How to score a cheap airline ticket
October 27th, 2006 Category:Home, Transportation
By Donna Rosato
When you hear “JetBlue,” “AirTran” or “Southwest,” you think “cheap fares.” These and other low-cost airlines have rapidly expanded in the past six years, bringing bargains to more markets and burnishing their reputations as the value-minded traveler’s best friend.
Lately, though, the low-fare club has been growing and admitting some unexpected members.
Traditional airlines like American, Continental and United are selling more tickets at lower fares, aggressively matching or even undercutting prices on routes where discounters fly.
The result: While your first step when planning a trip used to be finding out whether a discounter served the route you wanted to fly (and then booking without a second thought), your best move today is to search the big boys right along with the discounters.
One reason for the change is that traditional airlines have been slashing expenses (many in bankruptcy court) and are returning to profitability, enabling them to better compete with their low-cost rivals.
As for the discounters, well, their prices can go only so low. If you fly between New York and Los Angeles in early November, for example, you’ll pay $337 on JetBlue but just $284 on American, Delta or United. A round-trip Hartford-to-Fort Lauderdale ticket bought in September for November travel cost $314 on Southwest and $293 on Delta.
Southwest and other low-cost airlines still offer more seats at lower prices than traditional carriers do. “The problem is, those seats sell out the quickest,” says Southwest marketing vice president Kevin Krone. Therefore, which airline has the lowest fares at any time is partly a matter of timing. And no one disputes the dramatic downward effect that low-cost airlines have had on fares…
