JetBlue taps into wealthier travelers in South Florida with new premium service

Travel admin October 16, 2026 0 Comments

JetBlue taps into wealthier travelers in South Florida with new premium service

JetBlue is betting big on Fort Lauderdale, and not only for routes. The airline sees lots of wealthy customers traveling to and from Broward and wants to cater to them with fancier flights.

On Thursday, the airline rolled out BlueFirst, a new first-class service on domestic routes.

The first daily flight with BlueFirst will take off Dec. 8 from Boston’s Logan Airport to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Days later, JetBlue will start the premium service from FLL to New York’s La Guardia Airport.

The initial BlueFirst routes were selected based on customer demand for premium travel, JetBlue said in a statement.

More than 30 routes will offer BlueFirst, most involving FLL. They include Fort Lauderdale to Buffalo; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte and Nashville. International destinations include Medellin, Colombia, and Santo Domingo, Dominical Republic.

The airline said that promotional fares will start at $249.

The new premium offering comes as JetBlue has been taking the long view of FLL, particularly since the demise of Broward-based Spirit Airlines, which had accounted for the most passengers at the airport.

In the days after Spirit shut down on May 2, JetBlue added 11 new destinations from Fort Lauderdale.

By early July, JetBlue operated more than 125 daily departures to over 55 nonstop destinations from FLL, its largest schedule at the airport. Daily departures from FLL increased over 75% compared to the same time in 2025.

That growth is on track with what JetBlue President Marty St. George said earlier this year when he forecasted 150 departures out of Fort Lauderdale by February 2027.

“Right now, we’re bigger than we’ve ever been at FLL,” St. George said in an interview in May with the Miami Herald. “And we’re going to get a lot bigger.”

That’s now showing in the official statistics.

Long accustomed to finishing second to Spirit in Fort Lauderdale, JetBlue now ranks first in number of passengers. The airline has handled 6.1 million passengers this year through the end of August. That marked a whopping 39.8% increase for the airline compared to the same period in 2025. It is first in market share with 28%. Delta Air Lines is in second with 13%.

This year, JetBlue is also making the Fort Lauderdale airport a hub this year, scheduling flights so arriving travelers have ample options to connect elsewhere., the airline president said.

At FLL, JetBlue is doing something “we’ve not done anywhere else,” said St. George on a stop at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino near Hollywood. He noted that the hub system allows travelers to come into FLL from the north and connect to many places in the Caribbean or throughout Latin America.

Fort Lauderdale was JetBlue’s first-ever destination. Now it’s the first place to benefit the most from the roll-out of BlueFirst.

The premium experience will include the following:

Space on planes: Specially designed seats featuring five inches of recline and up to seven inches of additional legroom compared with JetBlue’s Main seats.

Upgraded entertainment: A 13.3-inch seatback screen with Bluetooth connectivity

Food: On flights 899 miles or longer, customers can enjoy a FirstFare meal featuring an entrée, side and dessert, and premium snacks on every BlueFirst flight.

Drinks: Sommelier-selected wines from Parcelle, specialty coffee from Cometeer and Joe Coffee, and premium Smith Teamaker teas.

Priority perks: Group 1 boarding, dedicated overhead bin space, priority check-in and baggage benefits, plus expedited security access at more than 30 participating airports.

“We designed BlueFirst to deliver a more accessible first-class experience that combines the thoughtful hospitality and service customers expect from JetBlue with exceptional value and comfort,” Joanna Geraghty, chief executive officer, JetBlue, said in the Oct. 15 statement.