Online Airfare Auctions: The Future, Perhaps

Although it's not the first airline to conduct an auction, JetBlue Airways probably is the first to conduct its own wide-ranging, multiple-route auction on eBay. JetBlue Airways' move has captured the public's imagination and garnered lots of publicity, and in all likelihood the prices realized could match its regular fares. It's possible such auctions by airlines could become a common means of selling fares in the future. Credit: BMcD

How much am I bid for a weekend vacation for two flying from New York City to Nassau in the Bahamas?

Air travelers are setting their own airfares — subject to a host of restrictions — in JetBlue Airways’ auction of its own plane tickets on eBay, the popular online auction site.

The first-of-its-kind auction, accessible at www.jetblue.com/ebay, runs through Sunday, and could produce some good deals for travelers – along with some risk.

The example quoted above is actual, not theoretical. Through mid-afternoon Friday, the New York-Nassau round-trip-plus-hotel package had a high bid of $1,580.88, not counting $200 and change in fees and taxes.

People have long bid for plane tickets on outlets such as Priceline.com, of course. Individual travelers have sold their own tickets on eBay. Last October, Singapore Airlines sold tickets to the first flight of the superjumbo Airbus A380 on eBay and gave the proceeds to charity. But aviation watchers believe this is the first time an airline has sold tickets to its flights through the online auction giant for profit.

Offers for 300 tickets and six vacation packages good for roundtrip travel on selected days to 20-odd U.S. and a few foreign destinations for travel that must be completed by Oct. 6 started at 5 cents. It was a great attention-getting gambit for JetBlue, but the nickel fares didn’t stand for long.

As the Sunday deadline closes in, bids are likely to trend ever-higher. So far, consumer advocates tracking the JetBlue program say, travelers are bidding at 85 to 90 percent of standard fares.

The auction is a smart promotional move by JetBlue. September and October are slow months in air travel, coming after the summer leisure travel rush and before the end of the year family holidays. Even with the reduced number of flights and use of smaller jetliners on many routes this fall, money-losing airlines hammered by the slow economy and high price of fuel are still having trouble filling seats. Anything that cranks up the “load factor’’ — the percentage of seats sold — works for the airlines.

If the online auction plays out as JetBlue hopes, the well-regarded New York discount carrier may do it again, according to JetBlue spokespeople.

Other airlines, too, must be watching to see if the eBay model flies — and they must be noting that the seller, by setting up its own auction, doesn’t have to pay auction fees on eBay.

The risk? For air travelers, there is a potential for online fraud, always a threat at popular sites such as eBay, Craigslist, Auto Trader and others. The sites themselves are legitimate, but fraudsters love to troll online, and PayPal — the only way eBay is accepting payment in the JetBlue auction — is a favorite of scammers ‘’phishing’’ for your personal information.

As always, be careful what you click on. But if you follow simple guidelines for safe Web shopping, which can be found easily on the Internet with a search, you might land a good airfare in this novel online auction.

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