I’ve heard people ask a lot of questions about the byzantine world of airline pricing.   The process is so bizarre, that an entire company (Farecast.com) was built to help consumers decide the best time to purchase.   That company was then bought by Microsoft for millions.

But WCBSTV.com reports that now JetBlue brings us a promotion, that if successful, could break the model.   The airline 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.

If implemented on a wider basis, those who want to fly the most will pay the most fot eh ticket.   There would be potentially no ceiling on highly sought after flights – but potentially no floor either.   I think the interesting thing will be to see what amount of “bargain buys” would go unused.   If I can lock down a $40 flight to LA for 3 months from now, I would gladly pay the pittance.   But who knows when November rolls around if I use it or not.   Anytway, this is an interesting promotion to watch.

Remember when Metallica was visiting Napster, trying to get music downloaders fined?  Well apparently even guys with that kind of conviction can be swayed.

Wired reports that the band launched a promotion on YouTube featuring their favorite Metallica cover songs on the site. Drummer Lars Ulrich introduces
their selections.  They have their own channel, called MetallicaTV.

I don’t have too much of a take on this, other than I think it’s always encouraging when stalwart opponents of common sense eventually come around.  I’d love to give my feedback on the site from a social media perspective…..but I can’t get the channel to work in Google Chrome.  It all shows up fine, but no videos wiil play.   Is this common for other people, or just me?

Hey, it’s a slow news week since all of the Marketing world is on vacation.  And I’m still tired from a fun weekend in Oregon.  But I know the rules of blogging say I need to post something tout suite…so here’s what you get for this Tuesday’s entry.  To connect it to marketing, let’s call it a story on how every detail on your packaging or direct mail piece is important.

“In 1878 the French had acquired rights to construct a canal across the
Isthmus of Panama. For numerous reasons, the project failed. However, a
young French engineer, Philippe Jean Bunau-Varilla, still believed that
a canal could be built in Panama. Unable to get any action on the
project in France, Bunau-Varilla went to Washington, D.C., to see if he
could interest any congressmen in the venture. There he found that a
bill was pending to build a canal through Nicaragua, not Panama,
especially since the existence of Lake Nicaragua would cut the costs of
construction. “Bunau-Varilla promptly became a one-man lobby. He
obtained several hundred Nicaraguan postage stamps, which showed a
picture of one of the country’s small volcanoes in full eruption.
Bunau-Varilla wrote a brief letter to each congressman, asking, in
effect, if it was really wise to build a canal–at great cost to the
American taxpayers–through a country which was filled with active
volcanoes. With each letter went one of the Nicaraguan stamps. The
congressmen read the letter, looked at the stamp, and decided not to
vote funds for a canal through Nicaragua.” Two years later, in 1904,
Congress approved the canal project for Panama.”

Of course, this story could also be titled, “Apparently U.S. Congressmen are no smarter or dumber than those of 130 years ago.”