We kicked off our journey to London with a redeye from Ontario, in Southern California’s Inland Empire, to New York on a JetBlue A321 “Classic” in economy class. The flight was surprisingly restful.

JetBlue A321 Classic Economy Class Review (ONT-JFK)

Back when JetBlue had more money, it used to advertise its redeye flights as “shut eye” flights and offered economy class passengers an amenity kit with an eyeshade and earplugs. These days, that perk has been cut, but JetBlue still offers an above-average product with extra legroom and fast free Wi-Fi internet onboard.

We arrived at Ontario International Airport about an hour before departure…we had no bags to check and I had already checked in online.

Pre-Check made security a breeze and we headed to the Aspire Lounge, though I knew we’d be turned away because the lounge does not accept Priority Pass ahead of the China Airlines flight to Tapei (TPE), which departs at 12:45 am. Indeed we were turned away…

Boarding was delayed a bit at the gate, but soon got underway, and we joined the melee to settle in onboard.

JetBlue (B6) 454
Ontario (ONT) – New York (JFK)
Wednesday, May 14
Depart: 10:59 PM
Arrive: 7:19 AM+1
Duration: 5hr, 20min
Distance: 2,429 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Seat: 7C (“Core” Economy Class)

Onboard, we settled into our seats in row 7, where the kids went right to work with the seatback screen.

IFE + Wi-Fi

This was a “classic” A321 without a Mint cabin and it still had the “old” generation in-flight entertainment with a small selection of streaming movies, live satellite TV, and a rather primitive moving flight map in the 10.1 inch seatback screen

Best of all, though, the Wi-Fi internet was fast and free…it worked well (and frankly, I cannot even recall a JetBlue flight in which the internet was not operational…kudos to JetBlue for that).

Seat

The JetBlue A321 “classic” without Mint is divided into two sections:

• Economy (Even More Space)
  • 42 Collins Pinnacle seats
  • 4-way adjustable headrest
  • Seat width: 17.7 inches
  • Row pitch: 37 inches (more in exit rows 10 and 23)
  • Seat recline: 3 inches
• Economy (Core)
  • 158 seats
  • 4-way adjustable headrest
  • Seat width: 17.7 inches
  • Row pitch: 34 inches
  • Seat recline: 3 inches

Our “Core” seat was perfectly comfortable and although the kids were excited or their airplane-only screen time, they both quickly fell asleep…

Food + Drink

JetBlue offers free snacks (though the selection has been downgraded this year…Pop Chips have been replaced with Goldfish crackers…oh how I miss the Terra Blue days) and soft drinks on its transcontinental flights. Snack boxes and cheese plates were also available for purchase. I had some plantain chips and a glass of sparkling water, which was more than enough for the overnight service.

Other choices:

Lavatory

I used the lavatory before I went to sleep, less than an hour into the flight, and it was already a mess with toilet paper and a puddle of who knows what on the floor…it’s why you wear shoes into airplane lavatories unless you are flying first class on an Emirates A380.

The JetBlue A320 has one lavatory in the front (the one I used) and three in the back.

Before going to sleep, I put on one of those Korean eye masks under my eyes that are supposed to help keep your skin smoother. As I emerged from the lavatory, one particularly flamboyant flight attendant said, “Oh, that’s such a nice thing you’re doing.”

“What’s that?” I responded, not knowing what he meant.

“Dressing up for your kids! Are you a spy or a baseball player?”

I was like, “Girl, it’s just vanity.”

We both started laughing.

CONCLUSION

We landed early at JFK…a smooth, uneventful redeye flight, just the way I like them.

I would have loved to go for a coffee at Intellegenica inside the TWA hotel, but sadly, that coffee shop is closed, so I had to make do with “World Coffee” in T5.

A good flight and now it was on to my next one…a daytime service to London Heathrow.