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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Bargain January
Cheap Charlie · January 15, 2000

The airlines have just served up a veritable smorgasbord of bargain airfares, both domestically and internationally.

Every carrier seems to have joined in this short-lived bargain frenzy. Take advantage of their largess.

The domestic bargains are really courtesy of the low-fare king, Southwest Airlines, and follow their routes for the most part. Not surprisingly, the limitations on usage adopted by the major airlines seem to match the Southwest fine print.

If you live near an airport serviced by Southwest, you can expect to find bargains as good as $99 one-way for a coast-to-coast flight. There is not much time. You must purchase your tickets by February 2nd, but travel is valid in most cases until June 9, 2000.

US Airways just launched a big Florida sale limited to the Internet. In other words, all tickets must be purchased through its Web site. Fares range from $118 to $238, travel has to take place Tuesdays through Fridays, it must be completed by February 17th, and must be purchased by Wednesday February 2nd.

These sales are excellent if you want to head to Florida immediately. Providence to Ft. Lauderdale round trip is only $ 79 each way, Seattle to Miami is $119 each way, and Kansas City to Miami is only $94. (Note that the majors are planning a fuel surcharge on domestic flights starting in February. More on that once the dust settles.)

The best bargains are on the international routes starting from the U.S.A. I just had a friend successfully bid on a trip from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany last week on Priceline.com and only pay a price of $375. But you don't have to go to Priceline.com to find these bargains. They are available through the airlines themselves, travel agents and on the Internet.

These sale fares certainly provide an excellent benchmark to help with making a successful bargain bid. Remember, however that your flexibility with the Priceline.com tickets is fare less than with normal advanced purchase fares from the airlines or travel agents.

Here are some examples of fares to foreign destinations. (Note: Booking deadlines range from January 26th or February 2nd for many of these deals. Some allow travel through the end of March others have different restrictions. Make sure to check on the specific airline bargain fine print.)

Northwest has created a sale focused around its hub airports of Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The Northwest fares from these hubs are as low as $348 to many European destinations such as London, Paris, and Madrid and $898 to Hong Kong and Seoul or $918 to Shanghai and Beijing. Customers only have three days left for these fares that presently have a January 26th cutoff date for purchase. Most travel must completed by mid April.

Aer Lingus is offering two-for-one deals that make the price per person for a couple only $286 roundtrip from Newark, NJ to Dublin, Ireland, or only $298 for the Boston to Shannon flight, and $498 from Los Angeles, California to Shannon, Ireland.

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are offering $99 each way fares between their East Coast gateways and the U.K. Air France is offering roundtrips to Paris for as low as $268 from the east and $398 from the west. TAP Air Portugal is selling seats to Lisbon for only $189 one-way. There are even deals for intra-European flight on British Midland airways.

Keep looking, there are more bargains. Travel agent can be a great help - or get ready to spend time on the Internet. This is where a good travel agent is worth their weight in gold, even though they make miserable commissions from these sales.

If you are planning a trip in the next two months, this is the time to go fare shopping and lock in these great rates. With jet fuel prices jumping, I don't expect the ultra-cheap fares to last very long.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at charlie@ticked.com or access his Web site.