Learning to fly (on a lark)
Submitted by ahayden on 06/30/2009 – 3:53 PMNo Comment
Getting out of town at the last minute doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg — you’ve just got to know the system to be able to look for and find out about last-minute deals. The best I’ve found — and recently have used — include:
- American Airlines’ Net SAAvers, which are posted every Tuesday. Fares are available for the next two weekends, though the deepest discounts are generally for the upcoming weekend, leaving after 7pm on Friday or anytime Saturday and returning anytime Monday or Tuesday. Both domestic and international fares are available, and recent one-way deals from O’Hare have included $59 to Atlanta, $73 to Newark, and $68 to Washington, DC.
- United Airlines, which offers two sorts of deals: E-Fares (available beginning at 12:01am every Tuesday), which are similar to American’s Net SAAvers (though a bit pricier, with sample fares from O’Hare to Newark at $128 one-way), and Twares, a sort of combination of tweets and fare sales. Follow United Airlines on Twitter to get the latest Twares (recent deals included $68 one-way to DC and 20% off fares to Moscow).
- As an auction-based travel site, Priceline.com remains a reliable way to find cheap fares, but the site also offers last-minute airfare deals, recently featuring a round-trip fare to New York City for $168.
- For those looking for last-minute resort packages, the ever-kitschy Apple Vacations offers plenty of choices every week. Recent deals have included four nights in Barcelona from $799 per person, five nights in Jamaica from $649 per person, and seven nights in Punta Cana from $819 per person.
- To get the best fares on Spirit Airlines — including ones as low as $9 to Myrtle Beach, New York City, and Costa Rica — you’ll need to cough up $39.95 for an annual membership to the $9 Fare Club. But even without that membership (which is actually worth it, as long as you stay on the ball and reserve the fares as soon as they become available), sample fares to NYC are $84 one-way, and you can make your way down to Costa Rica for as little as $84 one-way.
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