Top Chef groupies can get a coveted seat at the dinner table for season nine's "Restaurant Wars" episode. And as any true TC fan worth his weight in foie gras can tell you, "Restaurant Wars" is always the single most exciting, drama-filled show.

If you're hungry to see next season's cheftestants up close; taste their dishes; meet Padma, Tom Colliccio and the guest judges; and get some face time on camera, you can bid for a table for two, donated by Padma, through a charity auction that benefits the Endometriosis Foundation of America. When we last checked, the bid was up to $6,600.]]> Jennifer Kester 2011-03-16T09:23:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/9/9/104845/8412

One lucky Twihard will finally have a chance to prove they are the biggest fan of the Twilight franchise by putting their money where their mouth is.

Stand Up To Cancer, which is hosting an all-star benefit tomorrow night on the major networks, is auctioning off a "Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn" Vancouver Set Visit with all proceeds going to collaborative cancer research. ]]> cmb 2010-09-09T13:34:46-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/10/5238/1165

Although Priceline pioneered bidding for your vacation 11 years ago, the recession is forcing other travel operators to go on the online auction block. Online auctions allow companies to make unload some unsold inventory and make some quick cash and you can benefit by fetching a good price. Let's look at a few, shall we?

· Generous Adventures Travel Auction
This site has been around even longer than Priceline, but Generous Adventures still differentiates itself from other auction sites by donating its profits to non-profit organizations. Just think, if you bid on the "Best of Tuscany" trip (bid starting at $100), a full-day tour of Tuscany with lunch and wine tastings included, getting drunk will help others.

Check after the jump for more travel websites where you can place a bid.]]> Jennifer Kester 2009-12-10T09:09:41-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/8154/0885

Time to check the balance in your PayPal account, because there’s only a few days left until bidding ends for the inaugural flight of the A380 on Air France. Prices for the economy seats start at just $380—clever—every day and slowly begin to creep up. However, as of this morning, we were able to see a couple seats that were still $380-ish and several more between $400 and $500. Fares like that are decent deal for a transatlantic crossing on an old plane, but flying across the Atlantic on a jumbo-jumbo makes it almost a steal. Too bad the bids will likely keep on rolling on.

Bidders can choose between the Paris to New York launch on November 20 and the New York to Paris journey on November 21. All proceeds from the auctions will be donated to humanitarian organizations supported by the Air France Foundation. We’re not totally sure if that means you can use your trip as a tax deduction, but we’d definitely check with an authority a little more reliable than TurboTax. ]]> kjb 2009-10-19T10:25:28-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/1/14193/1496

Details are finally here for that Air France auction we gave you the heads up on in August. Starting today and going through October 21, Air France will be auctioning off tickets for the maiden voyage of their new A380.

The flights will go from NYC to Paris on November 20th and then back on November 21st, but of course the auctions are starting well in advance. Each round of bidding will last 3, 5, 7, or 10 days and all proceeds will go to Air France Foundation charities. You can go to the main auction site for more details.

Ticket winners will be eligible for an array of perks collectively described as an "itinerary of cultural activities and shopping." For the NYC-Paris flight that basically means they'll take you to all kinds of small stores where you can drop your devalued USD's, the upshot being you can tell people their Christmas presents came from "Parisian boutiques." The Paris-NYC flight will also have three "key figures in the world of art and culture," the presence of which will presumably be a boon to star-struck passengers.]]> Omri 2009-10-01T14:48:13-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/3/111218/5677

What's the reason to buy and fly one of the giant Airbus A380s? Well, profit of course; more seats jammed into one flight means more paying passengers. Alas, this won't be the case when Air France becomes the third airline to trot out their A380.

Just like Singapore Airlines before them, Air France is using their first flight—from Paris-CDG to New York-JFK on November 21—to mainly get publicity by auctioning off 380 of the 538 seats on the flight and the return for charity. We can expect the rest of those seats to probably be press and airline officials. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-08-03T12:29:28-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/