Frommers.com Airfare Deals and News for the Week of July 25, 2008

Midwest Late Summer Sale & Service Cut Backs

Midwest (tel. 800/452-2022; www.midwestairlines.com) is offering one last summer hoorah, good for travel from July 29 through September 7. We've found some of the best fares of this sale to be to/from Orlando. Fares require a 7-day advance purchase, as well as a Friday or Saturday night stay. All tickets must be booked by July 28, and round-trip fares include:

• Orlando to Minneapolis $205
• Des Moines to Baltimore $245
• Grand Rapids to Indianapolis $235
• Orlando to Des Moines $205
• Madison to Orlando $205
• New York to Appleton $285
• Muskegon to Baltimore $245

As you may have heard by now, Midwest recently announced plans to cut service to Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, and San Diego as of September 8. And Midwest Connect, their regional jet service, will discontinue flights to Baltimore, Hartford, St Louis, San Antonio, and Louisville. This is basically round two of route eliminations for the struggling carrier, having already scrapped service to Austin, Charlotte, Colorado Springs, and Duluth. Doesn't exactly inspire consumer confidence, but that's why we strongly suggest that you purchase your Midwest flights using a credit card from here on out. And make certain that you plan on completing your trip within 60 days of the date of purchase, to ensure you're covered under the Fair Credit Billing Act. Better safe than sorry!

China Airlines (tel. 800/227-5118; www.china-airlines.com) has a couple of great web fares up right now. Los Angeles to Hong Kong is $850 round-trip, before taxes. That fare is good for outbound travel from August 24 through October 8, with a maximum stay of 2 months.

• Los Angeles to Hong Kong $925, including all taxes

Also from China Airlines: Honolulu to Tokyo is $925 round-trip, before taxes. Again, this fare is available only from their website, and is good for outbound travel from July 19 through August 25, and only on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. There's a maximum stay of 6 months, and all purchases must be made by July 31.

• Honolulu to Tokyo $998, including all taxes

With all the service cutbacks, it's nice to see someone actually adding routes. Beginning December 17, Delta (tel. 800/221-1212; www.delta.com) will offer service to Cranbrook, British Columbia. Book by August 22 to snag these intro round-trip prices, good for travel January 7 through April 1. And sorry to squash your romantical Valentine's Day dreams but blackout dates include February 14, 15, 21, and 22 of 2009.

• Albuquerque to Cranbrook BC $384
• Atlanta to Cranbrook BC $363
• Boston to Cranbrook BC $384
• Denver to Cranbrook BC $320
• Dallas to Cranbrook BC $449
• Las Vegas to Cranbrook BC $384
• Los Angeles to Cranbrook BC $384
• Kansas City to Cranbrook BC $341
• Philadelphia to Cranbrook BC $363
• Phoenix to Cranbrook BC $384
• Reno to Cranbrook BC $320
• San Diego to Cranbrook BC $341
• San Francisco to Cranbrook BC $320

American Airlines (tel. 800/433-7300; www.aa.com) has brought back their Tokyo sale, this time for outbound departures August 26 through October 31, with all travel completed by November 30. Round-trip fares must be purchased by July 29 and include:

• Boston to Tokyo $1,279, including all taxes
• Chicago to Tokyo $1,165, including all taxes
• Denver to Tokyo $1,279, including all taxes
• Detroit to Tokyo $1,279, including all taxes
• Ft. Lauderdale to Tokyo $1,279, including all taxes
• Nashville to Tokyo $1,291, including all taxes
• Phoenix to Tokyo $1,282, including all taxes
• Washington DC to Tokyo $1,279, including all taxes

Are the airlines done with online booking sites? A while back, we noticed many carriers getting in the habit of saving their best sale fares for their own sites, rather than paying booking commissions to Orbitz or Travelocity or the rest of the gang. And nowadays, with so many major service cuts, layoffs, and newly imposed passenger fees, the idea of canning those third-party booking commissions seems to make even more sense. Already, word on the street is that one major airline is about to make the jump. Will the other airlines follow? More on that in the Airfarewatchblog.

Alaska Airlines (tel. 800/426-0333; www.alaskaair.com) joins the small club of airline web sites with a 30-day flexible date search see how it works. American has a 31-day search (domestic round-trips only) and Southwest has their "Shortcut" which allows you to search any 30 day period outbound and any other 30 day period on the return. But most airline sites just do a 1 to 3 day flexible date search, if they offer it at all.

Alaska's new product allows you to:

• View an entire month of fares for your chosen destination(s) and see the lowest fare available for each day of the month
• View lowest fares for both outbound and return flights
• Filter your search to only display First Class fares
• View your total fare in an easy-to-use Trip Summary table
• However, for fares to Mexico, the search range is only 3 days.

There are still lots of low fares out there, but increasingly you have to be extra flexible in your travel dates to nab them. So kudos to Alaska for making it easier to do so.

Sorry, Ontario, CA, you won't have JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) after Sept 3, 2008, and will cut seat capacity by 10 percent and has no plans to grow capacity in 2009. Read the press release. If you've already purchased seats on the New York JFK to Ontario nonstop route for travel after Sept 3, you can get a refund, or ask the airline to switch you to Long Beach or Burbank.

Starting Sept 1, ExpressJet (tel. 888/958-9538; www.expressjet.com) will no longer be flying as an independent carrier and will go back to serving as a regional affiliate for Continental Express, serving over 150 destinations.

Meanwhile, it's having a goodbye sale for travel August 13 to September 1, with a 14-day advance purchase and a $50 change fee, should you need to change travel dates. All fares can be bought one-way, with no round-trip purchase required.

What's the one place in the airport where security has actually decreased over the years? At baggage carousels! And as if baggage fees weren't enough to convince you to ship your belongings, now comes news that carousel theft is on the rise. www.airfarewatchdog.com, tracks unadvertised airfare wars and fare sales, including the most helpful and always updated Top 50 Airfares.

Talk with fellow Frommer's readers on our Air Travel Message Boards today.