom compared to other seats on the plane, up to 38 inches of seat pitch.
I had more than enough legroom on our flight, and my Bento Bag fit easily under the seat in front of me. In hindsight, I was glad I paid for the extra space because our flight was delayed for 1 hour after we boarded (turned out they checked in too many standby passengers and had to deplane several people).
Once we were in flight, I took out my MacBook and worked on the free JetBlue FlyFi network.
Final Thoughts
For all of the airlines that sell seats with more legroom, JetBlue beats them all. With an “Extra” seat on American, Delta and United, your knees aren’t mashed into the seat in front, and you can type on your laptop without working like you have dinosaur arms.
When you pay for an Even More Space seat on JetBlue, you actually get more space. I was able to stretch my legs without taking my carry-on bag out of the space under the seat and keeping it under my knees.
Considering that American Airlines charges $80 for 4 inches of extra legroom seats from Orlando to Austin, which is necessary to work on their planes, paying $59 to JetBlue for the opportunity to stretch out on a plane seems like a bargain.
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