JetBlue's new free flight promotion with Amazon has gone horribly wrong - and customers are furious
- JetBlue's Get Packing! game comes with a free flight for the winner.
- The game was to debut on Amazon at 12 pm ET on Tuesday.
- Angry customers complained on Twitter that the game was never available.
- JetBlue will try to launch the game again on December 18.
JetBlue's marketing department came up with a great idea. Create a fun little board game called Get Packing! where the winner receives a free flight on JetBlue and sell it through Amazon for the low price of $19.99.
Extra buzz for the airline while 200 lucky people fly for free. A win for everyone involved.
It's like JetBlue's version of Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket.
But when it came time for consumers to actually order the game on Tuesday. Things didn't go as planned. Potential JetBlue passengers promptly logged onto to Amazon at 12 pm ET, but alas. No game.
Shoppers either got a message saying the game wasn't available or were told by Amazon that it was available from third-party sellers at exorbitant prices.
Some customers reported paying more than $40 for the game while one seller offered the game for $9,999.
Needless to say, the Twittersphere was not pleased. Words like scam and price gouging were bandied about. One jilted customer has even started a new hashtag #getpackingscam.Some accused bots of snapping up the games before actual consumers could reach them. According to JetBlue, the game was supposed to be limited to one copy per Amazon account.
Forty-five minutes after the promotion was scheduled to debut on Amazon, the JetBlue game's listing on the website was updated to show that it was sold out and that another allotment will be available on December 18 at 3 pm ET.
Thus far, JetBlue has not issued any official explanation as to what happened during the game's launch.
Airline representatives declined to comment on the matter when asked by Business Insider.
As for that free flight, the winner of Get Packing! would receive a certificate for a complimentary flight. The certificate is good for travel from January 1 through December 31, 2018, with the exception of certain blackout dates.
Here's what people are saying on Twitter about JetBlue's Get Packing! game.
Me hitting refresh for this jetblue get packing game pic.twitter.com/jyQQFD33oP
- Boring (@CallMeBayley) December 12, 2017
Congratulations @JetBlue for pissing off and alienating thousands of customers.
Did ANYONE get the game? Or was it a publicity scam?
- DecemBearcat (@TheRealCosmik) December 12, 2017
Yes! @JetBlue board game with free round trip flight acquired! pic.twitter.com/ZF9c8ckzBm
- Patrick Hickey (@PatBlue) December 12, 2017
@JetBlue did the game ever become available on Amazon? I have been refreshing nonstop for the past 4 minutes and it has said unavailable the whole time :"(
- jennal0lz (@jennal0lz) December 12, 2017
So, that @JetBlue promo game being sold on @amazon did NOT go well. I never saw it up for sale and now we have resellers going nuts pic.twitter.com/yQJKTizD7O
- Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) December 12, 2017
So I bought a #GetPacking board game from @amazon says sold by Amazon not a third party but I was charged $37?? @JetBlue is this legit?
- *delsino* (@ALAdnama) December 12, 2017
I was really excited for the @JetBlue Get Packing! promo at 12 EST today on @amazon. Instead of being able to get a great gift, after refreshing the page for 30 mins, I got responses ranging from "unavailable", to "only available from resellers", to sold out. pic.twitter.com/ARPeenMyJm
- Courtney (@CourtneyWMay) December 12, 2017
@JetBlue @amazon The Get Packing! board game was one of the most poorly executed, unsecured against bots scam to date. Getting your hands on a SNES Classic was cake compared to this. Terrible. Absolutely Terrible.
- Luis Ingram (@drippcity) December 12, 2017
@JetBlue how is the Get Packing game sold out if t was never available? I've been refreshing the page and it was never there! #unfair
- Kristen Garrone (@krissygarrone) December 12, 2017
Reviews and questions on @Amazon for @JetBlue's Get Packing game are overwhelmingly dark. Such a great PR idea with what appears to be a flawed deployment. Now folks are paying twice the price to resellers… Sans free ticket, we must assume.
- Airline Reporter (@AirlineReporter) December 12, 2017
#getpacking already price gouging pic.twitter.com/KbCoPFbR3K
- Allis0n (@allis0n8) December 12, 2017
#getpackingscam This promotion was a complete scam.
- Andrew Most (@rebo617) December 12, 2017
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