United Airlines has some really low unadvertised fares from their competitor's hub airports.  Fares range from $122-$158 before tax and are valid for a 330-day travel period, 7 days a week.  However, not every travel day will be available at these amazing fares and summer dates are extremely scarce or not available at all depending on the route.  Nevertheless, you can get a great price if you buy now.  These fares are unadvertised and will not last very long at all.  They could be gone in just a few hours.  Tickets require a 7-day advance purchase.

Sample fares include: (Also available in reverse direction)

New York to Miami $128 round-trip

Dallas to New York $128 round-trip

Atlanta to Los Angeles $122 round-trip

San Francisco to Atlanta $122 round-trip

Detroit to San Francisco $122 round-trip

Providence to Las Vegas $158 round-trip

Minneapolis to Los Angeles $122 round-trip

Baltimore to Austin $158 round-trip

New York to Vail $128 round-trip

Baltimore to San Diego $158 round-trip

Memphis to San Francisco $122 round-trip

Flint to Orlando $158 round-trip

It’s been nearly nine months since the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that airlines and travel agents, including online travel agencies, would be required to advertise and display airfares with all mandatory taxes and fees included. After a few extensions, that rule will finally go into effect. On January 26, 2012 all airfares must be shown with taxes and fees included. That means the price we report for domestic flights will appear to have suddenly gone up by $20 to $40. Here's the background.

On international flights, this is a big win for consumers, because international taxes can sometimes be more than the base fare and this can be quite the sticker shock when the final price is displayed. 

As you can see in the example below, flights from Boston to London are being advertised on American’s main page at $250 each way.  On the next few pages, you see a fare of $41 from BOS to LHR and $458 returning from LHR to BOS for a total round-trip fare of $499.  However, on the final page, your total trip cost after the taxes are added is $697, which is almost $200 higher than what is initially shown.  You'll also see on Orbitz the difference is even greater, with the screen showing an $81 round-trip airfare in bold print with $616 in taxes and fees making up the rest of the actual $697 total price.

This is why we at Airfarewatchdog have always displayed international fares with taxes included.  For domestic flights, these mandatory taxes and fees usually add up to about $21 round-trip for nonstop flights and typically range within a few dollars of $40 for connecting flights (depending on which airport you are connecting through).  For flights that have a stop, but keep the same flight number and don't change planes, taxes tend to be around $30 round-trip. Since we currently post most of our domestic fares as just the base fare, we want to give you a heads up that although fares will appear to go up $20 to $40 later this month, they will now include taxes and fees.

For example, below are two Airfarewatchdog-verified fares for nonstop flights from Detroit to Chicago-Midway.  These fares are both the same price, with the Southwest fare showing $98 RT pre-tax and the Delta fare showing $119 RT including taxes.  We found the Delta fare on Orbitz, which shows tax-included fares on its flexible search, and the Southwest fare on Southwest.com, which shows only the base fare initially. So, even though it looks like the Southwest flight is cheaper, remember that after taxes they are the exact same price.

Another example on a connecting flight from Minneapolis to Ontario shows the Southwest fare at $268 RT pre-tax and the United fare at $309 including taxes.  Once again, these are basically the same price in the end, with Southwest.com giving us the base fare initially and Orbitz giving us the tax-included fare initially.  Also, please note that the outbound flight on Southwest has no plane change, which results in a lower tax total, and on Orbitz the taxes differ slightly depending on the airline due to different connecting cities.  Starting Jan. 26, 2012, all sites will be including taxes for all fares.

So, why haven’t we done this all along?  Based on the way airlines release fares, our methodology includes searching over a 330-day travel period to find the lowest fare we could recommend on a specific route. Our searches typically brought back only base fares. As long as the airlines listed fares the same way, we were able to give an apples-to-apples comparison on the base price. At the same time, we provided as much guidance as possible on what to expect for additional taxes and fees.  In an effort to search as many routes as possible and include all airlines selling a particular fare, we opted for displaying the base fare only for domestic airfares.  It would be significantly more time consuming, and reduce the number of fares we could find and share, to find the taxes for each airfare on each airline since the taxes would differ slightly between airlines depending on connecting airport and how many connections.  Though the displayed fares may appear to be higher, the upside to the new rule is you will know right away exactly what you’ll be paying for your flight. 

As for baggage fees, that’s a different story.  Since checking baggage is not technically required for air transportation, the rule doesn’t require baggage fees to be included in the advertised airfare.  However, there will also be a new requirement for airlines and travel agencies to display the specific baggage fees for all potential classifications in the confirmation email after booking.  This means that they can’t just give a range of fees, but must include the specific fee for the customer purchasing the ticket or a list of every possible baggage fee that could pertain to the customer (online purchase, at airport, elite status, etc.).  This info can be displayed with a hyperlink directly to a specific location on the airline website listing all baggage fees.  Most airlines have already provided such pages listing optional fees and we’ve compiled all the links for you here.  Of course, finding out the baggage fees after your purchase may make you decide you don’t want to purchase that ticket anymore.  Along with these new regulations, there will be a 24-hour grace period for all airline ticket purchases so you can cancel your reservation and get your money back within 24-hours of purchasing.

We will continue to pass along the best fares we find and link you to where we find that price.  With the new rule beginning January 26, all sites should be initially advertising all their fares including taxes and that will be the price that we pass along to you.

Recently, Spirit Airlines changed their fee for booking on their website, dubbed the "Passenger Usage Fee", from $8.99 each way to $16.99 each way. On their "Optional Fees Chart" it shows that the fee is $8.99 to $16.99 per customer, each way. Until this week, we were only able to find the $16.99 each way fee and not anything lower other than flights to Panama or Colombia, which don't have the fee at all. However, this week we have found certain fares that have the lower $8.99 each way passenger usage fee. It appears to be one-way fares that end in a penny. (ex. $8.01, $20.01, etc...) With Spirit charging different online booking fees for different types of fares, it can be quite confusing to find the actual lowest total price for their fares.  

For example, below is a screen shot showing two different searches from Chicago to New York after choosing the lowest available fares shown for each search. On the left, we searched using the $50 off promo code that Spirit is currently offering. After searching using the promo code, we chose $4 each way fares to get a total base fare of $8 after the $50 discount. However, with the "Passenger Usage Fee" (online booking fee) at $33.98, this method of searching yields a higher total price ($63.48) than if we search without using the $50 off promo code. On the right, we searched without any promo code and the lowest one-way fares to appear were $8.01 each way. Because these fares have the lower ($17.98) passenger usage fee, the total price ($55.40) is actually less than if using the promo code. So much for $50 off.  By the way, the only way to avoid the "Passenger Usage Fee", is to book your tickets at the airport.  Since this fee is per customer, each way, you could save quite a bit by making the trip to the airport to book your seats.

Fare of the Day: St. Louis, MO (STL) to Dallas, TX (DFW) $160 RT, including all taxes on Frontier Airlines.  

Travel any day of the week, if available, through July 10, 2012.  Fares will be higher for peak holiday travel.

While searching for some peak Thanksgiving holiday travel today, we ran into a classic case of an airline not sharing it's lowest fare with all airfare search engines.  Therefore, the famous "search one and done" slogan which Kayak boasts doesn't always ring true.  Truth is, airfares oftentimes vary from site to site.  In this example, we see two searches side by side taken from screenshots at around 1:00pm ET Nov. 4, 2011.  We see Kayak giving us the lowest fare from New York to Bermuda departing Nov. 23 and returning Nov. 27 at $595 on American.  However, Priceline is also showing us that same routing and same dates with a JetBlue flight at $572.  It is always best to search at least a few different websites when searching for the best airfare.

Alaska Airlines has released it's latest Fares to Go. Travel rules vary by route, but generally, domestic mainland travel is valid Nov. 30 - Dec. 14, 2011 and must be booked by Nov. 7, 2011. Travel dates from/to Hawaii vary by route and must be booked by Nov. 4, 2011. Peak holiday travel dates are blacked out.  

Sample fares include:

Seattle to Phoenix $198 round-trip

Chicago to Portland $238 round-trip

San Diego to Honolulu $355 round-trip tax included

San Jose to Honolulu $335 round-trip tax included

Bellingham to Honolulu $315 round-trip tax included

Oakland to Honolulu $335 round-trip tax included

Only have time to travel in the summer?  We don't see sales for summer travel too often, but Frontier has just given us an Easter Egg Sale.  Travel is valid Mon-Thu between Jun. 1 - Sep. 8, 2011.  No blackout dates are listed, but seats will be scarce or unavailable around peak holiday dates.  Prices are higher than their current unadvertised sale for spring travel, but good deals can be had for summer travel with this sale.  Tickets must be booked by 11:59 pm ET Apr. 12, 2011.

Sample fares include:

Kansas City to Denver $138 round-trip

Denver to Tuscon $128 round-trip

Oklahoma City to Denver $138 round-trip

Denver Las Vegas $138 round-trip

Denver to Provo $118 round-trip

Frontier slashed prices on many routes for travel between Apr. 15 - May 31, 2011.  Travel is valid any day of the week except Sundays.  Peak travel around holidays, like memorial day weekend, seem to be blacked out on most routes.  Since this sale is unadvertised, it could disappear at anytime.

Sample fares include:

Columbus to Denver $228 round-trip

Washington D.C. to Los Angeles $268 round-trip

Minneapolis to Las Vegas $198 round-trip

Chicago to Phoenix $238 round-trip

Denver to Boston $188 round-trip

Indianapolis to Fort Lauderdale $158 round-trip

Dayton to Los Angeles $198 round-trip

Pittsburgh to Santa Ana $164 round-trip

Portland, OR to Tampa Bay $248 round-trip

Traveling to Europe in the summer can burn a whole in your pocket; so why not head over there this winter.  Although not as good as some recent (and very brief) fares we've seen to Europe, United has dropped prices on certain routes for travel through April 12, 2011.  Travel to Europe Sunday through Thursday and return from Europe Monday through Thursday (to/from London is valid Mon-Wed only).  Other days of the week may be higher.  A Saturday night minimum stay is required as well as a maximum stay of 30 days.  Tickets require a 7-day advance purchase and must be booked by Jan. 10, 2011.

Sample fares include:

Chicago to Brussels $675 round trip non-stop tax included

Chicago to Munich $733 round trip non-stop tax included

Washington D.C. to Brussels $675 round trip non-stop tax included

Washington D.C. to Frankfurt $728 round trip non-stop tax included

Washington D.C. to Geneva $664 round trip non-stop tax included

Washington D.C. to Rome $665 round trip non-stop tax included

Washington D.C. to Zurich $685 round trip non-stop tax included

Sun Country has some deals for travel through April 30th, 2011.  The lowest fares will be found on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Tickets require a 7-day advance purchase and must be booked by 11:59 p.m. CT on Jan. 4, 2011.

Sample fares include:

Minneapolis to Dallas $138 round-trip

Minneapolis to Los Angeles $198 round-trip

Minneapolis to Phoenix $178 round-trip

Lansing to Orlando $138 round-trip

Lansing to Fort Myers $158 round-trip

Lansing to Las Vegas $198 round-trip

Sun Country has also begun selling tickets for its new nonstop routes between Lansing and Washington D.C.-Reagan and Minneapolis, which begin April 1, 2011 and are now sold through Nov. 25, 2011.  Current fares include:

Lansing to Washington D.C. $198 round-trip

Lansing to Minneapolis $178 round-trip