{"id":361986,"date":"2026-08-01T15:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/jetblue-earnings-first-class-has-never-been-more-popular-cranky-flier\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T15:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T15:38:07","slug":"jetblue-earnings-first-class-has-never-been-more-popular-cranky-flier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=361986","title":{"rendered":"JetBlue Earnings, First Class has Never Been More Popular \u2013 Cranky Flier"},"content":{"rendered":"


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JetBlue Reports Decent Earnings<\/h3>\n

JetBlue stock (side note: people at JetBlue can\u2019t like the fact they got beat to the \u2018BLUE\u2019 ticker symbol) soared Tuesday<\/a> as it released its Q2 earnings which exceeded Wall Street estimates and saw an 11% jump in unit revenue for the airline on airfare increases of 9%.<\/p>\n

Operating revenue of $2.69 billion was a 14.5% leap from \u201925 and was just a smidge higher than the $2.68 billion which was expected. (Every buy-up counts!) Despite the grand rise in revenue, it couldn\u2019t outrun the CASM monster (unit costs increased 17%, and were still up 2.4% ex-fuel) which led to a loss of $247 million. That comes out to a loss of $0.66 per share, but that\u2019s better than the loss of $0.71 predicted by Wall Street.<\/p>\n

JetBlue\u2019s forecast expects operating margin to increase by about 3.5% for the back-half of 2026. It recaptured almost half of its higher fuel costs from Q2, far exceeding analyst expectations of 30-40%. It ended the quarter with $1.6 billion in cash with most of it allocated to the cost of fumigating the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia\u2026<\/p>\n

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JetBlue Introduces Domestic First Class<\/h3>\n

JetBlue is ready to dive into the domestic first class game. The carrier, which has operated its minty-fresh long-haul business class for many years now (and on select domestic routes) is diving headfirst into growing its premium offerings<\/a> throughout its fleet.<\/p>\n

The name of this product will be BlueFirst \u2014 and we can only imagine how much time it took to come up with that. Rollout will begin this fall and is expected to be finished by late 2027. The cabin will eventually go on every non-mint aircraft in the fleet. For you seat sickos, JetBlue is going with the Collins Aerospace MiQ seat which is the same seat we use at Cranky World HQ. The product is expected to have most of the standard FC accoutrements including upgraded dining, priority during check-in, boarding, and baggage handling, and most of all, the explicit permission from the carrier to laugh and point as people trudge past you to the main cabin.<\/p>\n

The first class rollout comes amidst an entire fare reset. It\u2019s very complicated and will likely require extensive analysis from us as there are four experiences: Main, EvenMore, BlueFirst, and Mint. How will we ever sort it out? Then, there\u2019s three fare types for each: Basic, Standard, and Flex. So you know, what everyone else has done. And we believe JetBlue is the only domestic airline that could possibly roll out a new domestic first class product this week, right? Right?<\/p>\n

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Allegiant Introduces Domestic First Class<\/h3>\n

Wrong. The hot new trend of the summer: domestic first class. Allegiant Air will be adding domestic first class<\/a> next year marking a significant diversion from its previous business model. The carrier will begin introducing first class seating and amenities on select aircraft as soon as spring 2027. The new cabin will consist of two rows in 2-2 seating format, for a total of eight seats up front. The cleverly-named Allegiant First product is expected to go on sale in mid-August.<\/p>\n

As a bonus for all Allegiant fliers, some new perks are expanding to the entire aircraft, not just first class. Beginning Saturday, the airline will no longer charge for most non-alcoholic drinks. Booze will still come with a price tag, but soft drinks, juice, and water will be complimentary, creating all sorts of arbitrage opportunities for Allegiant fliers who purchasd their ticket weeks or months ago but are flying in the near future. <\/p>\n

As we reported earlier this week<\/a>, \u201cselect aircraft\u201d means new deliveries starting in 2027 with 23 aircraft in the current plan. These airplanes will start out in Punta Gorda. Allegiant\u2019s route map provides no hints as to what might be a premium market for the carrier, which creates a guessing game that Delta and DraftKings couldn\u2019t even come up with if they tried. But let\u2019s all agree on this \u2014 if Punta Gorda to Niagara Falls doesn\u2019t receive a first class cabin, we riot.<\/p>\n

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Delta Has a New Idea? You Can Bet on That<\/h3>\n

We learned last year that Delta was cooking something up with DraftKings that was destined to skirt laws against gambling in the sky, and as details emerged this week we learned that yes, in fact, this is a terrible idea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Delta, along with DraftKings will introduce SkyPicks, which will allow SkyMiles members 21 and over the ability to use their personal devices to bet<\/del> make predictions on games and matches 30,000 feet below. The entire contest is free, and is only an entertainment experience only, they swear. The real miss here is leaving it only to sports \u2014 imagine if you could be on things happening on your flight? Now that\u2019s entertainment. Will the man in 38C choose Biscoffs (-200 odds), Cheez-Its (even money) or the Sun Chips (+110). Over\/under on the amount of time the lady from 7C will spend in the lav: 77.5 seconds. Over\/under on times the pilot puts the seatbelt sign back on during flight: 3.5. The possiblities really are endless.<\/p>\n

To use the actual service, you must be logged into the in-flight WiFi on your personal device. It\u2019s live now with MLB games and is expected to add the NFL in the fall. This definitely feels like some sort of gateway drug to getting actual betting on-board. It\u2019s currently illegal regardless of where the flight begins or ends (even if its between two states or even fully within one state that permits online gambling). Just know your next Delta flight is a lock to have over 243.5 Biscoffs served. You can take it to the bank.<\/p>\n

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Spirit\u2019s Loss Grows Frontier\u2019s Revenue<\/h3>\n

A strong Q2 for Frontier produced record revenue<\/a> for the carrier with a gross figure of $1.28 billion which it says was driven by strong travel demand and \u201cfavorable competitive capacity\u201d which is earnings-speak for \u201cour yellow-painted pain in the ass competitor finally bit the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Spirit\u2019s demise, Frontier still lost $90 million dollars in net income for the quarter, a 29% drop from Q2 last year. That figure looks a little better when put next to its fuel bill which jumped to $4.17 per gallon, 77% more than last year. The total fuel bill nearly doubled to $436 million. Frontier delivered 79% earnings per share and saw RASM jump 28% to $0.1. Its forward-looking guidance shows Q3 RASM growth above 20%, which would mark a third straight quarter of double-digit growth.<\/p>\n

Frontier closes the midpoint of the year with $1.16 in liquidity and a pile of yellow seats it picked up on the cheap.<\/p>\n

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