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Flight passengers warn new boarding overhaul could trigger more chaos at the gate
JetBlue is rolling out a new “intuitive” boarding process — but frequent flyers say it could make things worse.
The airline announced that starting April 29, it will streamline boarding by consolidating its process and switching to numbered groups.
The change is designed to make boarding announcements easier to follow and improve the overall experience at the gate, the company told Fox News Digital.
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“Effective April 29, 2026, JetBlue is simplifying its boarding process by transitioning from branded and lettered groups to a numbered system. Customers will continue to board in a familiar order, with early access continuing for Mint, Mosaic and EvenMore customers,” the airline said in a statement.
The “update reflects JetBlue’s ongoing commitment to delivering a smoother, more seamless experience for customers across their travel journey.”
Gary Leff, a Texas-based travel industry expert and author of the blog “View From the Wing,” said the changes are partly aimed at driving additional revenue.
“JetBlue is reducing the number of boarding groups, moving from letters to numbers, and people buying better seats get earlier boarding bundled in,” he said. “Premium credit card customers get a better boarding group.”
He added, “This is meant to incentivize high-margin extra revenue that customers add to JetBlue.”
Leff said that in his experience, the airline is also trying to simplify its process.
“My general experience is that JetBlue is quite good in the air, but a bit confused on the ground,” he said, sharing his point of view. “They’re streamlining boarding a bit and standardizing … while moving to more effectively use boarding as part of their monetization stream.”
Under the new system, premium passengers and loyalty members will continue to board first.
Group 1 will include Mosaic 3 and 4 members as well as Mint customers — followed by Mosaic 1 and 2 members and customers who purchase “EvenMore” extra legroom seats in group 2.
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Credit card holders, select fare types and early boarding perks will follow in group 3, with general boarding continuing in later groups based on seat location, the company said.
JetBlue said customers with disabilities will still be invited to pre-board, while active military members and those traveling with car seats or strollers will be offered courtesy boarding.
The update introduces a new priority for some customers, including those who purchase certain add-ons or hold co-branded credit cards.
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“All JetBlue flights will board in numbered boarding groups (groups 1–8), to make boarding more intuitive, consistent, easier to follow along at the gate — and easier to hear and understand during boarding announcements,” the airline said on its website.
The changes have already sparked discussion on social media.
Some travelers on Reddit questioned whether the new system benefits loyal customers, with several users saying it could reduce the value of certain status tiers.
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Others pointed to potential crowding, noting that combining multiple groups could lead to longer lines at the gate and increased competition for overhead bin space.
“This will cause more delays,” one user wrote, expressing concern about larger boarding groups.
Another commenter criticized the shift, writing that it “devalues” certain frequent flyer tiers by placing them in larger boarding groups.
Still, some travelers said the changes may have little impact on the overall experience.
“I find it so curious that many of you consider your boarding hierarchy a devaluation. Literally everyone [is] getting into the same tube that leaves at the same time,” one user wrote.
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Line in the sand: Why Trump is drawing flak for the James Comey indictment over seashells
The second James Comey indictment is not just absurd, it’s deeply troubling.
Trying to prosecute a guy for threatening the president’s life by posting a picture of seashells?
After a previous, much broader indictment against the fired FBI director despised by President Donald Trump was thrown out of court?
But don’t take my word for it:
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ABC’s Jonathan Karl: “Even Trump’s allies are privately calling it ‘embarrassing,’ or as one very prominent former Trump DOJ official told me last night, ‘depressing.’”
National Review’s Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor: “This farce, then, is nothing more than a continuation of Trump’s lawfare campaign against a political enemy. It is inconceivable that Comey could be convicted of a crime in these circumstances, but the president’s minions are putting him through the anxiety, expense, and stigma of the judicial process.”
Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley said on Fox: “I must be in a parallel universe to be talking about the shell art of James Comey…Just showing the picture’s going to be a weak case in terms of a threat.”
“It’ll be thrown out. It’s classic revenge,” Ty Cobb, a Trump White House lawyer in the first term, told CNN.
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The seashell collection, which Comey said he found on a North Carolina beach, said 86 47. In restaurant parlance, 86 means to get rid of a customer or dish, not kill them. And the other numbers refer to the 47th president. It was spectacularly bad judgment for Comey to post the photo on his Instagram account.
But after an uproar, Comey deleted the posting and said he in no way meant to suggest political violence.
“I’m still innocent, I’m still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary, so let’s go,” Comey said after the new charges were filed.
It’s no secret at this point that the Justice Department has become an aggressive player in Trump’s retribution campaign. One reason he fired Pam Bondi as attorney general is that he was unhappy with the pace of the probes.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche denied yesterday that the president had ordered him to bring the indictment. “Anybody who tries to put forward some narrative that this is just about seashells or something to the contrary is missing the point,” he told CBS. “You cannot threaten the president of the United States.”
But Trump didn’t have to make a secret phone call to demand the indictment. He talks openly about those he views as enemies, such as Letitia James. He said he was glad when ex-special prosecutor Bob Mueller died.
In the past, Trump has referred to Comey as “scum,” “slimeball” and a “lying scumbag.”
Trump told reporters yesterday that 86 is “a mob term for kill them, you know? You ever see the movies? “‘86 ‘em,’ the mobster says to one of his wonderful associates.”
Pressed by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on whether he felt his life was in danger, Trump said “probably.”
“The people like Comey have created tremendous danger, I think, for politicians and others. You know, Comey is a dirty cop, he’s a very dirty cop…He’s a crooked man.”
Other presidents might have declined comment on what is now an ongoing criminal prosecution, but that’s not Donald Trump.
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The first indictment, last September, came after Secret Service agents tracked down the former FBI chief. It included charges of leaking and lying to Congress, but Tuesday’s stripped-down version deals only with the shell photo.
Trump defenders say he was persecuted during his first term with four criminal cases. So this, in their view, is proper payback.
But during the campaign I lost track of how many times Trump told me “the best retribution will be success.”
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Instead, he’s gone after political opponents, law firms, news organizations and others with a vengeance.
These efforts have so far fallen short in court. The Comey indictment is such a stretch that even most conservative legal commentators aren’t defending it.
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