JetBlue selling month of flights for $599

The program covers all 56 JetBlue cities and runs from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8 with no blackout dates, the New York-based carrier said yesterday.

JetBlue’s network includes the United States and leisure destinations in Mexico, Costa Rica, and the Caribbean.

“We’ve never done anything like this before, and we think it’ll be well received,’’ said Bryan Baldwin, a spokesman. The offer ends Aug. 21, or earlier at the carrier’s discretion, and passes must be purchased over the phone, he said.

JetBlue’s promotion is a variation of the AAirpass sold by American Airlines, the world’s second-biggest carrier. The AAirpass provides 25,000 miles of travel to be flown within a year for $11,250, said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American.

US leisure travel typically declines after the Labor Day holiday in September, and the largest domestic airlines plan to respond to this year’s drop-off by trimming flights and jobs.

JetBlue’s traffic, as measured in miles flown by paying passengers, fell 4.6 percent through July as the recession caused businesses to curb travel spending. Over the same period, the airline’s planes flew 1.4 percentage points less full than a year earlier.

Tickets on the All-You-Can-Jet pass must be booked at least three days in advance of each flight, and there is a $100 penalty if the trip is later canceled, JetBlue said.

American’s AAirpass doesn’t have blackout dates and doesn’t require advance booking as long as there are seats available on the flight, according to Smith, the spokesman.

JetBlue rose 15 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $5.48 in Nasdaq trading. The airline is partly owned by Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG.