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Airfare Deals and News for the Week of Oct. 1, 2010

Price wars (and sales) from AirTran and Delta, plus what the Southwest/AirTran merger means for travelers.

Sweet Deals from AirTran

AirTran's (tel. 800/AIR-TRAN; www.airtran.com) weekly sale is offering slightly lower fares than the last few weeks. Lowest (off-peak) sale fares are valid for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays through Jan. 26, 2011 and require a 10-day advance purchase. Avoid blackout dates of Nov. 23-24, 27-29, 2010 and Dec. 17, 2010-Jan. 4, 2011. Tickets must be booked by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 12, 2010.

Sample round-trip fares include:

Delta Sale to/from Atlanta & Minneapolis

Delta Airlines (tel. 800/221-1212; www.delta.com) has matched this week's AirTran sale with some deals on non-stop travel from/to their hubs in Atlanta and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Depending on the route, a Saturday night stay may be required as well as a maximum stay of 30 days. Travel is valid on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays through Jan. 26, 2011. Avoid blackout dates Nov. 23-24, 27-29, Dec. 17-31, 2010 and Jan. 1-4, 2011. Tickets require a 10-day advance purchase and must be purchased by Oct. 12, 2010.

Sample round-trip fares include:

Sun Country Winter Fare Sale

Sun Country (tel. 800/752-1218; www.suncountry.com) has released some sale fares for an escape from the frozen tundra this winter. A few routes may even have seats open for off-peak holiday travel. The travel period for this sale makes it pretty decent considering we've seen sky-high fares for holiday travel on other routes across the nation. Keep in mind that seats will definitely be limited at these fares, especially for dates around the holidays. Travel dates vary per route depending on the flight schedule. Travel is valid between now and Dec. 31, 2010 and/or Jan. 4-Feb. 15, 2011 on certain routes. Tickets require a 14-day advance purchase and must be booked by 11:59 p.m. Central time Oct. 4, 2010.

Sample round-trip fares include:

What the Southwest/AirTran Merger Means for Consumers

Southwest announced this week that it will acquire AirTran in a cash plus stock deal. So, what will this merger mean for consumers? Here's what to expect:

1. Good news for AirTran passengers and travel to/from/through Atlanta in general. Southwest has better service than Air Tran, and lower fees (assuming that Southwest keeps the low/no-fee model, see no. 4). Southwest is not keeping the AirTran brand.

2. Southwest and AirTran don't have much route overlap, so the merger in and of itself won't lead to higher fares. But both airlines offer aggressive airfare sales almost weekly. We'll see fewer of these, and fares will inch up. Remember, though, that fares can only go so high before consumers stay home, drive, or take BoltBus and Amtrak. One route that does overlap is Boston to Baltimore, which both airlines fly nonstop for $78 round-trip; but JetBlue flies the route at the same fare, so as long as there are two airlines flying nonstop on the route, prices will stay reasonable. (In fact, Baltimore probably has the most overlapping routes, so we expect fares to go up there.)

3. More fare pressure if other airlines continue the merger dance. American and US Air must be in panic mode as Southwest continues to grow. What next? An American/US Air marriage? Frontier/Midwest combine with USAir? JetBlue+American? The Southwest/Air Tran merger came out of the blue, so anything and everything could be on the table.

4. This impacts Delta the most -- at least at first. Will Delta eliminate checked bag and ticket change fees on competing routes to/from/through Atlanta to compete with Southwest's fee model? Or will Southwest add fees? AirTran was a minor thorn in Delta's side, but Southwest is going be a major thorn. AirTran was not a particularly healthy airline financially, and Southwest is.

5. Southwest now becomes an international airline, if it keeps AirTran's routes to Aruba, the Bahamas, etc. It also becomes a multi-aircraft airline, if it keeps AirTran's Boeing 717's along with Southwest's 737 fleet.

6. Silver lining: as with all mergers of this kind, a plus is that if your flight is delayed or canceled you can now be re-routed over a much bigger route structure.

7. It's doubtful that Southwest will keep AirTran's business class cabins, instead moving the airline to Southwest's one-cabin model. Same for advance seat selection, which AirTran currently offers.

8. The merger should win speedy Justice Department and DOT approval, since there is virtually no route overlap between the two airlines.

Ticket Changes the Easy Way

Q: I hope you can help me. I am part of a business that does a fair amount of traveling. We are looking at reducing our flight costs in general, but our main issue is the cost of rescheduling and canceling flights. For most flights the fee for doing so is $150. I would say we canceled 30 to 40 flights out of 220 booked last year. Refundable tickets are usually more than double the cost of the lowest fares we buy, and I don't feel that paying for fully refundable fares would make sense. I also looked into "cancel for any reason" travel insurance a bit. Would an airline, travel agency, or insurance company charge an annual fee for allowing a business to cancel and rebook fights? Any advice on the matter?

A: Read on.

Additional reporting by Peter Thornton and 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.

Talk with fellow Frommer's travelers on our Air Travel Forum today.


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