Long Beach (CA) – JetBlue, a low-cost air carrier, has started auctioning hundreds of flights and some “mystery” vacation packages on eBay.  With starting bids of 5 and 10 cents, many of these auctions have zoomed up to more than $3000 as people hope to win luxurious trips to Las Vegas, Aruba or the Bahamas.  But according to one website, some of these early bidders are being suckered into paying too much.

JetBlue is known for its nice leather seats and satellite television feeds piped into video screens on every seat.  So far, the carrier has auctioned several hundred round-trip flights from and to various airports within its network.  Most of these flights have sold for approximately 90% to 95% of the regular price.

Ok so JetBlue loses a little bit of money with the flight sales, but the vacation packages are turning out to be a different story.  Between four and six “mystery” vacation packages are available at any one time on eBay and these offer a five day/four nights stay at four-star Marriott hotels and round-trip flights to popular vacation destinations like Las Vegas, Orlando, and the Bahamas.

Winners of the mystery vacation auctions won’t know the final destination until after they win and pay for the auction – hence the term mystery auction – but the folks at jaunted.com analyzed JetBlue’s flight schedule and discovered that many of the bids are just way too high.

Many of the vacation packages have bids up to $2000 to $3000, but Jaunted.com found that this was a few hundred to almost a thousand dollars above market price – that is if you paid for the flight and hotel yourself.  One trip, Jaunted said, was apparently to Aruba and the flight and hotel should cost approximately $2100, but bidders popped the price up above $3000.  The pattern is the same with other vacation packages to Cancun, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.

Ouch…. Sure you get the excitement of winner an auction, but you also get the stinging defeat of being ripped off.

it's the fun of the auction, it happen with many other things on ebay

Sep 12, 2008 19:19     

so if they bid, and they are happy, what's the problem. Many items on ebay are more expensive then if you did a websearch and looked on other sites, but this doesn't stop people from bidding, enjoying the win, and enjoying what they bought. More often then not, you can find most new things cheaper if you are willing to do the research and be patient.
kodi report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

So?

Sep 12, 2008 23:15     

Isn't that kind of the point of an auction? Let the bidders determine what price they are willing to pay? Who cares if you feel it's exorbitant, just don't bid if you feel that way.
anonymous report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

ebay is good but expensive costs

Sep 13, 2008 00:05     

I agree /, I sold some B&W tweeters i got for £5 but sold for £87 plus £8.75 postage "WoW" people seem to mental at times, especially when they start bidding from a couple of pence. Its very addictive (Bidding)
x1reme report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What is wrong with telling people they are being ripped off?

Sep 15, 2008 08:15     

If people want to be ripped off that is cool. Why do you have a problem with TG warning people that they will be ripped of by purchasing one of the vacation packages. Consumer education is a good thing.
Ralf The Dog report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2