JetBlue is getting slammed for charging an elderly couple $5,200 for reclining seats that didn’t recline and then offering them just a $400 travel credit as compensation.
Wally and Meredith Stevens decided to treat themselves to a trip to California for their 60th anniversary. The couple was excited to travel from New Hampshire to SoCal to visit their two sons and grandson.
Aged 83, the couple splurged on JetBlue’s ‘Mint Class’, which boasts an ‘exclusive sleep experience’, so they could be comfortable and get some rest for the Boston to SoCal flight – which can last up to eight hours .
The ‘Mint’ experience cost a whopping $5,200 in total – but included seats that reclined fully to offer a flat, nearly seven-foot surface that makes a comfortable bed for passengers.
But when the couple boarded the plane on Nov. 3, they realized Wally’s seat was stuck halfway between upright and flat, and Meredith’s was sitting fully upright.
Wally and Meredith Stevens decided to treat themselves to a trip to California for their 60th anniversary. The couple was excited to travel from New Hampshire to SoCal to visit their two sons and grandson
Aged 83, the couple splurged on JetBlue’s ‘Mint Class’, which boasts an ‘exclusive sleep experience’, so they could be comfortable and get some rest for the Boston to SoCal flight – which can last up to eight hours
The ‘Mint’ experience cost a whopping $5,200 in total – but included seats that had to lie all the way back
‘Mint Class’ offers other perks including pillows, blankets, eye masks and earplugs, fancy meals and free drinks – but all Stevens wanted was a comfortable seat.
The flight crew was able to set Wally’s seat upright, but none of the chairs were able to recline.
On the return flight Wally’s seat reclined all the way back – but Meredith’s again did not.
The experience was not what the elderly couple had hoped for, or paid for.
JetBlue did not offer any alternative seating for their passengers and said the plane was full… both ways.
There were no other seats available in any section of the flight, including economy.
Instead of offering a reduced airfare for the inconvenience and for not providing the experience they had advertised and paid for, the couple was offered $400 in JetBlue credit.
Not only did the credit account for just eight percent of the original fare, it’s useless to the Stevens family — who have vowed never to set foot on a JetBlue plane again.
Wally was shocked at how ‘matter-of-factly’ the major airline handled the problem.
“For us it was upsetting and demoralizing, but apparently not for JetBlue,” he said.
When the couple boarded the plane on November 3, they realized that Wally’s seat was stuck halfway between the upright and reclined position, and Meredith’s was sitting fully upright.
‘Mint Class’ offers other perks including pillows, blankets, eye masks and earplugs, fancy meals and free drinks – but all Stevens wanted was a comfortable seat
Mint customers who discover their seats are broken (a “rare occurrence,” the airline says) sometimes decide to stay in the defective seats for the other benefits the experience forfeits, JetBlue said. Boston Globe.
But the elderly couple did not decide to stay in their broken seats, they were given no choice.
JetBlue eventually raised its offer to $1,200 in travel credit, but this was still useless to the 83-year-old, who does not plan to travel with the airline again.
The airline also knew the seats were defective at least a few days in advance and didn’t even inform their passengers, the Boston Globe reported.
JetBlue did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.