Don't overlook Spirit's "Big Front Seat" fares

Posted by George on Monday, October 26, 2009

If you're a big guy or gal, or simply want more room when you fly, we've noticed that on some routes and dates, Spirit Airlines' fares for their "business class" two-by-two seats at the front of their Airbuses cost only a few bucks more than the cramped seats in the back. As you can see from the seat map provided by our friends at SeatGuru.com, there are 8 wider seats at the front of the plane on Spirit's aircraft, and although you don't get free meals or drinks or anything else but more room, they're often an amazingly good value.

 

On a flight from Boston to Myrtle Beach in November, for example, the Big Front seats were going for just $15 more each way. And if you apply a promo code such as 50OFF you'd have saved $50 round-trip on this fare, giving you a comfy seat for even less.

---

Holiday airfares coming down!

Posted by George on Sunday, October 18, 2009

If you've been watching TV and reading the papers lately, you've seen the dire warnings that peak holiday travel airfares have been marching in only one direction: up. Buy today or you'll pay more tomorrow!

Of course, we at AFWD have dedicated our working lives to tracking airfares, and we know that fares go up and down as airlines test the waters to see how much passengers are willing to pay. Not only do fares go up and down, but the airlines employ sophisticated computer programs that adjust the number of seats at the lowest fares. So one moment there might be just one seat or no seats at the lowest fare between, say, Newark and San Francisco and then next minute there might be 5 seats.

So when the New York Times reported in an October 15 front page article that "Holiday Airfare is Soaring Daily" and a flight departing Nov. 25 and returning Nov. 29 from Newark to San Francisco that was $504 on Sept. 18 was $770 if bought last Thursday, we decided to track that and other routes mentioned in the article to see if they would go down in price.

On Saturday Oct. 17 at 10:46 AM, Newark to San Francisco on those dates was available not for $504 or $770, but rather for $467 round-trip including taxes:

 

 

And on Sunday, Oct. 18, as the 9:53 AM screen shot from a Travelocity search below shows, the same route, with nonstops on Continental, is down to $389.20 round-trip, including taxes (which, by the way, if this is your route, we'd suggest buying right now. It's a very decent deal and a far cry from $770 or even $504 round-trip.)

We're not going to beat a dead horse here, and our only point is that if you keep looking (and it only takes a minute to search a fare) you may indeed find that a fare that was out of your reach today has suddenly become quite reasonable tomorrow.

Also, this is not to say that some routes aren't very expensive if you were to search right now, and some, especially to smaller destinations with service by just a couple of airlines, may remain high. But on routes with lots of competition, we may see lower fares in the hours and days ahead.

 

---

Holiday fares fluctuate widely, not always in the up direction

Posted by George on Friday, October 16, 2009

It's that time of year when the media trots out the annual holiday airfare stories. This article on the front page of the New York Times caught our attention. Reading it, you'd think that it's too late to nab decent fares for Thanksgiving. Of course, it depends on what you mean by decent.

According to the Times, "Dilly-dallying, even waiting just a few days, could carry a steep price. Fares, though still lower now than at this time last year, are rising each day, a trajectory that began more than a month ago.

In the last week alone, overall fares for Thanksgiving travel rose 6 percent, according to Bing Travel, part of Microsoft’s search engine. Ticket prices for the most popular itinerary, departing Wednesday, Nov. 25, and returning Sunday, Nov. 29, are up 10 percent in the last week.

In recent weeks, some flights have risen even more. From New York, a round-trip American Airlines flight to Chicago that cost $354 on Sept. 14 was $540 on Thursday, a 52 percent jump, according to Yapta.com, which tracks fares.

A JetBlue flight to Orlando that was $524 on Sept. 24 was $614 on Thursday, and a Continental flight from Newark to San Francisco that was $504 on Sept. 18 was $770.

That does not count all the extra fees — some added just for holiday travel days — that airlines are charging this year."

For fun, we checked fares on the three examples cited in the above paragraphs, using searches on Travelocity at around 11 AM on Friday, a day after the article was filed.

In all cases, we found that lower fares were available.

New York to Chicago leaving Wednesday Nov 25 and returning Sunday Nov. 29, for example, we found seats at $333 round-trip on American nonstops, even lower than the Sept. 14 fare that Yapta quoted at $354 and much less than $540. Oh, and it's even lower on Southwest at present: $327 round-trip, with no first or second bag fees, on LaGuardia-Midway nonstops. But of course, Yapta doesn't track Southwest's fares or include them in its data.

New York to Orlando: $524 round-trip?  $614 round-trip? Nope. $399 round-trip on those dates, including all taxes.

 

 

The third example was Newark to San Francisco at $770 round-trip. We found an alternate flight on United for $566 round-trip, including taxes.

Correction posted Oct. 17: And on Saturday morning, a couple of days after the doom and gloom Times article, Newark to San Francisco can be had for $467.80 round-trip with taxes traveling outbound on Nov 25 and returning Nov 29:

Not that these fares are cheap by any means. The airlines are definitely getting a premium for peak holiday travel, as they always do.

And this is not to say that the Times and its sources got the fares wrong when they searched, but it is to say that fares go up and they go down, and seat availability at the lowest fares decreases and increases throughout the day and over several days. We're just afraid that someone reading the Times today might conclude that the game is up if they haven't booked holiday travel yet and they should stop looking for (relative) deals. And that, clearly, is not true.

---

United offers discounts on future flights

Posted by George on Wednesday, September 16, 2009

We all know that the airline biz is in the doldrums, and United is trying to drum up traffic for the remainder of the year with this enticing offer.

Each time you fly on United for the rest of 2009, you earn a discount on a flight in 2010.

Fly once and get 5% off; twice 10% off, 3 times 20% off, 4 times 30% off, 5 times 40% off, six or more times, 50% off. The discount is valid on any published United fare, even on business and first class, but is not combinable with other non-combinable offers. Registration is required.

---

Airline Fee Charts

Posted by George on Wednesday, September 09, 2009

 

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 September 9, 2009.

Airline Program	Standard Processing fee	Phone or in person fee	“Close in” Processing fee	Redeposit/ Change fee	Confirmed same day standby	Mileage reactivation
AirTran A+ Rewards (888-898-4782)	$0	$10 otherwise	$0	$60	N/A	N/A
Alaska Mileage Plan (800-252-7522)	$25 on partner airlines	$15 for reservations over the phone (mileage award levels are the same over the phone and on the internet)	$0	$0 if canceled or changed within 24 hours from booking.  Otherwise $100 each time a change is made on Super Saver and Choice awards.  Change fee does not apply to Full Flex award in Coach and First class.	Standby is allowed on the same day of travel at the airport ticket counter only on both the outbound and return portion of a ticket. Standby is also permitted on one way awards.	$75 for one year
American AAdvantage (800-882-8880)	$25 on partner airlines; Up to $150 to upgrade awards on most discounted domestic fares, up to $600 for foreign routes	$20 by phone, $30 in person	20 to 7 days prior: $50; 6 days to 2 hours: $100	Redeposit: $150 for first ticket, $25 each for additional tickets on same account; Change: $150 (MileSAAver tickets only; no fee if only date or time is changed)	$50	$50 per 5000 miles plus $30 fee
Continental OnePass (800.621.7467)	$0 (up to $300 RT for non elites to upgrade to domestic first; up to $1000 to upgrade to international businessElite)	$25 by phone (airport booking not allowed)	20 days or fewer prior: $75 (less for Platinum)	$50 $150 ($0 for Platinum)	Not allowed on OnePass tickets	N/A
Delta SkyMiles (800-323-2323)	$0 additional $25 for partner airline award	$25 $20	8-20 days prior: $75; 4-7 days: $100; 3 or fewer days: $150 (waived for Platinum members)	Changes: $100; Redeposit: $100; most fees waived for Platinum members	$50 (waived for Gold/Platinum)	N/A
Frontier Early Returns (866-263-2759)	$25 $0	$25	14 days or fewer: $75 $0	$75	Passenger pays  the difference between their original ticket and the new ticket at its price that day	$50 1 - 4,999 miles $100  5,000 - 19,999 miles $200 20,000 - 49,999 miles $300 50,000 - 99,999 miles $400 100,000 or more miles
JetBlue TrueBlue (800- 538-2583)	$0 (N/A award sent automatically when earned)	$10 by phone	N/A	Change: $100; Redeposit fee: N/A (unused awards are forfeited)	$40	N/A
Northwest WorldPerks (800-447-3757)	Same as Delta now that they've merged	Same as Delta now that they've merged	See Delta	See Delta.	See Delta.	N/A
Southwest Rapid Rewards (800-435-9792)	N/A (reward sent automatically	N/A (reward sent automatically)	N/A	$0	$0 (if fare has increased, passenger must pay difference)	$50 (for awards that have been expired for fewer than 24 months)
Spirit Airlines Free Spirit	N/A (online only)	N/A (online only)	N/A (requests must be made at least 7 days prior to travel); Mileage discounts for tickets booked 21 or more days in advance of travel	Redeposit: $70; Change: $70 if more than 7 days from departure; not permitted within 7 days		N/A
United MileagePlus (800-421-4655)	$0 (eff. July 1, 2009, Jan 12, 2010, up to $50 from most discounted fares to upgrade on domestic routes; up to $500 RT on international routes)	$25 by phone, $30 in person	Free as of July 30, 2009! Under 6 days: $100; 7-20 days: $75	$150 (route change, connection point change, or redeposit); No charge to change date or flight number on same date, same routing)	Domestic: $150; International $150-$250	.125 cents per mile plus $25 fee
US Airways Dividend Miles (800-428-4322)	$0	$30 domestic, $40 international	$50 online ($75 effect. Oct 8, 2009), $75 otherwise	$150 domestic, $250 international	$25	$50-$400
Virgin America elevate (877.359.8474)	$0			Redeposit: not allowed	$75	N/A

 

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.

 

Airline	First checked bag	Second checked bag	Additional bags	Overweight bags	Oversized bags
Airtran	$0 $15	$10 paid online, $20 at airport $25	$50	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $29 $39 71 to 99 lbs: $69 $79	62-70 total linear inches: $29 $39; 71-80 inches $69 $79
Alaska	$0 ($15 if ticketed on or after May 1 for travel on or after July 7)	$0 $25	3rd-6th bags: $100; 7th or more: $150	51-100 lbs: $50	63-80 inches: $50; 81-115 inches: $75
American	$15 ($20 effective Aug 14)	$25 ($30 effective Aug 14); $50 trans-Atlantic	Bags 3-5: $100; 6th or more: $200	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $50; 71-100 lbs: $100. These fees may be higher on international routes	63 inches and over: $150
Continental	$15 ($20 if not paid online beginning Aug 19)	$25 ($30 if not paid online, beginning Aug 19); $50 for trans-Atlantic ($45 if paid online)	$75 nonstop/$100 connecting	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $50 Over 70 lbs not accepted.	63 inches and over: $100
Delta	$20 ($5 discount if paid online)	$30 ($5 discount if paid online); $50 for travel to Europe	Third bag: $125; Bags 4 to 10 $200 each (For travel outside US, no fee for 2nd bag, $200 for 3rd bag,  $350 for 4th and 5th, $600 for bags 6-10).	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $90 ($150 for travel outside US) 71 to 100 lbs: $175 ($300 each outside US)	63-80 total linear inches: $150 $175
Frontier	$0 $15 $20	$25 $30	$50	51-100 lbs:    $75	63-80 inches: $75
JetBlue	$0	$20	$75	51-70 lbs: $50; 71-99 lbs: $100	63-80 inches: $75
Northwest	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta
Spirit	$19 online/$25 at airport	$25 (online or at airport)	Bags 3-5: $100 (online or at airport)	51-70 lbs: $50 71 to 99 lbs: $100	62-79 inches: $100; 80 inches and over: $150
Southwest	$0	$0	First additional bag: $25; bags 4-9: $50; 10 and more: $110	51-70 lbs: $25 $50; 71-100 lbs: $50	62-80 inches: $50
United	$20 ($5 discount if paid online)	$30 ($5 discount if paid online)	Bags 1-4: $125; 5th or more: $250	$100	63-115 inches: $125
US Airways	$20 ($5 discount if paid online)	$30 ($5 discount if paid online); $55  trans-Atlantic ($50 if paid online)	Bags 3-9: $100	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $50 71 to 99 lbs: $100	62-80 total linear inches: $100

 

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: Mar 2 2009.

See also: New airline frequent flyer program fees 

Airline	Ticket change fee domestic/international	Booking fares on phone/in person	Unaccompanied minors (double for round-trip)	Pet in cabin (double for round-trip)	Advance or premium economy domestic seat selection (double for round-trip)
Airtran	$75	$15	$39 for nonstops; $59 for connections	$69	$6 (advance seat assignment); $20 (exit row)
Alaska	$75 on line/ $100 otherwise	$15/$15	$75	$100	not applicable
American	$150/$150-300	$20/$20	$100	$100	not applicable
Continental	$150/$150-$300	$25/$20	$75 nonstop/$100 connecting	$95 $125	not applicable
Delta	$150/$200+	$25/$25	$100	$100	$5-$25
Frontier	$100	$25	$40 $50 per segment	Not allowed	not applicable
JetBlue	$100	$15	$75	$100	$10-$20 (first 4 and exit rows)
Northwest	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta
Spirit	$100 80 online ($110 $90 otherwise)	Lowest fares available online only	$75 $100	$85 $100	not applicable
Southwest	$0 (you get a credit good for a year)	Lowest fares available online only	$25	$75	not applicable
United	$150/$200+	$25/$30	$99 $150 $99	$125 ($250 to $500 in hold)	varies
US Airways	$150/$150-$250	$25 domestic, $35 international; at ticket offices $35 domestic, $45 international	$100	$100	$5-$30 per flight (aisle and window at front of economy cabin), although some passengers will be assigned these seats without paying by “luck of the draw”

 

---

Book the wrong flight? Some airlines will let you off the hook

Posted by A on Wednesday, August 19, 2009

By Aaron Tam

Airline	Cancellation Within	How to Cancel	Other notes.
Continental	24 Hours	Online or Phone	Refund Policy
Northwest	24 Hours	Online	Customer's First
Delta	24 Hours	Online	Customer Commitment
Jetblue	Not Available
USAIR	Not Available		24 Hour hold only
Air Tran	4 hours	Phone	Voucher for future travel only
United	24 hours	Phone or Online	Cancellation Policy
American	Not Available		24 Hour hold only
Southwest	24 Hours	Phone
Ticketing Site	Cancellation Within/by	How to Cancel	Other Notes
Orbitz	10 p.m. CST the day after booking	Online	Courtesy Cancel
Expedia	24 hours	Phone	Expedia Promise
Travelocity	24 hours	Phone	Travelocity Guarantee
Priceline	prior to 11:30 pm ET day of booking		Exchange Guidance

 

 

---

Updated: Our best tips for finding low airfares

Posted by George on Saturday, August 15, 2009

Because airfares fluctuate like the stock market, you need to check them every day, or better still several times a day, if you’re serious about saving money. Airlines can update domestic fares three times a day during the week, and once on Saturday and Sunday (international fares tend not to change as often, but can be updated up to 5 times daily). Also, even if the fare itself hasn’t changed, seat availability at the lowest fares can change, so there might be just one seat available at 10 a.m., but the airline will open up more cheap seats later in the day.

If you’re at all flexible, you can sometimes save hundreds by adjusting your travel dates. Travelocity will search most domestic fares and many international ones over a 330 day search period; Orbitz and Hotwire cover nearly all routes from the US, but only over 30 day periods. Southwest.com also has a good flexible date search tool. See this article for the low down on flexible date searches with some handy step-by-step instructions.

Yes, we know, you already get too much email, but the airlines want to develop a one-on-one relationship with you, so they’ll send you special deals, such as 50% off promo codes or two-fers, if you sign up. Airline sites sell much more than airfares these days (hotels, rental cars, credit cards and such), and they will entice you to deal direct rather than use a third party site such as Orbitz. Here are links to US domestic airline sign up pages and for international sign ups. If you’re on Twitter, you might also want to follow the airlines’ tweets, which they’re using to promote exclusive Twitter-only deals. We signed up for Virgin America’s frequent flyer program and because we haven’t flown them yet we keep on getting promo code discount offers to give them a try.

Some airlines have “private” sales, reserving their very best fares for their own sites. These are different from promo code fares. Airfarewatchdog fare searchers often find lower fares on JetBlue.com, even without discounts such as a recent system-wide 20% off promo code, than on third-party sites. International airlines such as Aer Lingus, Iberia and Qantas regularly offer lower fares (i.e., $100-$400 less) on their own web sites compared to what you’ll find on Kayak or Orbitz.

 

Southwest offers frequent “Ding” deals that pop up on your computer that can save a few bucks off their already low fares. A couple of years ago, American launched something similar which used to generate frequent promo code discounts, but we haven’t seen many good deals from them lately.

It’s often significantly cheaper to buy an air plus hotel package rather than airfare alone. We often see Travelocity “TotalTrip” offerings, especially on last minute flights, pop up with hotel plus air for half the price of air alone. Lastminute.com is also a great source for finding last minute packages.

If you don’t have a 7, 14, or 21 day advance purchase window to buy your fare, your best bet is the “name your own price” feature of Priceline.com. True, you won’t know the exact flight times or airline you’re flying until to pay for your trip, but you can save 50% or more.

If you’re flying to a destination in Europe, you might save money by purchasing one fare from the US to, say, Dublin, and another from Dublin onward. Same holds true for some destinations in Asia (fly into Singapore and catch a low cost carrier from there) and to some smaller Caribbean destinations via San Juan or the Bahamas. 

Let’s say you’ve found the lowest fare, and then the day after purchase your non-refundable fare for the same itinerary goes down. If you ask for it you can get a refund for the difference. But some airlines will charge you a costly “administrative” fee of $150 or more, wiping out any savings. Others will give you the entire fare difference without extracting a fee. Currently, the “nice” airlines are JetBlue, Southwest, and Alaska.

Look, we all want our pictures in the paper and on the TV. But airlines are unpredictable creatures, and any airfare expert who claims he knows that airfares will be lower or higher in the coming months is just trying to snag some publicity. No one can accurately predict where airfares are heading, any more than we can predict the stock market, because we have no idea when the economy will approve, or how much airlines will cut back capacity, or when the next flu epidemic will hit. If we could, we’d all be comfortably retired in Margaritaville by now!

 

---

Airline baggage fees chart

Posted by George on Wednesday, August 12, 2009

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 Aug 12, 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.

 

Airline	First checked bag	Second checked bag	Additional bags	Overweight bags	Oversized bags
Airtran	$0 $15	$10 paid online, $20 at airport $25	$50	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $29 $39 71 to 99 lbs: $69 $79	62-70 total linear inches: $29 $39; 71-80 inches $69 $79
Alaska	$0 ($15 eff. 7/1/2009)	$0 $25	3rd-6th bags: $100; 7th or more: $150	51-100 lbs: $50	63-80 inches: $50; 81-115 inches: $75
American	$20	$30	Bags 3-5: $100; 6th or more: $200	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $50; 71-100 lbs: $100. These fees may be higher on international routes	63 inches and over: $150
Continental	$15 ($5 more if not paid online)	$25 ($5 more if not paid online)	$75 nonstop/$100 connecting	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $50 Over 70 lbs not accepted.	63 inches and over: $100
Delta	$15 ($5 more if not paid online)	$25 ($5 more if not paid online) $50 for European travel	Third bag: $125; Bags 4 to 10 $200 each (For travel outside US, no fee for 2nd bag, $200 for 3rd bag,  $350 for 4th and 5th, $600 for bags 6-10).	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $90 ($150 for travel outside US) 71 to 100 lbs: $175 ($300 each outside US)	63-80 total linear inches: $150 $175
Frontier	$0 $15	$25	$50	51-100 lbs:    $75	63-80 inches: $75
JetBlue	$0	$20	$75	51-70 lbs: $50; 71-99 lbs: $100	63-80 inches: $75
Northwest	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta	See Delta
Spirit	$19	$25 (online or at airport)	Bags 3-5: $100 (online or at airport)	51-70 lbs: $50 71 to 99 lbs: $100	62-79 inches: $100; 80 inches and over: $150
Southwest	$0	$0	3-9: $50; 10 and more: $110	51 -100 lbs: $50	62-80 inches: $50
United	$20 ($5 discount if paid online)	$30 ($5 discount if paid online)	Bags 1-4: $125; 5th or more: $250	$100	63-115 inches: $125
US Airways	$20 at airport, $15 online	$30 at airport, $25 online	Bags 3-9: $100	51-70 lbs (23-32kgs): $70 71 to 99 lbs: $120	62-80 total linear inches: $100

 

 

---

Frequent flyer miles can be inherited, but it takes some work ... and a fee on some airlines

Posted by George on Monday, August 03, 2009

The other option is the American Express Membership Rewards program. Here you can earn miles on about 20 US and foreign airlines. The points never expire as long as you keep them in your Amex account, and you transfer them to the airline frequent flyer program of your choice, where they become miles, as needed. If you and your spouse have a points-earning card for the same account, either Card Member has control of the points and can use them at will as long as the "primary" member authorizes another card member to use them. All it takes is a simple phone call; no fees, no paperwork.

 

---

Spirit Airlines 5 and 10 cent sales

Posted by George on Friday, July 31, 2009

Yep, Spirit is at it again with those wacky sale fares, which really can be booked if you hop to it.

But you must be a member of their $9 Fare Club to get seats. This current sale ends tonight at midnight tonight.

---

page: 1 of 14

Next page >>