June 22 2004 -- If you like to plan ahead, the current sale from AirTran (www.airtran.com) is for you. From now through Friday, June 25, they're selling tickets at low fares for flights all the way through November 2.Their flights run in three price tiers. The cheapest rates are for flights between Sept. 8 and Oct. 6. Then come flights between Aug. 17 and Sept. 7, and between Oct. 7 and Nov. 2. Finally, flights between now and Aug. 16 are the most expensive - though they're still pretty cheap.
Make sure to shop around when you look at these fares, as AirTran runs on some very competitive routes. they may be matched by the major airlines, especially Delta - or by Independence Air (www.flyi.com), Southwest (www.southwest.com) or one of the other big discounters.
One disappointing but expected, down side: these tickets aren't valid on any Fridays or Sundays, or on July 5 or September 6. Oh, well. Still, the fares are pretty good. Some we liked (all fares round-trip, before tax):
- Akron-Boston: $98/108/118
- Akron-Baltimore: $88/108/128
- Atlanta-Denver: $178/198/218
- Baltimore-Dallas: $158/178/198
- Baltimore-Rochester: $88/98/112
- Philadelphia-Boston: $68/74/78 (oh, look, cheaper than the train again!)
- Wichita-West Palm Beach: $178/198/218
To buy these tickets or discounted fares for any other AirTran route, head over to https://www.airtran.com/specials/sale/index.jsp between now and Friday.
Confidential to ATA
While we were considering writing a column today about your July 4 sale (https://www.ata.com/sales/general/040622_pg1.html), it's too confusing and misleading. For instance, your fares are only valid on July 4, but only if you buy a roundtrip - what's up with that? So any roundtrip you buy with these low fares will also have to include a much higher fare on the return leg, neutralizing your sale. We looked for your "$39 Chicago-Boston fare" and found a one-way fare on the Fourth of $146, and a round-trip fare of $162. In what math does 39 equal half of 162?
Bad move, ATA. Next time, give us a sale that makes sense.
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