AirTran System-Wide Sale
AirTran (tel. 800/247-8726; www.airtran.com) is having its third sale of the year, and as usual, this covers all their destinations (including Grand Bahama Island), with fares starting as low as $39 one-way (round-trip purchase not required). As always, AirTran sales are a good deal. Some one-way routes are a tad higher than in their previous big sale, but good nonetheless:
- Atlanta to/from Baltimore: $89 vs. $109 on Delta (AirTran has a $64 one-way fare for travel March 4 to 7)
- Boston to/from Chicago Midway: $49 vs. $109 on USAir
- Miami to/from Memphis: $99 matched by American and USAir (or $168 on USAir)
- Washington, D.C. to/from Freeport: $109 vs. $139 on Delta (AirTran and Delta also have a $85 one-way for travel through April 4)
Typically the long-haul fares aren't as good value as the shorter hops. Sample one-way fares include:
- Dallas to/from Miami: $119 vs. $94 one-way on America West and USAir (travel through May 23)
- San Francisco to/from New York LaGuardia: $159 one-way, but on Travelocity you can find an AirTran fare for $134 one-way with travel through October
For the lowest fares, travel Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday for travel through August 23, 2006. Fares are higher on other days, and this sale doesn't apply to Sunday travel. A 10-day advance purchase is required. Blackouts on March 25; April 1, 7-9, 13, 14 & 17; May 26 & 29; June 29-30; and July 1, 2 & 7-9, 2006. Additional blackout dates for travel to/from Florida and Freeport apply. Tickets must be purchased by 11:59 PM EST on March 9, 2006. We expect other airlines to match this sale on many routes, although they may require a round-trip purchase.
Decent USAir Sale to the Caribbean and Latin America
USAir (tel. 800/428-4322; www.usairways.com) is offering travelers one last chance to escape the winter blahs with their sale to the Caribbean including Punta Cana, Turks & Caicos, Cancun, Nassau and more. For the most part, the sale is pretty good.
Sample round-trip fares include:
- Boston to Barbados: $542 vs. next lowest $1,011 on American (Depart March 3, return March 11)
- Charlotte to Freeport: $523 vs. $547 on American (Depart March 3, return March 11)
- Las Vegas to Nassau: $588 vs. $466 on Continental (Depart March 22, return March 27)
- Phoenix to St Marteen: $688 vs. $691 on Delta (Depart March 22, return March 27)
- Charlotte to Guatemala City: $243 vs. $547 on American (Depart March 28, return April 4)
- Fort Lauderdale to Kingston: $205 round-trip, matched by Air Jamaica and Spirit (Depart March 28, return April 4). Strangely, Travelocity shows a USAir fare of $224 on the same dates and times.
All in all, we suggest taking a gander at this sale first if you're planning a Caribbean vacation in March or the first week of April. The sale is restricted in that some fares only allow for travel on certain days of the week, but if you're lucky, you may get an even lower fare than what's listed in the sale, depending on your travel dates. A 3-day advance purchase is required along with a 2-day minimum and 30-day maximum stay, and all return travel must be completed no later than April 6. Tickets must be purchased by March 11.
NYC to Portland, ME from $54 One-Way on JetBlue
JetBlue (tel. 800/538-2583; www.jetblue.com) will begin non-stop service between New York JFK and Portland, ME on May 23, with fares starting from $54 one-way ($63 one-way with all taxes and fees). Needless to say, all the other major airlines are jumping in to make sure jetBlue doesn't steal all the thunder, but they may not be offering non-stops.
Delta Sale between NYC and select European cities
Every so often Delta (tel. 800/221-1212; www.delta.com) will offer a sale that's worth taking a look at, and one such one is between New York JFK and five European cities: Budapest, Dublin, Kiev, Manchester and Shannon. We looked for a sampling of fares, and here's what we found:
- Budapest $778 vs. next lowest $695 on KLM-Northwest (Depart May 17, return May 24)
- Kiev $829 vs. $1,197 on Air France (Depart June 16, return June 23)
- Dublin $430 vs. $445 on Aer Lingus (Depart May 26, return June 2)
- Manchester $564 vs. $529 on KLM (Depart May 26, return June 2)
- Shannon $430 vs. $456 on Aer Lingus (Depart May 26, return June 2)
To sum it up, this is a pretty good sale -- especially Dublin and Shannon, as it's not often you'll find a lower fare than Aer Lingus. So if any of the above five cities are on your list to visit, we suggest checking out this sale. For Budapest, depart between May 8 and June 15; for Manchester, Dublin, and Shannon, depart between May 15 and June 15; for Kiev, depart between June 1 and 30. For all destinations, travel must be completed by July 15, 2006. A 7-day advance purchase and Saturday night minimum stay are stipulated. Tickets must be purchased by March 6.
Auckland Plus Australia from $798
Air New Zealand (tel. 800/262-1234; www.airnewzealand.com) is offering an enticing promotion: if you buy a round-trip from Los Angeles or San Francisco to New Zealand, you get a stopover in Australia for free. So you'll first fly to Auckland, then hop a round-trip from Auckland to your choice of Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney or Cairns. The fares with Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney or Cairns as your add-on option from either Los Angeles or San Francisco are $798 round-trip, or if you chose Perth, the fare starts from $969 round-trip. Will you save money? Probably. If you depart Los Angeles for Auckland on May 5, fly to Sydney on May 11, then fly back to Los Angeles via Auckland on May 16, then the total fare with taxes and fees is $919 in this sale. A quick search on Travelocity for a round-trip just between LA and Auckland showed that the lowest fare comes to $972 on those dates. You tend to get better fares if you travel in May and June, but depending on where you're flying from and to the availability varies. Fortunately, Air New Zealand's booking engine is designed so that it lists the available sale dates clearly, and lets you know if your choice will result in a higher fare. Travel between April 1 and July 6 and between August 7 and September 30. Tickets must be purchased by March 12.
Austrian Offers Discounts on Business Class
Austrian Airlines (tel. 800/843-0002; www.aua.com) is offering a discount of up to 40 percent off its business class seats to mark the inauguration of its Boeing 767 service from New York's JFK to Vienna. This applies to 25 cities in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Middle East. Sample business class fares round-trip from New York are:
- Budapest, Prague or Warsaw from $2,510
- Tel Aviv or Cairo from $3,292
Seats are limited and tickets for the special fares must be purchased at least 14 days in advance. Minimum stay is 3 days, and a maximum stay of 30 days.
Spirit Sale for March Travel from $58
Spirit Airlines (tel. 800/772-7117; www.spiritair.com) is having Syber Sale with fares starting at $58 on very select dates. While Spirit always has a few seats available at these ridiculously low fares, such as for travel between Ft. Lauderdale and both Kingston, Jamaica and Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, they are hard to find for travel in both directions and the addition of fees and taxes boosts the final bill considerably. Here's what we found, poking around Spirit's site:
- Fort Lauderdale/Kingston (depart March 7, return March 14): $194 vs. $224 on USAir
- Fort Lauderdale/Punta Cana (depart March 5, return March 12): $186 vs. $295 round-trip also on Spirit through Travelocity
- Chicago/Fort Lauderdale (depart March 8, return March 14): $159 vs. $172 on American
- New York LaGuardia/Nassau (depart March 7, return March 15): $160 vs. $158 on American
If you missed out on Spirit's $18 round-trip sale last week, we advise you to jump on this sale if you have flexible travel dates. Tickets must be purchased by March 1, 2006, 11:59PM EST.
Sneak Phoenix Sale on Delta
Yesterday and the day before, USAir was selling seats from Delta's Cincinnati stronghold to Florida for $142 round-trip, far less than what other airlines were charging. Well, Delta didn't like that. So the Atlanta-based carrier has slashed fares on many routes from and to Phoenix, USAir's new home. As is often the case with such retaliations, many of the fares end in "42," just to send a message. There is no telling how long these deals will last, but we give them to the end of the day at least. You can travel through January 24, 2007, subject to prior sale and seat availability.
Here are some of the fares. More are on Airfarewatchdog's Phoenix page.
- Colorado Springs $109
- Hartford $142
- Kansas City $132
- Milwaukee $152
- Oklahoma City $139
- Orlando $142
- Philadelphia $166
- Reno $142
- San Antonio $142
- Seattle $174
- Tampa $172
George Hobica is a syndicated travel journalist and blogger whose website, www.airfarewatchdog.com, tracks unadvertised airfare wars and other fare sales.
Talk with fellow Frommer's readers on our Air Travel Message Boards today.