Frommers.com Airfare Deals and News for the Week of September 28, 2007

Qantas sale to Australia with Free New Zealand stopover

This deal, from Qantas (tel. 800/227-4500; www.qantas.com) expires September 30, so consider this your final boarding call. Fly from L.A. or San Francisco to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, or Cairns for $944 RT plus taxes of about $120, with a free optional stopover in Auckland.

This is good for travel between November 1 through November 30.

Well, finally, we say. Starting Dec. 17, Skybus (no phone; www.skybus.com) will be flying routes that do not include Columbus, Ohio. Look for flights between Portsmouth, NH, located just north of Boston, to both St. Augustine (for Jacksonville and Daytona Beach) and Punta Gorda, Florida (near Ft. Myers) for $10 each way.

• Portsmouth, NH to St. Augustine $20 round-trip
• Portsmouth, NH to Punta Gorda $20 round-trip

Some of the best fares we've seen to Europe this season happen to be codeshares with Lufthansa and United Airlines. What's a codeshare, you ask? Well, that's when one airline buys a bunch of seats on another airline at a contract price, and then sells them for whatever they can get. For example, Delta flies nonstop from New York to Pisa, and Alitalia, which doesn't fly that route nonstop, wants to list that flight in its schedule. This makes Alitalia look like a bigger, more comprehensive airline, which supposedly is good for business. Delta and Alitalia are then said to be in a code share agreement on that route.

Right now, there's a slew of terrific fares to Italy and France, thanks to these Lufthansa/United codeshares. Take a look at some of the most recent, all of which are round-trip and include taxes:

• New York to Bologna $529 on Lufthansa/United
• New York to Turin $568 on Lufthansa/United
• New York to Genova $532 on Lufthansa/United
• New York to Trieste $522 on Lufthansa/United
• New York to Florence $542 on Lufthansa/United
• Los Angeles to Marseille $577 on Lufthansa/United
• Chicago to Marseille $589 on Lufthansa/United

Homesick young Canucks making their way in Vegas may enjoy this little unadvertised sale from WestJet (tel. 800/538-5696; www.westjet.com). We suspect these fares will be finito fast, so grab 'em while you can:

• Las Vegas to Calgary $195 round-trip
• Las Vegas to Edmonton $195 round-trip
• Las Vegas to Ottawa $254 round-trip
• Las Vegas to Thunder Bay $303 round-trip
• Las Vegas to Vancouver $195 round-trip
• Las Vegas to Winnipeg $225 round-trip

This November, JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) will add service between Orlando and Buffalo, Syracuse, and Portland, ME. Look for introductory fares as low as $79 each way from Rochester and Portland, and $69 each way from Buffalo.

These fare are good for travel from November 27 through December 19, followed by the holiday blackout dates, and pick right back up from January 8 through January 11.

For travel between Orlando and Portland, sale fares are valid from January 10 through February 15.

• Buffalo to Orlando $138 round-trip
• Rochester to Orlando $158 round-trip
• Orlando to Portland ME $158 round-trip

For you surfing enthusiasts out there, Cathay Pacific (tel. 800/233-2742; www.cathaypacific.com) is offering Los Angeles to Bali for as low as $735 round-trip, including taxes. They've also thrown in a free baggage allowances for surfboards, good only for this sale.

• With taxes, that $735 comes to about $816 round-trip, which is still several hundred less than what the other guys are offering for this route.
• This sale is valid for departures before November 30, and all travel must be completed by December 15.
• Los Angeles to Bali/Denpasar, Indonesia $816 on Cathay Pacific

When making plans for the weekend, most folks adhere to the standard Friday departure and Sunday return. After all, no one wants to spend their Saturday schlepping through airport cattle-queues, right? Well, that's precisely why Saturday is one of the best days (and by best, we mean cheap) to travel. Midweek, many airlines trot out their list of weekend fares, most of which depart the coming Saturday, or Thursday, and return Monday or Tuesday (that other cheap day of the week). For those who have no qualms about extending their weekend by an extra day or so (very brave of you!), here's a run down of some of the best fares for the weekends of September 29 and October 6.

• Atlanta to St Louis $138 on AirTran, for travel October 5, 6, 8, and 9
• Denver to Albuquerque $140 on United, for travel September 28 (after 7p.m.) or 29 through October 1 or 2.
• Minneapolis to Miami $178 on AirTran, for travel September 28, or 29 through October 1 or 2.
• Philadelphia to Milwaukee $188 on AirTran, for travel September 28, or 29 through October 1 or 2
• Dallas to Atlanta $158 on Delta, for travel September 29 through October 1 or 2
• San Diego to Phoenix $144 on US Airways, for travel September 29 through September 30, October 1 or 2
• Newark to Norfolk $99 on Continental, for travel September 29 through October 1 or 2

For more weekend fares from your town, find your airport page here www.lufthansa.com) flights to Europe. Depart anytime between October 1 and December 6 and return no later than December 13. This clipless coupon is available to < ahref="http://www.orbitz.com Orbitz members only, so register to receive yours by email.

Be aware that the discount applies only to the base fare portion of the ticket price, not to the taxes and fees which can sometimes be higher. It also can only be used towards Lufthansa flights, and does not include Lufthansa-United code-shares.

Let's face it. As an industry, airlines have never made money since the Wright Brothers. Because of this mismanagement, they've decided to try lining their coffers by coming up with a slew of obnoxious extra charges. We're not so steamed about paying to see TV, or using the Internet aloft, or even paying for something to eat or drink. After all, planes are not flying restaurants or movie theaters, and why should we all pay for a movie that only some of us watch? And we're not even peeved by those escalating excess baggage charges, which can sometimes cost more than your fare, although some airlines (especially international ones) clearly overdo it. So then what exactly are we peeved about? Visit our blog for fees that really get our goat.

Additional reporting by Tracy W. Stewart and Bo Borre

George Hobica is a syndicated travel journalist and blogger whose website, www.airfarewatchdog.com, tracks unadvertised airfare wars and fare sales, including the most helpful and always updated Top 50 Airfares.

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