Save on your next flight between Boise and Sun Valley or Sacramento, as part of Alaska Airlines' latest Secret Savings sale. Just use promo code EC9272 and save 25%, valid on travel from December 19 through March 21. Offer ends tonight at 11:59pm PT.

Boise to Sun Valley $74 round-trip

There is good news for the folks in the frozen tundra of northern Minnesota this winter. When the temperature drops below zero to -20°F and wind-chill factors even colder, there will be more options available to hop on a plane heading south; meaning cheaper airfares.

For years and years, Northwest was the only airline flying into Duluth (DLH) making it necessary to fly through Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) to go anywhere. Since there was no competition, the price to add the MSP to DLH leg to any trip was normally absurdly high. This would cause many northland folk to just make the 2 ½-3 hour drive down to the cities in order to catch a flight at a much more reasonable price. American and Midwest both briefly attempted to catch some of the market by flying nonstops from Duluth to Chicago and Milwaukee respectively. However, the prices still did not create the demand. For the most part, residents of the northland still made the drive to the twin cities for a better airfare and both airlines canceled their service; leaving Northwest the stand alone airline in Duluth. Allegiant Air recently shook things up a bit when they started nonstop service from Duluth to Las Vegas in 2006 at fares cheaper than flying from Minneapolis/St. Paul. Northwest has also added nonstop service to Detroit (DTW) and is in the process of merging with Delta Airlines to create the largest worldwide airline. All of these factors have started to bring fares down when flying from DLH, but it still has made more sense to just drive to the cities to catch a flight anywhere other than Vegas.

That is until now. Starting this Friday, November 20th, Allegiant Air is starting new non-stop service from Duluth (DLH) to Orlando’s Sanford airport (SFB). They have recently dropped the introductory fare to $29.99 each way making it possible to fly roundtrip from Duluth to Orlando for $60 plus taxes Nonstop! This fare is valid for travel in late November and early December. There is no advance purchase required. If the fare is available tomorrow, you can book it. Of course, this is only an introductory price and you probably won’t see this price again, but fares are still good after this sale price expires. Allegiant will fly this route twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.

Air Jamaica is offering discounted fares from select US cities to Kingston and Montego Bay. This sale is valid for travel from January 19 through May 15, with fares starting at $354 round-trip, with taxes.

All fares must be purchased by November 24, and include:

Baltimore to Kingston, Jamaica $508 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Baltimore to Montego Bay, Jamaica $510 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Chicago to Kingston, Jamaica $368 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Philadelphia to Kingston, Jamaica $454 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Philadelphia to Montego Bay, Jamaica $354 round-trip, incl. all taxes

American Airlines has extended their sale to Central America, good for travel between January 5 and March 29. Fares start at $238 round-trip, before taxes, and require a lengthy 28-day advance purchase. Travelers may stay for a maximum of 3 months, and must stay for a minimum of 2 days. Al purchases must be made by 11:59pm CT, December 15.

Fares include:

Boston to Guatemala City $372 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Baltimore to Managua, Nicaragua $377 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Newark to Managua, Nicaragua $377 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Los Angeles to Panama City $448 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Chicago to Panama City $368 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Tampa to Managua, Nicaragua $357 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Here we list some of the various fees that airlines use to line their coffers while they continue to keep many airfares ridiculously low. These fees are subject to change and you should always contact the airline directly before planning a trip to be absolutely certain what they'll be charging you. We do our best to keep these charts up to date; please leave us a comment below if you believe something isn't quite right! And thanks.

Frequent Flyer Fees

It used to be that free frequent flyer tickets were really free. But not anymore. Not only are airlines increasing the number of miles required, but they're constantly adding new fees for issuing tickets, changing them, not using them, requesting them on short notice, and flying confirmed same day stand by.

As usual, the airline with the fewest fees in this regard is Southwest. Southwest issues frequent flyer awards as soon as you earn them and you have up to a year to use the award. If an award has expired, you can pay $50 to extend its validity up to one additional year as long as the award isn't more than one year past its original validity.

In addition to the fees listed here, you can expect to pay taxes, passenger facility charges, and the September 11 security fee, along with other government imposed surcharges. And if you're flying internationally with a child age 2 or under, even if it's sitting in your lap, you may be hit with a charge of 10% of your fare plus even fuel surcharges, and that's even if you're traveling on a "free" ticket (on a business class ticket to Australia, that might make you think twice about flying "free").

Fees listed were accurate at time of posting but can change at any moment, and probably will. Please comment if you believe that you've found a change or inaccuracy (or just to vent) and we'll check it out.

Keep in mind, too, that depending on your frequent flyer membership level, some of these fees may not apply to you, or they may be lower than shown. Updated November 9, 2009.

Checked Bag Fees

Here we list, airline by airline, fees for checked bags on major US airlines. These fees are for domestic economy class travel (which in some cases includes Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Canada) only and may be higher on international flights. 

There are all kinds of exceptions to these fees, especially for certain classes of frequent flyers and military personnel. These fees are cumulative and are double for round-trip travel. They are subject to change and were accurate to the best of our knowledge as of July 25, 2009.

If you're a heavy packer, you'll want to fly with Airtran, Alaska, Frontier and Southwest, even if there's a cheaper fare on another ailrine.

See also: shipping services (FedEx, UPS, etc) vs. the airlines.

Other Airline Fees

Here we list, for most airlines, fees for ticket changes (non refundable fares); booking fares in person or by phone, kids flying solo, bringing a pet into the cabin, and booking fares other than online. As you can see, Southwest has the lowest and fewest fees, followed by other low cost carriers such as Airtran and Spirit. Note that most of these fees, unless otherwise noted, are for domestic flights; fees for international services may be higher. Last revision: Nov 9, 2009.

See also: New airline frequent flyer program fees 

JetBlue is back with another one-day only Sample Sale, valid for travel December 2 through December 16, and again from January 6 through January 28. Oneway fares range from $29 to $129, and are good for travel in both directions, with the exception of Barbados, Cancun, Santo Domingo, and Saint Lucia, which are only good for flights departing the US.

All tickets must be purchased by 11:59pm MDT, November 19, aka today, people!

Stay clear of blackout dates, January 14, 15, 18, and 19.

Fares for southbound travel to Florida and New Orleans are valid on Mondays, Tuesdays, and/or Wednesdays, and for northbound travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and/or Thursdays for northbound travel. All other domestic routes are valid on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and/or Thursdays.

Boston to Austin $198 round-trip

Ft Lauderdale to Austin $138 round-trip

New York to Austin $178 round-trip

Boston to New York $78 round-trip

Los Angeles to New York $178 round-trip

New York to Long Beach $178 round-trip

Austin to Long Beach $158 round-trip

Fly from the US to Dublin, Ireland this winter as part of the current sale from Aer Lingus. Fares start at just $378 round-trip, before taxes. This sale is valid for travel from January 11 through March 10, Monday through Thursday. All tickets must be purchased by 7:00pm ET, November 19. Fares include:

Atlanta to Dublin $582 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Dublin $492 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Chicago to Dublin $479 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Cleveland to Dublin $575 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Denver to Dublin $575 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Detroit to Dublin $575 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Houston to Dublin $588 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Los Angeles to Dublin $615 round-trip, incl. all taxes

New York to Dublin $479 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Phoenix to Dublin $575 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Portland OR to Dublin $615 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Diego to Dublin $622 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Francisco to Dublin $622 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Seattle to Dublin $622 round-trip, incl. all taxes

With holiday shopping around the corner, it’s time to address one of the recurring tragedies of the season. (No, not your Aunt Sadie’s annual fruit cake). Today I’d like to address the calamity of those millions of frequent flyer miles that people forgo each year because they forget to buy from their favorite online merchants via links at the airlines’ shopping mall web sites.

I’m one of those sad cases. Before I got wise, I would simply go to Apple.com to buy a new $3000 iMac or a $3000 sectional from the Design Within Reach web site. But don’t make my mistake. Right now, if you visit Continental Airline’s shopping site, for example, you can get 4 OnePass miles for each dollar spent at Apple.com (and, of course, an extra mile if you make the purchase with a frequent flyer credit card). So if you shop smart, your $3000 iMac also comes with 15,000 miles, the equivalent of half a free round-trip domestic flight. A $5000 purchase would get you enough miles for a free flight.

Is there a catch? No. The price you pay for a new iMac via Apple’s web site is exactly the same as the price via the airlines’ sites.

Literally hundreds of online merchants participate in these mileage offers.  Here are some current deals from various merchants and airlines, all of which are subject to change:

Delta Airlines

• 2 miles/$1 at Crate and Barrel
• 2 miles/$1 at the Container Store
• 3 miles/$1 at Starbucksstore.com
• 2 miles/$1 at iTunes.com
• 7 miles/$1 at Drugstore.com plus new customers get $10 off their first purchase of $50 or more
• 4 miles/$1 at Overstock.com
• 100 miles for a Costco membership

(Doh! I interrupt this article to shamefacedly confess that, in researching it, I just discovered I could have earned 2 Delta miles for every $1 spent at Finestationery.com, where I recently made a $200 purchase. Grrrr!)

United Airlines

• 9 miles/$2 at Nordstrom
• 7 miles/$2 at Sephora
• 3 miles/$2 at Apple
• 4 miles/$1 at Avon
• 3 miles/$1 at Circuit City
• 9 miles/$2 at Brookstone

American Airlines

• 4 miles/$1 at Old Navy
• 2 miles/$1 at Walmart
• 10 miles/$1 at 800Flowers.com or 11 at FTD
• 5 miles/$1 at Drugstore.com

Continental Airlines

• 4 miles/$1 at Apple.com
• 8 miles/$1 at Target
• 20 miles/$1 at Godiva
• 6 miles/$1 at Gap
• 30 miles/$1 at Magazines.com

Everyday purchases, not just holiday gifts, qualify for miles, too. Do you regularly buy your contacts from 1800Contacts.com? Why not get 10 miles for every dollar spent? Are you a frequent buyer at Drugstore.com? If you buy via their site directly, you get no miles; get there via an airline shopping mall page and you might get as many as 10 miles per $1 spent. Same thing with purchases at Petco.com. And keep in mind that airline mall shopping is a painless way to keep your frequent flyer miles from going stale, since each purchase, even a 99-cent song at iTunes.com, extends your miles’ expiration date.

It's important to shop around, however, because one airline might offer more miles with the same merchant than another airline. For example, currently United is offering 3 miles for every 2 dollars charged at  Apple.com whereas Continental is offering 4 miles for every dollar. And offers can change from time to time, so if your purchase can wait, jump when your favorite airline is offering a double miles deal.

And if you’ve been visiting an online merchant’s site directly through their URL recently, it’s a good idea to clear your cookies and then enter the site through the airlines’ links to avoid any potential confusion as to where you came from.

For your shopping convenience, you can find links to the airlines’ mall sites all in one place here.  

Bookmark these sites and before you buy anything online, see if miles are being offered for your purchase.

Have a great time shopping this holiday season, and please be sure to gift yourself a gift, too, in the form of extra frequent flyer miles.

New York JFK to San Jose, Costa Rica $197 round-trip, incl. all taxes

You'll find this fare available for travel on up to 5 days out of the month, through April.

Los Angeles to Cairo, Egypt $623 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Ok, so this fare has actually gone up by just a smidgen since yesterday but it's still very much an a-mazing deal. Check out the other Aeroflot fares listed on our JFK and LAX pages.