Scandinavian Airlines has come up with a unique promotion that will start Monday December 1. The Airline will offer its customers a sale to a different European destination each day for 24 consecutive days. But you must act quickly, because the "SAS Christmas Calendar" will only offer each deal for 24 hours.

To make sure you see all the deals that the Airline will offer, simply go to Scandinavian Airlines and sign up for their email alert.

The Department of Consumer Affairs has been cracking down on faulty scales that are not properly calibrated for use at major airports around the country. When tested at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, investigators found 14% of the scales at JFK and 4% of the scales at LaGuardia were overestimating the weight of bags by at least one pound. A one pound difference today at  the airport can add up big time during your check in. Some airlines charge up to $100 for overweight bags.

The DCA found a total of 102 scales were not working properly during their investigation and ordered them to be shut down immediately. While most of the airlines abided to this ruling, they still found 10 broken scales being used by American Airlines. DCA Commissioner Jonathan Mintz commented on the broken scales, "That kind of improper weight can, particularly now, when every penny counts, really make an impact on a consumer's wallet."

So how will you know if you are using a broken scale the next time you check your bags in at the airport? Simply look for the red "CONDEMNED" sticker that was slapped on the side of the scale by the agency.
 

And consider weighing your own bags in front of the check in agent with this handy device.

We've been checking around to see if it's possible to fly anywhere warm over Christmas week with just four weeks left to find something good, and we gotta tell you, things look bad.

If you're flying from a cold weather city to another major city, such as New York to LA, you can still find some reasonable deals. But New York (or anywhere) to Florida or the Caribbean? Fuggedaboudit.

New York JFK to St. Thomas? $1200 RT nonstop including tax on American for peak travel dates the week of December 22-29. JFK to Santo Domingo? You're looking at a fare in the $700's. About the best we could find from New York was Nassau, Bahamas for $366 RT including tax on JetBlue nonstops. We found a few other "relatively good" deals here and there, such as Atlanta to Palm Springs, CA for $348 RT with taxes on American for travel departing Dec 23 and returning Dec 27 but these cheap seats are going really fast. Detroit to Palm Springs is $345 departing Dec 23 and returning the following Monday. Charlotte to Aruba on US Air nonstops leaving Dec 23 and returning the Sunday after the holiday is actually quite good at $410 RT including tax (see actual booking below).

So "deals" do exist, but you really have to shop around.

United Airlines and FedEx have joined forces to bring its passengers door to door baggage handling. That's right...why bother bringing the luggage to the airport anymore, FedEx will come and get it from your apartment, house or office and ship it with "next day service" to your destination. This lovely service is available in the 48 contigous United States, and "starts" at a whopping $149 per bag! Yes that is not a typo...$149 PER BAG!!?? Wow.

Now while companies like Luggage Forward and Baggage Quest have been doing this for years, United becomes the first airline to offer this "door to door" baggage pick up and delivery directly through their company.

But if you can afford to spend as much money on shipping a single bag as it costs to fly one way to some parts of this country, then head on over to United.com. When there you can get all the details and full information about their new service. Plus when you visit the site they will even give you a 4 step slide show that explains how to use the service.

Sounds nice...but at $149, I think I will continue bringing the bags with me to the airport.

Of course, your best deal is simply to take your bag to your local Post Office, or to FedEx and ship it by ground. See our comparison chart to get an idea of the savings. By the way, if you send your bag by Priority Mail from the PO you don't need to box it up. Just wrap it up good with copious amounts of free Priority Mail tape and ship as is.

Spirit Airlines is offering airfare for as low as $9 each way (before taxes and other fees). I even came across a Fort Lauderdale-Freeport, Bahamas fare in December that was $2 (again before taxes and those pesky fees).

You must book "Individual travel-date specific fares" between November 21, 2008 and November 24, 2008. But all other fares can be booked between November 21, 2008 and November 24, 2008 for travel between November 28, 2008 and February 10, 2008.

For a full listing of all the fares and other terms and conditions, check out SpiritAir.com.

Delta wants to send you to the Bahamas this winter on the cheap. Just travel out of New York's LaGuardia Airport during the months of December, January and February and save. Here are some of the low prices I found on their website (Round trip with taxes and fees included):

• December 10 - December 17: $283.80
• January 8 - January 13: $306.80
• February 10 - February 16: $ 306.80

Purchase a round trip ticket by November 24, 2008 and travel by February 28, 2009. For full terms and conditions, check out Delta.

The nationwide winter sale that was supposed to expire yesterday with Southwest Airlines has been extended for two more weeks. So you still have a chance to grab some seats on sale for travel between December 12, 2008 and February 28, 2009.

Here are some sample fares I found on their website(roundtrip with taxes and fees included):

• December 13 - December 17: Pittsburgh (PIT) - Denver (DEN), $260
• December 15 - December 18: New York (ISP) - Chicago (MDW), $139
• January 5 - January 8: Los Angeles (LAX) - Las Vegas (LAS), $119

A great feature on Southwest's website is the "Southwest shortcut to low fares" calendar. So if your dates are flexible, you can get the lowest fares for your next trip. Always check online before booking to ensure that you get the lowest fare.

For full terms, conditions and other destinations, check out Southwest Airlines.

Right now is a great time to book a trip to Iceland, as they are going through possibly a worse economic mess than we are, which means that the dollar is very strong against their currency.  Fares for travel throughout the first three months of the year come in as low as $471 round trip with taxes and fees included.

I found the lowest fares in the months of January, February and March. As stated earlier, $471 is all over the calendar for travel to and from Boston or New York to Iceland's capital city of Reykjavik.

For full details, terms and conditions check out IcelandAir.

Also while you are there be sure to check out the airline's travel packages and offers to other European destinations like London, Frankfurt and Paris.

Make your plans to visit cities like Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney this Spring. Qantas has a great sale going on right now where you can save $200-$500 if you travel in the months of May and June. Here are some fares I found with their website (Round trip with taxes and fees included):

• May 10 - May 22: San Francisco (SFO) - Sydney (SYD), $809
• May 14 - May 26: Boston (BOS) - Brisbane (BNE), $1,182
• May 30 - June 9: Los Angeles (LAX) - Melbourne (MEL), $902
• June 5 - June 18: New York (JFK) - Brisbane (BNE), $1,022

These fares are available until November 21, 2008. For full terms and conditions head on over to Qantas Airlines.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that airlines don't want anyone standing between them and you, their customer. They'd much rather that you buy airfares only from their own Web sites, rather than transacting through Orbitz, Kayak, or Travelocity. And to accomplish this, they're offering more and more promo code deals.

Look on many airline Web sites, and you'll now see a promo code box. Among the airlines that have added one: American, Southwest, United, Virgin America, JetBlue, WestJet, Air Canada, USA3000, AirTran, and Spirit.

Recently, Southwest offered 50 percent promo code discounts on all flights to/from both Salt Lake City and New Orleans. They also had a similar deal to/from Buffalo a few weeks ago.

JetBlue has frequent 10 percent off or $30 off promo code deals on their entire network, and they've even experimented with airfare auctions. Virgin has been known to offer 2 for 1 promo code deals. Other airlines have launched less alluring price cuts, in the $5 to $20 range, and American features DealFinder promo code discounts, typically ranging from 10 to 30 percent.

Why are airlines doing this? Because when consumers buy airfares on an airline web site directly, the airline doesn't need to pay a commission to the likes of Kayak and Cheaptickets. But there's perhaps an even more compelling reason: airline sites these days sell and market far more than airfares: they peddle hotels, rental cars, tours, frequent flyer memberships, frequent flyer credit cards, frequent flyer miles, SkyMall merchandise, and much more. You can't book a seat on many airline sites now without scrolling down through offers for adding a hotel or rental car. Airline Web sites are valuable properties and their owners want you to come visit directly and buy stuff beyond airfares, so they're providing incentives to do so in the form of promo code discounts.

How do consumers find out about promo code fares? One way is the sign up for the airlines' email newsletters and frequent flyer programs, since some promos are only offered to frequent flyer program members. Or they can visit Web sites like Airfarewatchdog.com, which lists every promo code airfare and deal on all airlines.