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Going, Going, Gone! JetBlue Auctions Seats

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The Associated Press

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 8, 2008

NEW YORK - JetBlue Airways Corp. is auctioning off more than 300 roundtrip flights and six vacation packages this week on eBay, with opening bids set between 5 and 10 cents.

The flights are to more than 20 destinations, including four "mystery" JetBlue Getaways Vacation packages to undisclosed locations.

The three-, five- and seven-day auctions include one- and two-person round-trip, weekend flights in September from cities including Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Boston, Chicago, New York and Salt Lake City, and Southern California.

Harlan Platt, a finance professor at Northeastern University, Boston, follows the airline industry and thinks the auctions will provide valuable "word-of-mouth" advertising for the discount carrier. "I think it's a great idea. In this day and age, people are inundated with ads as they are sitting on airplanes, or at airports," he said. "A subtle advertisement such as this could be very effective."

He said the auctions will likely bring final bids between 85 percent and 90 percent of the flight or package total value. "It's all about the cost of getting someone to notice you. And this provides a lot of bang for the buck," he said.

Each auction has a specific range of dates to travel. The dates, times and flight numbers will be posted when the customers bid.

Vacation packages include airfare and four-night stay for two at Marriott hotels in locations, including Las Vegas and Nassau, Bahamas.

Taxes and fees are additional and will vary according to the particular route. Bidders will need to have a PayPal account.

Flights leave Thursdays or Fridays and return Sundays or Mondays. Travel must be complete by Oct. 6. Customers can access auctions at www.jetblue.com/ebay.

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