No Sales to Nashville?

Q. I'm signed up for your newsletter, but also have about 4 other eblasts I get about travel, just to stay on top of things. I have noticed that whenever Midwest, Delta, American, United, etc have a big sale (like those $98 round-trip sales, or under $200 round-trips), rarely do they include Nashville. Is there a reason why they skip over it?

A. When you notice a trend like this, it's usually safe to assume that the airlines aren't putting a city/route on sale because, well, they don't have to. It's supply and demand. A higher volume of passengers in a particular market will keep fares high, and lack of a budget airline presence (like Allegiant, which serves Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Tri-Cities) to drive prices down doesn't help the situation either. But Nashville isn't completely left out of the game. There is Southwest, and they have a lot of great sale fares to/from Nashville.