It’s an idea whose time has come: Dunkin’ Donuts is moving out of the airport and onto the runway. That special pink and orange branding will now be splashed onto special Jet Blue planes—A320 Airbuses—named “Brewing Altitude,” as reported by USA Today. Cute, right? And there will be a half donut, pink with white jimmies, painted on one side of the tail and a cup of coffee on the other. The geese that fly by are going to get the munchies.
Along the flank of the aircraft is DUNKIN’ in all caps, the silhouette of a plane, and then the interestingly capitalized jetBlue. The plane is altogether eye-catching with its bold colors and the promise of sweet donut times on board. The aircraft first appeared at Boston’s Logan Airport last week—and where else could it be unveiled? In 2020, the Boston Guardian unveiled its Dunkin’ Density Index, tracking locations throughout the city, revealing that in downtown Boston, there are a stunning 12.6 locations per square mile.
That inaugural Brewing Altitude flight was boarded by passengers to Fort Myers, Florida, who were given free coffee, donuts and a donut neck pillow to celebrate the launch.
If you want to fly on this special aircraft, just book a JetBlue flight on Brewing Altitude any Monday from May 19 through September 1 (but not June 30 or July 7). You can learn which flight routes will be flown by the donut behemoth by checking the routes here each Friday before you want to fly.
If you want to use that flight to bump yourself up to mosaic status with the airline (their elite top tier status) for three months, you’ll need to make sure you’re a rewards member of both Dunkin’ and JetBlue, have opted in to the airline’s marketing emails and filled out a form linked to your pre-flight email. If you’re already at that status level, you’ll get 20 mosaic tiles for the flight.
Moreover, you’ll get “boosted” status with the donut maker which helps you earn points towards free coffee and donuts.
Although the branded plane is new, Dunkin’ and JetBlue have had a relationship since 2006, when the airline first started serving Dunkin’ coffee on its flights. In 2011, that escalated to Dunkin’ being its exclusive in-flight coffee. (That year to celebrate that partnership, representatives roamed through Boston and surprised 43 people seen carrying a Dunkin’ cup with a free roundtrip flight to any of the airline’s destinations out of that city. Why 43? That’s how many routes they had in 2011. They also gave passengers free Dunkin’ commemorative earbuds. We love stuff like that!)
Back before my area of California had any Dunkin’ locations, I used to love flying into Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in New Hampshire. We’d immediately turn right on the main road out of the airport and descend on that Dunkin’ location to have our much-dreamed-of chocolate crème filled and know that we were solidly in New England.
Fun bonus: if you want to watch a video of how workers paint the special livery on a plane, click here.