JetBlue doesn’t know what to do with a tablet app, so it’ll give free travel for a year to someone who does

JetBlue was late to the mobile-apps game, having launched its first iPhone app earlier this year, and now the airline is soliciting help from Facebook fans to develop a new tablet app.

A ThinkUp tab on the JetBlue Facebook page asks U.S. users to “come up with an idea for JetBlue’s first tablet experience; if your submission gets the most votes, you’ll win flights for an entire year!”

Actually, five grand prize winners will each receive JetBlue travel certificates for two roundtrip tickets per month for a year, with the traveler responsible for paying the fees, surcharges and taxes.

The contest runs from November 19 to December 2, and entrants are instructed to submit an idea in 300 characters or less and/or a visual representation (no videos) of what they’d like to see in JetBlue’s first tablet app.

Submissions must be submitted in one of the following categories: functional, fun & games, ticketing & deals, loyalty/TrueBlue, educational, or other. The submissions will be judged for their creativity/originality, the quality of the description or visible representation, the idea’s feasibility, and relevance to JetBlue, with each area worth 25% of the score.

JetBlue will pick up to 30 submissions to be put on Facebook and then users will vote on them, selecting the winners.

Apart from the travel certificates, users aren’t compensated for the submissions and JetBlue is under no obligation to use the ideas.

For JetBlue, the contest is an interesting way to spur some user engagement and perhaps come up with an alluring an idea or two for its maiden foray into tablets.