Airlines Tweet Cheap Seats

JetBlue and United Airlines have been promoting cheap airfares for only few months, USA Today reports. United started using its account for the limited-time offers in May. JetBlue first used the service July 6 to advertise $9 tickets from New York's JFK Airport to Nantucket, Mass.

The carriers use tweets on their accounts to promote cheap Twitter-only airfares, calling them "Cheeps" and "twares."

"Twares are all about surprising our customers with low fares for a very, very limited time," a United spokeswoman told USA Today.

The airlines use the brief, 140-character messages to fill seats on flights that could be left empty in addition to e-mails sent to passengers looking for reduced fares. However, the deals only last for a few hours at a time — topping out at eight for JetBlue, two at United — and are available only a week or two in advance. Special prices available via e-mail are usually available for more than a day.