Jetblue Economy Review: Grand Cayman to New York JFK on their A320

Rating: 5/5 (Good as it gets for shorthaul international economy on a US carrier)

Route: JFK-GCM

Price: 15,500 Jetblue points + $109 (points + cash fare)

After a great trip to the Cayman Islands, it was time to head back home to NYC. For the flight home, Jetblue was the cheapest option. They fly non-stop from Grand Cayman to JFK currently, with varying frequencies depending on season. It’s a relatively short hop of 3 hours back to the US, but technically still an international flight.

In this post:

1. Getting to the Airport
2. The Flight
3. Conclusion

Getting to the Airport

After a bittersweet goodbye to the Kimpton Seafire Resort, I headed over to Owen Roberts International in Grand Cayman. The taxi was $40 USD for a quick 20 minute ride (ouch). Taxis have fixed rates to the airport from major hotels on the island, and unfortunately no Uber is available.

The airport itself is pretty small with just a few gates for flights, mostly heading back to US hub cities. Interestingly, the airport does service one long haul flight to London Heathrow on British Airways, which makes sense given the Cayman Islands are a self-governing British territory. That specific flight is super interesting in that it operates first as a flight between London Heathrow and the Bahamas, then short hop between the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands before returning back to London. This is on the bucket list, and would definitely make a unique avios redemption.

The terminal area in the airport is pretty lackluster in terms of offerings, so I settled for probably what is one of the more expensive Wendy’s in the world. If you want a solid meal before flying, would definitely recommend doing so at your hotel / in town before heading to the airport.

I do wish I could make it here into Sir Turtle Club, though. That’s probably the coolest name for any airport lounge in the world, bar none. Who knows, maybe they’ll pick up priority pass soon (hopefully not).

The Flight

The flight was on time, and started boarding promptly 45 minutes before departure. Owen Roberts International doesn’t have any “real” gates (as far as I could tell), which of course, I did not mind because you get to walk next to the planes.

JetBlue’s A320 on this route was 100% economy seats in a 3-3 configuration. I was in regular economy on this flight, although JetBlue does offer their “Even More Space” (Economy Plus equivalent) seats with extra legroom, for an extra charge. Jetblue still has some of the best legroom though in regular economy of any US carrier at 32 inches of pitch, which is also probably why they aren’t the most profitable airline. But hey, consumer surplus business here.

This flight was almost 100% full, unlike my mostly empty flight over on Cayman Airways. For such a short flight, it was nice to have fully functioning in-flight-entertainment screens with a good assortment of movies and shows.

JetBlue also does a great job with free snacks and drinks on their flights, definitely more so than any other US carrier. I also have the JetBlue Card, which offers 50% off all additional food and alcohol purchases. I got the pretzel bun sandwich, which is always good. To be honest, I only keep this no-fee card around for whenever I fly JetBlue.

Side tip: If there’s a good sign on bonus, I recommend getting the JetBlue Plus card ($99 annual fee), and the year after scooping up the bonus you can always downgrade which is what I did (gotta maximize credit age, you know). JetBlue points can be very valuable for domestic and international travel, as well as some cool partner redemptions (cough cough, Qatar).

The service on this flight was also really good for a US carrier (i.e. medium friendly, no one growling at me), which was great for a relatively short flight.

Before long, we landed on a strangely warm November night at JFK. We ended up deplaning to a remote gate, which I didn’t even know was possible at Terminal 5 (maybe since we had to go through customs? I have no idea).

Global entry had a line but I was still through within 5 minutes (for those who do not have this, it’s pretty much a must-have if you travel internationally with any frequently and live in the US).

Conclusion

The flight was on time, service was friendly, food was good and I had solid IFE on a 3 hour flight, so this was definitely as good as it gets for any US carrier’s short haul international flight. In the future, assuming no major price difference, I’d prefer flying JetBlue above all for similar flights. Also, JetBlue does have a strong Caribbean and Central American route network from JFK and Fort Lauderdale, so lots of options in these regions compared to other American carriers.