American Airlines is once again lowering fares for travel from South Florida to the Caribbean and Latin America. This sale is valid for outbound travel through March 30, Mondays through Thursdays, and all trips must be completed by April 1.

Fares require a 2-day minimum stay, with an allowed maximum stay of 30 days.

All tickets must be purchased by 11:59pm CT, February 22.

Miami to Hamilton, Bermuda $438 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

Miami to St. Croix, US Virgin Islands $344 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

Miami to Bogota, Colombia $310 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

Miami to Managua, Nicaragua $234 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

Miami to Medellin, Colombia $273 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

Miami to San Pedro Sula, Honduras $194 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

Miami to Willemstad, Curacao $283 round-trip, non-stop, incl. all taxes

The Alaska to California Sale from Alaska Airlines is good for travel on Monday through Thursday, as well as Saturday, from May 15 through September 15. All tickets must be purchased by February 14.

Fares include:

Los Angeles to Anchorage $558 round-trip

San Diego to Anchorage $558 round-trip

San Francisco to Anchorage $518 round-trip

San Jose to Anchorage $518 round-trip

Los Angeles to Cordova $558 round-trip

San Diego to Cordova $558 round-trip

San Francisco to Cordova $518 round-trip

San Jose to Cordova $518 round-trip

Los Angeles to Fairbanks $658 round-trip

San Diego to Fairbanks $658 round-trip

San Francisco to Fairbanks $618 round-trip

San Jose to Fairbanks $618 round-trip

Los Angeles to Juneau $518 round-trip

San Diego to Juneau $518 round-trip

San Francisco to Juneau $478 round-trip

San Jose to Juneau $478 round-trip

Las Vegas to London, England $497 round-trip, incl. all taxes

This fare is available for travel on select days in February and March. Fares may appear higher at first glance of Orbitz calendar, but clicking on those higher fares is will reveal the lower fares hidden away on the page that follows. Tricky of them, right?

More great sale fares for travel to Europe this spring, this time from Aer Lingus! Their best fares are available for New York departures from April 13 through April 30 (or April 18-30 for Boston departures), with slightly higher fares available for both New York and Boston departures from May 1 through May 31.

Travel is valid on Monday through Thursday. For weekend travel, tack on an additional $15 per segment.

Fares must be purchased by 7:00pm EST, February 10. Fares include:

Boston to Birmingham, England $616 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Dublin, Ireland $522 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Manchester, England $620 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Shannon, Ireland $517 round-trip, incl. all taxes

New York to Dublin, Ireland $522 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Pittsburgh to San Francisco $141 round-trip, incl. all taxes

This fare is valid for travel through May, and requires a 10-day advance purchase.

Been holding out for a decent sale to Europe? You'll find the new sale from Icelandair to be reasonable, especially when compared to what's been passing as a bargain so far this season. Better still, this sale is for travel in spring, from April 12 through April 30.

Book by February 14. Fares include:   

Boston to Amsterdam, Netherlands $607 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Copenhagen, Denmark $575 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Manchester, England $604 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Boston to Oslo, Norway $566 round-trip, incl. all taxes

New York to Amsterdam, Netherlands $587 round-trip, incl. all taxes

New York to Paris, France $586 round-trip, incl. all taxes

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

New York to Manchester, England $632 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Seattle to Paris, France $676 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Seattle to Copenhagen, Denmark $655 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Seattle to Reykjavik, Iceland $503 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Seattle to Oslo, Norway $616 round-trip, incl. all taxes

 Cathay Pacific's Deal of the Month is good for travel from Los Angeles, San Fran, and New York to a slew of cities in Asia, including Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Manila, Cebu, Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Bali, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, starting at $779 round-trip, before taxes.

This deal is valid for departures from March 1 through April 30, and allows for a free stopover in Hong Kong in each direction. No minimum stay is required, and a maximum stay of 30 days is allowed.

Book by 11:59 PST, February 28.

Fares include:

San Francisco to Cebu, Philippines $878 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Francisco to Chennai, India $1,057 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Francisco to Hong Kong, China $819 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Francisco to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia $869 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Francisco to Mumbai, India $1,070 round-trip, incl. all taxes

San Francisco to Singapore, Singapore $849 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Los Angeles to Cebu, Philippines $878 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Los Angeles to Chennai, India $1,057 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Los Angeles to to Hong Kong, China $819 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Los Angeles to Des Moines $115 round-trip, incl. all taxes

This is part of Allegiant Air's current Los Angeles sale, available on select dates, and valid for travel through September 30.

By George Hobica

Airfarewatchdog.com

Is upgrading with miles a wild fare chase?

Thanks to new co-pays and rules, using your frequent flier miles to  
upgrade can be really confusing, impossible or not worthwhile.  
Confusing because the airlines have different rules, which seem to  
change at a whim; impossible because often there are no seats  
available for upgrading on popular routes, even if you plan months  
ahead; and not worthwhile because the major airlines often require  
that you buy one of their more expensive fares to be eligible and, to  
add to the insult, now levy expensive co-pays of up to $1000 round-
trip, plus miles, to sit up front (that's in addition to the other
frequent flyer fees they charge).

Even so, sometimes the effort is worthwhile. Last year, I flew from  
New York to Los Angeles, and thought it would be pleasant to fly  
business class on one of United’s PS (as in Premium Service) nonstop  
flights. Searching on Expedia.com, I discovered that these flights  
carry a premium price: at the time, about $2050 round-trip compared to  
Delta’s $1500 business class fares. But I also discovered that I had  
30,000 miles in my MileagePlus account, just enough for a round-trip  
upgrade, and, using a site called ExpertFlyer.com, identified which  
United flights were eligible for upgrade.

ExpertFlyer (membership starts at $4.99/month) works with several  
major airlines (regrettably, of the larger US carriers, only American  
and Delta, and no longer with United), which make their real-time  
upgrade inventory available to subscribers. The service allows you to  
figure out the lowest priced fare class eligible for upgrade, and  
shows which flights have upgradeable seats at that fare.

The cheapest economy fare on my dates of travel was an economy fare of  
about $230, but only a fare starting at $450 was upgradeable. Still, I  
preferred “spending” 30,000 miles for $1600 of value rather than  
25,000 miles for $230 of value (the price of the cheapest economy fare).

But it’s not always that easy to snag an upgradeable seat at a  
reasonable fare. Over the last year or two, the major US-based  
airlines have been tinkering with their upgrade policies, changing  
mileage requirements, the eligible fare classes, and adding fees.  
Worse, they’ve been eliminating flights, reducing seat availability.  
Here’s an update of what to expect.

American

American levies a $100 round-trip co-pay plus 30,000 miles for non-
Hawaiian domestic upgrades (half these amounts for one-way; all  
mileage requirements and co-pays in this article are based on round-
trips); there is a $300 co-pay on Hawaiian routes. But virtually all  
American fare classes are eligible for upgrades. On international  
flights, most destinations require 50,000 miles plus $700 to upgrade  
from discounted economy fares (there are no co-pays from full fare  
economy fares). Fares booked in I, O and Q fare classes aren’t  
upgradeable for travel to Asia, Europe, India or South America; and  
those booked in I or O are ineligible for travel elsewhere as well.

Continental

Continental also requires co-pays, but allows all discounted fare  
classes to be upgraded, subject to inventory controls. Co-pays on  
flights offering BusinessFirst business class cabins (international  
flights and nonstops between Houston or Newark and Hawaii) range from  
$200 to $1000 round-trip; on flights where BusinessFirst isn’t  
offered, co-pays range from $100 to $300, although B, M, H, and K fare  
classes are exempt (as are “Elite” frequent flyer members).

Delta


Delta used to allow upgrades only on more expensive economy class  
fares, but they recently added less-expensive H, Q and K fare classes.  
However, other airlines generally offer more fare class choices, a  
situation mitigated only slightly by Delta’s 25,000 mile upgrades on  
non-Hawaiian domestic routes (compared to the 30,000 required by other  
airlines). The good thing about upgrading with miles on Delta is that  
there are no co-pays. But for international travel, only the more  
expensive, slightly discounted, B and M fares are available for  
upgrades.

United

Effective for award requests made on or after January 12, 2010, the  
good news is that upgrades on many routes require fewer miles and more  
fare classes will be eligible; the bad news is that you’ll have to  
fork over a co-pay of between $100 and $1000 (United had originally  
scheduled co-pays to kick in this past July, but had a change of  
heart). In the current (pre-Jan 12) scheme, on a flight from North  
America to international destinations you could only upgrade to  
business class from a fairly expensive M or H economy class fare for  
60,000 miles, but with no co-pay. After January 12, that same trip can  
be upgraded from a much wider range of fare classes for just 40,000  
miles, but with a co-pay of $500-$1000, depending on the fare class  
and destination. Prior to January 12 , fares booked in G class aren't  
upgradeable; for travel from North America, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and  
Central America to all other destinations United serves, E, U, Q, V,  
W, S, T, L, K, and G fares are non-upgradeable.

On domestic US flights, starting in January, co-pays range from $100-
$200 round-trip (when first announced, there was up to a $1000 co-pay  
for upgrading the cheapest fares to or from Hawaii, but United has  
backtracked on that ("we heard your feedback," they state on their web  
site) and now the co-pay is the same as for other domestic flights). But  
all fare classes will be upgradeable. So, while there’s greater  
flexibility, the co-pays may make upgrading an expensive proposition,  
assuming that seats, which are inventory controlled, are even  
available. And keep in mind that those “name your own price” fares  
you bought from Priceline are also ineligible.


US Airways

As of August 15, 2009, US Airways no longer required their Dividend  
Miles members to purchase a minimum fare (it had been $1400) to  
upgrade to business class. There’s currently no co-pay for domestic  
flights, even to Hawaii. For international travel, you pay 60,000  
miles plus $600 ($800 to the Middle East). All fare classes are  
eligible for upgrade, but that doesn’t mean that all seats and  
flights have seats available.


Maybe you should just buy an upgrade?

So which airline should you earn miles on if you’re hoping to  
upgrade? Let’s not bring your frequent flyer status into the  
discussion, because that would complicate things beyond the scope of  
this article. The truth is, it’s a complicated question, because all  
the miles and co-pay cash in the world amount to nothing if there are  
no seats available for upgrades when and where you want to fly, or if  
the only fares eligible are so expensive that when you add a co-pay,  
you might as well just buy a discounted business class ticket. Which  
airlines have the most seats available for upgrades at the lowest  
possible fares? No one really knows (if the aforementioned  
ExpertFlyer.com worked with all airlines, we might have a fighting  
chance at stabbing a guess). But that’s the crux of the matter: what  
difference does it make how many miles you need, or what fare classes  
are eligible, or what the co-pays are, if the airlines, which are  
cutting flights and capacity in their premium cabins, really just want  
to sell you a business or first class seat and aren’t making enough  
available for upgrades? Basically, the only way to make sure you sit  
up front is to buy your way in.

Boston to San Francisco $132 round-trip, incl. all taxes

Yes, we're seeing some puh-retty amazing fares between Boston and San Fran today. Sadly, it looks like those $134 round-trips did not stick around for long, but fear not. It's only increased by about $20 (still a total bargain!), and one of our own here at HQ just booked this trip for $156 round-trip, incl. all taxes. Really, this is a steal for a coast-to-coast fare!