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Home›Tips & News›Air Travel›Frommers.com Airfare Deals and News for the Week of August 29, 2008

Frommers.com Airfare Deals and News for the Week of August 29, 2008

An odd, one-way sale from JetBlue, Frontier's new fees, and a slew of special fares to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America from American Airlines.

By George Hobica

Airfarewatchdog.com

American Airlines Grenada Sale

Starting November 2, American Airlines (tel. 800/433-7300; www.aa.com) will begin non-stop service between Miami and Grenada. Fares from Miami and Orlando start at $172 each way. Other departure cities included in this introductory round-trip sale include:

All fares must be booked by September 8, for departures beginning November 2.

JetBlue Seven Day Sale

Well, here's something new. JetBlue is offering really cheap fares to various destinations, but only in one direction and only for one day of travel (travel days vary depending on route). Fares are available only on their site. As it says on their site, "Offers change daily. Be sure to check back each day."

Although these fares are super low, they may not be of much use to everyone. For example: Moving to Orlando and you were thinking of leaving on September 12? Well, change it to September 10 and fly for $49! You can combine a cheap one-way fare with a more expensive fare in the other direction, and save some cash, so as long as you have flexible travel dates, this could be a bargain

Fares are as low as $19 (Long Beach to Sacramento one way on September 16) and range up to $99 (Long Beach to Boston on October 20). Perhaps JetBlue looked at their inventory and saw a bunch of undersold flights and decided what the heck. The sale is titled, "Seven Days of Super Low Fares to Lots of Destinations."

We'll be watching this very closely. In our humble opinion, more and more airlines will be bypassing the Kayaks and selling super low fares only on their own sites, as American, Southwest, Allegiant, and Spirit already do. And speaking of Spirit...

Spirit: Not the Most Popular Kid in Class These Days

We hear our fare share of complaints from angry passengers, but no airline can come close to the number of gripes we hear about Spirit Airlines (www.spiritair.com). Apparently some of you aren't fans. And remember that whole reply-to-all fiasco a while back? Long story short: The CEO of Spirit responded to an email forwarded from an employee, regarding a customer complaint. Mr. CEO shoots off very unpleasant email, something along the lines of let 'em tell the world how bad we are, they'll be back when we save 'em a penny. And proceeded to press reply-to-all, sending the email not only to his employee but also to the unhappy customer. Ouch. How very Mr. Burns! Not exactly the best way to inspire customer loyalty. And we won't even get into those risqué sale names, guaranteed to make mothers blush and/or leave you clutching your pearls in total shock (if you know, you know). So what's your take on Spirit? Are they bad news bears, or, for 3 cents, are they a-ok? Give us your two cents here in the blog.

Frontier Adds Frequent Flyer Fees

Add Frontier (tel. 800/432-1359; www.frontierairlines.com) to the growing list of airlines charging to cash in frequent flyer miles. Beginning Sept 15, they'll start charging $25 to cash in, and $75 if you do so 14 days or fewer before travel, for a total potential hit of $100. They're also upping the number of frequent flyer miles required on most itineraries by 5,000 miles. If you haven't already checked it out, see our handy airline frequent flyer fee chart.

American Airlines to Mexico and Caribbean

Something else from American Airlines (tel. 800/433-7300; www.aa.com), this is their Caribbean & Mexico sale, good for travel between September 2 and December 10. All tickets must be booked by September 12, and before you start daydreaming of treating the family to some beachy-keen Thanksgiving, let us just tell you that blackout dates are November 22 through November 30. Sorry to burst that bubble. Anyhoo, fares (with taxes, of course!) include:

South Florida to the Caribbean & Latin America

American also has a great little sale from Miami to the Caribbean and Latin America. All tickets must be booked by September 2, and are good for travel between August 26 and October 30.

China Airlines to Taipei

China Airlines (tel. 800/227-5118; www.china-airlines.com) is currently offering Los Angeles to Taipei, Taiwan for $829 round-trip. This deal is good for outbound travel from September 1 through November 30, and only on Monday through Thursday. All tickets must be booked by September 5. Round-trip fare including tax is:

This deal can only be booked here on China-airlines.com.

No Babies On Board

According to the results of our last survey, 58% of folks are in favor of separate seating for young children/infants and parents. So here's our next question. Would you pay extra for a flight with no babies or children under 13? If so, how much extra? Are we talking $10, $20, $40, maybe more? Let us know what you think. Click here and cast your vote.

Additional Reporting by Tracy W. Stewart

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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