Alaska Airlines' Mexico Sale
Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/426-0333; www.alaskaairlines.com) is at it again: offering fares on its site that are lower than the fares they offer to third party sites like SideStep. They're having an "up to" 25 Percent-Off Sale to Mexico" although in reality it's 15 percent-off to most places, and 25 percent-off only to Loreto, Mexico. Still, 15 percent is 15 percent, and on a Seattle to Cancun round-trip leaving October 9 and returning October 16, we found a $50 savings ($372 on Alaskaairlines.com vs. $422 round-trip on SideStep and its competitors). To get the discount, Alaska's e-mail told us to enter e-Cert code EC06105. And for additional savings, Alaska is offering a $10 e-Cert discount just for entering their "Take 10 Sweepstakes".
Last-Minute Packages to Europe
It used to be that if you wanted to travel to Europe at the last minute (without the usual 21-, 14- or 7-day advance purchase), you'd pay a ton of money. But, at least for flights departing from New York, we've been finding that not to be the case lately. Last weekend, we found about a dozen surprisingly low fares from New York and Newark to Europe, some of them under $500 round-trip, all available on a Thursday for travel that Friday, returning on the following Monday or Tuesday. Wondering if that were a fluke, we tried again today and found (without less than a week's notice) we could fly New York to Frankfurt on Delta for $564 (all fares quoted are inclusive of taxes and depart this Friday September 23, returning the following Monday, via Travelocity.com); or to London for $622 on Virgin (British Air wanted $1,603, more like what we're used to when we forget to plan ahead); or to Madrid for $575 on Air Comet ($2,315 on BA); or to Dublin for $618 ($965 on United in contrast); or to Geneva for $810 on British Airways for one person traveling or $704 per person for two people traveling together, including three nights' hotel using Travelocity's "TotalTrip" option (next lowest price without hotel $1,683 on United . . . going to show once again that it's sometimes cheaper to buy a package than airfare alone). Deals like this seem to be less prevalent from other cities, but they do exist. And when searching, be sure to look for the TotalTrip options, which include air and hotel, often for less than air alone. The savings on last-minute packages can be quite significant.
Domestic Last-Minute Deals on Site59
And speaking of last-minute packages, they're available for domestic trips too, and, as with European air/hotel packages, are often less than buying airfare alone. For example, you'd pay $283 including taxes for a flight this Saturday from New York LaGuardia to Miami on Delta or American (the lowest fares in the market); but a package bought on www.site59.com, including air on American and two nights at the Fairwind Hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach would set you back just $238 per person, based on two people traveling together, including taxes. Chicago to Toronto, same dates, would cost $669 round-trip on US Air; but it's $311 per person, including two nights at the Fairfield Inn Toronto Airport (other hotels available) on Site59; and a weekend trip from Atlanta to Montego Bay, leaving this Thursday and returning Sunday, with nonstop flights on Delta and 3 nights in a decent hotel, is going for $416 per person on Site59 including taxes compared to a lowest price of $785 round-trip air-only on United.
Independence Air Sale $39-$89 One-Way
Independence Air (tel. 800/359-3594; www.flyi.com) is having yet another sale, and they have a new booking engine display that's easier to use, showing at a glance fares for five days in a row. It's pretty cool: not exactly a true flexible date search, but better than you'll find on most airlines' sites. Travel is Monday-Thursday and Saturday at the lowest fares, which range from $39 one-way (no round-trip purchase necessary) for short hops up to $89 one-way for coast-to-coast flights, such as San Francisco to Boston or San Diego to Washington. Dates of travel are September 27 to December 14, except November 21-29. The sale fares are subject to availability and other airlines, if history guides us, will surely match.
South America on Sale
Travelocity www.travelocity.com is listing some very low fares on Avianca from New York, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale to multiple destinations in South America and to Aruba. And while they claim that they're "exclusive" and available only on Travelocity, we seemed to be able to find them on Orbitz and CheapAir as well. No matter, they're good and they require no advance purchase or minimum stay. Travel is valid through November 15, any day of the week that there's availability, and tickets must be purchased by October 15. Sample round-trip fares before taxes include New York to Lima for $415 (including the $5 Travelocity booking fee), Miami to Guayaquil (jumping off point for flights to the Galapagos) for $270, and Ft. Lauderdale to Quito for $282. In some cases, other carriers such as Lacsa and LAN have similar fares (or even a few bucks cheaper) but not to carp: these are great deals.
Frontier's Weekly Sale to and from Denver
Frontier Airlines (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com/sale/Fab5.asp) announces its "Fab Five" sale every week: five cities on sale from and to Denver. This week the sale includes Austin, Houston Intercontinental, Indianapolis and Milwaukee from $104 one-way and Kansas City from $94 one-way. Other airlines quickly matched the Milwaukee route, but so far haven't matched the others. Seats at these fares are generally available, and are lower than what you might otherwise pay, with the exception of Kansas City (Northwest is offering this route for $158 round-trip, although admittedly Frontier flies nonstop and NW doesn't). A round-trip purchase is required 14 days in advance, but on or before September 22, for travel Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday from October 4 through December 14.
Icelandair Two-For-Ones to Reykjavik
Icelandair (tel. 800/223-5500; www.icelandair.com) is offering a two-for-one sale but we're not quite sure it's an amazing deal. You can book by phone only. The listed fare from JFK is $365 round-trip plus taxes based on two people traveling together, but we were able to find that route on Travelocity for $348 round-trip ($496 with taxes) with the same travel dates. Travelocity listed San Francisco to Iceland for $398 round-trip plus with no advance purchase for travel through October 15, and without the requirement of bringing a pal along on the same itinerary; it's $400 plus per person in this sale, which must be booked by September 30 for travel outbound through October 31, with a maximum stay of 30 days.
United's Europe Sale: We'll Book the Non-Sale
United (tel. 800/241-6522; www.united.com) is having a Fall and "Winter Escapades Sale" to Europe, identified in its booking area by little gold stars. Prices "begin" at $139 one-way (that's New York/London of course) better known as $278 round-trip (can't these airlines multiply by two?), or about $378 with all taxes (and most likely, for that price, on Lufthansa with a change of planes in Frankfurt). But United's non-sale prices are lower in every case we checked. Washington to Zurich is $687.50 round-trip under the sale for a November 7-14 itinerary; but we'll take the airline's $444 "non-sale" fare, thanks awfully. Chicago to Amsterdam, same dates? $40 less in the "non-sale". Denver to Paris is $748 round-trip for travel November 2-7 with the little gold star, or $641 without. And speaking of New York to London, if you're looking for a deal, check out Newark to Gatwick instead of JFK to Heathrow. Virgin is selling seats on Continental's non stops for $268 including taxes (we checked November 8 out, November 14 return). The lowest all-in fare we could find, same dates, on a nonstop JFK/Heathrow was $458 on United, or almost $200 more.
Sept. 21 Update
Every day, for no apparent reason, airlines lower fares on certain routes without telling anyone. Usually it's just one airline that performs this fare reduction subterfuge, usually on just a couple of routes per city, and most often they're out of a competitor's hubs. Exactly why they do this is a mystery (airline fare people are notoriously tight lipped). But the point is: don't be surprised if a route or flight that you thought was prohibitively expensive one day (or one minute) suddenly plunges to levels that seem too good to be true the next.
Here's our list of the top dozen eye-popping, unadvertised, crazy low fares today (Wednesday, Sept 21). These fares are as volatile as they are low, and could change at any moment. All are round-trip, good for travel--subject to advance purchase requirements (usually 7 to 14 days)--until mid August next year (unless otherwise noted), work both ways (Charlotte to LA works from LA to Charlotte as well) and are valid for travel any day of the week unless otherwise noted. For more fares like these, visit www.AirfareWatchdog.com.
- Charlotte/Denver $138 (Continental; next lowest is $247 on Northwest)
- Charlotte/Los Angeles $198 (Northwest)
- Charlotte/Portland, OR $218 (Northwest, through December 15 only; next lowest $298 on everyone else)
- Charlotte/San Francisco $172 (American)
- Charlotte/Seattle $198 (Northwest, except Sunday/Friday)
- Charlotte/Tucson $128 (Delta)
- Cincinnati/New Orleans $138 (Northwest; Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday; $287 on other airlines)
- Colorado Springs/Chicago $209 (American; $383 on United)
- Colorado Springs/Dallas $149 (United; $260 on American)
- Detroit/Memphis $148 (US Airways; Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday; $20 higher Mon/Thu/Fri; next lowest fare is $218 on Continental)
- Philadelphia/Los Angeles $164 (American; $198 on other airlines)
- St. Louis/Colorado Springs $149 (United)
George Hobica is a syndicated travel journalist and blogger whose website, www.airfarewatchdog.com, tracks unadvertised airfare wars and other fare sales.
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