Virgin Atlantic London Fares for Spring, Summer, & Fall
OK people, here it is. This is your last call for snagging a low fare to London this spring. Virgin Atlantic (tel. 800/862-8621; www.virgin-atlantic.com) has some great deals on late May travel, which of course is an ideal time of year to visit. You'll get first dibs on those summer(ish) temperatures, minus the crowds and peak season prices.
- Boston to London $586 , incl. all taxes
- New York to London $554 , incl. all taxes
- Washington DC to London $582 , incl. all taxes
- Los Angeles to London $618 , incl. all taxes
- Chicago to London $592 , incl. all taxes
- Miami to London $794, incl. all taxes
After May, fares will jump, as they do on transatlantic routes come summer. But if you insist on doing the peak summer thing, Virgin Atlantic's fares are still reasonable. Visit our fare pages for London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports for a round-up of summer fares, as well as some bargains for fall.
Denver & West Coast Sale From Southwest
Left Coast folks looking for deals to Denver, or vice versa, should be sure to check out this lovely little sale from Southwest Airlines (tel. 800/435-9792; www.southwest.com). All fares are for nonstop service and must be booked by June 4:
- Denver to Los Angeles $145
- Denver to Oakland $158
- Denver to Portland $138
- Denver to San Diego $145
- Denver to Seattle $158
Also of note is Southwest's short-haul sale, with fares like Birmingham to New Orleans for $58 round-trip.
Midwest Summer Sale Ending Soon
If you hurry, you can just catch the tail end of Midwest Airlines' (tel. 800/452-2022; www.midwestairlines.com) Summer Sale, which expires May 9. Fares are good for Tuesday/Wednesday travel through November 19, and include:
- Boston to Flint $255
- New York to Kansas City $239
- Newark to Flint $185
- Milwaukee to Dayton $185
- Milwaukee to Minneapolis $205
- Milwaukee to New York $155
- Minneapolis to Dayton $255
- Kansas City to New York $239
- Omaha to Milwaukee $215
- Denver to Minneapolis $195
- Las Vegas to Appleton $275
- San Diego to Green Bay $255
- San Francisco to Grand Rapids $235
JetBlue Slips you a Fifty
Book a roundtrip on JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) by May 16 for travel by June 11 and you'll get a $50 voucher, good for travel between September 3 and October 31. Just register on the JetBlue site to qualify, and do so before midnight, May 16, and -- ta-da! -- you get the voucher.
Of course, there's a little fine print, such as: Offer may not be combined with other special offers and is available only for newly-booked travel; changes to existing travel are not eligible. Voucher may be applied only to future JetBlue travel that takes place between September 3 and October 31, 2008. You can find that thrills-a-minute fine print in its entirety over at Airfarewatchdog.
AirTran's $25 Off Mother's Day Deal
Sure, it's not as much as what JetBlue is offering (hey, times are tough, and not every airline can count Lufthansa as a sugardaddy), but every little bit helps, right? All you have to do is sign up for AirTran's Net Escapes newsletter by Mother's Day on May 11, and you'll receive a $25 coupon, which must be used by May 11, and is good for travel through January 15. Sounds easy enough, and you can find some pretty terrific fares in their Net Escapes. We do all the time. Click here to sign up.
Frontier's Horsing Around Sale
Frontier's (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com) current Horsing Around sale (as in, quit horsing around, these fares won't last) may not be the best thing we've ever seen, but these fares are certainly lower than what other carriers are offering at the moment. And you'll find the fares to be particularly good to/from Aspen.
These fares are good for Tuesday/Wednesday travel and all purchases must be made by May 12:
- Albuquerque to Aspen $245
- El Paso to Aspen $245
- Aspen to Kansas City $254
- Billings to Aspen $245
- Durango to Albuquerque $245
- Salt Lake City to Durango $245
- Austin to Aspen $265
- Durango to Las Vegas $265
- El Paso to Durango $265
- Durango to Tucson $265
- Fargo to Aspen $265
- Minneapolis to Aspen $265
- Rapid City to Grand Junction $265
- St Louis to Aspen $265
Philadelphia Air France Sale
Air France (tel. 800/237-2747; www.airfrance.com) is having a small European sale exclusively from Philadelphia that should be good enough to catch the fancy of anyone from New York to Washington, Baltimore and beyond. Fares start at $750 non-stop to Paris with connections to a slew of favorite summer destinations, including Nice and Venice, Barcelona and Bordeaux, Florence and Lisbon, Copenhagen and Vienna, to mention just a few. Seats are easy to find for August travel and also available for some July departures. So far this year, these types of sales have been extremely short-lived, so don't dilly-dally over these fine Philly fares for too long or they will be gone in a jiffy!
- Philadelphia to Berlin $819 , incl. all taxes
- Philadelphia to Nice $777 , incl. all taxes
- Philadelphia to Paris $744 , incl. all taxes
- Philadelphia to Stockholm $889 , incl. all taxes
- Philadelphia to Milan $730, incl. all taxes
Visit our Philadelphia city page for more of these great fares!
American Adds 2nd Bag Fee
No surprise here. American (tel. 800/433-7300; www.aa.com) has joined the other "legacy" carriers in adding this fee. As with the other airlines, this applies only to domestic flights, and certain frequent flyers, plus first and business class passengers, are exempt. But the real danger to your wallet remains the charges for oversized or overweight bags, which incur charges of $100 each way. So if you have a bag that weighs over 50 pounds and is larger than 62 inches in total linear dimensions (height plus width plus length, which is typical of 32 inch suitcases, such as this snazzy model from Rimowa) then you will pay, get this, $400 roundtrip, or, if it's a second bag, $450 RT. Probably more than your airfare. This is probably why we've noticed that 32 inch suitcases are the same price as smaller models: they're just not selling.
Seating Superlatives: Who Offers the Most Legroom in Coach?
Ever squeeze yourself into that little elfin coach seat and contort your legs into a crazy origami tangle, and wonder, "Hmm...is this normal? Are all seats as small and as dinky as this one? Am I in Narnia?" Well, chances are you just got a seat with lousy pitch. No, no, we don't mean pitch as in the Simon Cowell/American Idol sense. We're talking about the roominess of your seat. So who has the most comfy coach seating? And the worst? Click here for our seating superlatives.
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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