JetBlue Airways offered a new route from JFK to Dublin in 2024 as a new, international route for the airline. Here is my personal experience about how the flight went; both good and bad.
The Tampa to JFK route started off a bit rough with a 4 AM arrival time at Tampa Airport only to find no one at curbside check-in despite a sign outside the terminal stating it was available. Once inside the airport, there two long ques of people waiting to check-in their bags or drop them off with no staff around. There was no direction that you needed to use the kiosks, that were blocked by the lines of people, to get your baggage tag printed out before returning to the line to hand off the bags to the staff that eventually showed up 30 minutes after arriving.
What’s the point of arriving 2 hours early for a flight, like the airline instructs you to do, if there is no staff there to help people check-in and deal with bags. JetBlue, do better next time in Tampa, please?
The flight into JFK was uneventful, which is always a good sign, but a 10-hour layover was brutal. I had been booked on an afternoon flight before, but JetBlue rescheduled my flight, putting me on the early flight at 6:30 AM because the two evening flights out of Tampa to JFK were too late to make the connection to Dublin. So this meant finding news ways to kill hours of time in the airport. Walking, spending too much money for cold food, and people watching were able to keep me occupied before the evening flight boarded.
The flight to Dublin was one of the best flights I have had in a long time. The flight was not full, allowing for more room to spread out and relax. Jetblue had plenty of movie, music, and TV options and having free WI-FI also made it a lot more fun by being able to stay connected. The food option was very limited and I chose to avoid that, but on a flight that is just 6 hours, I felt I would starve to death before landing in Ireland. The plane itself was clean, the staff was great, and it was overall one of the better flights I have been on.
The customs and immigration process was straightforward after landing, only taking a few minutes to make it through to arrivals, capping off of a good flight experience overall.
The return flight was more of the same with Dublin security being pain-free and the pre-customs and immigration screening at the airport made it even easier returning into the states.
The flight itself was more of the same but just a bit longer (going into the wind with this flight direction). The staff on the plane was great, the food options were less than appealing but a 6 hour flight is again manageable. It was just an overall efficient international flight and again that pre-screening in Dublin made landing in Boston a lot easier. The return part from Boston to Tampa was also an easy flight, although more full than the previous flight. The crew was great and I was quite happy with the overall performance of Jetblue throughout the flights.
So if you are planning a trip anytime soon to Dublin, give Jetblue a try. Most don’t know they have this route now so look it up and it may save you a few dollars and will also be an upgrade on your overall flight experience as well.
Travels With Matt Blog 