Thanks to Dennis Schaal (www.tnooz.com
@denschaal on Twitter) FareCompare Deals Guest Blogger
The next time you book a flight from an airline or travel agency, you’ll notice that you will be required to enter additional information about yourself.
It’s all part of the TSA’s Secure Flight Program. The agency has been rolling this out over the last year and it is now in full swing.
If you book a domestic or international flight on Continental.com or on Travelocity, for instance, you’ll now be asked to enter your exact name as it appears on your passport or driver’s license, your date of birth, your gender and, if applicable, your redress number. (The redress number is a TSA-provided number for travelers who believe they’ve erroneously hassled or denied boarding because they’ve been matched to a bad guy on a government watch list.)
Why is this being done - and how to breeze through the process? Keep reading…
Cheap Airline Tickets? Got ‘em. New TSA Rules? Uh…
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Here’s one New Year’s resolution you can keep — to save on airfare — and Southwest makes it easy.
Airfares begin as low as $49 one-way for travel Tuesdays and Wednesdays or $59 one-way for travel other days. Coast-to-coast flights start as low as $89 one-way.
You must book by Jan. 19 and there is a 14 day advance-purchase requirement. Some sample ticket prices include:
- Baltimore to Orlando, $49 one-way
- Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale, $59 one-way
- Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles, $89 one-way
- Baltimore to San Diego, $99 one-way
- Chicago to Los Angeles, $99 one-way
Better Yet: Most of the major airlines have matched on Southwest routes!
Searches on FareCompare.com for travel on Southwest routes shows show you the starting cheapest base price (at the top). A quick click and you can pick your seats on Southwest.com (and compare others).
Travel is good from Jan. 15 through the end of April — yes that includes Spring Break.
And don’t forget: Southwest begins flights to Minneapolis in early March, and yes they are included too.
Indeed this seems like a good start of “Year of the Airfare Sales“.
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Over on RickSeaney.com, FareCompare’s CEO breaks down what Southwest Airlines entrance into the Minneapolis market will mean for the legacy carriers, and more importantly, what it will mean for travelers:
“The legacy airlines will quickly have to restructure their airfares, by offering one-way fares instead of the 2 night minimum stay roundtrip fares they currently file - likely matching Southwest’s new price points.”
To learn more about Southwest’s spring airfares between Minneapolis and 56 cities throughout the country, read Rick Seaney’s “Southwest Airlines Files Minneapolis Airfares - Let the Fare Wars Begin.”
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Midwest Airlines, the carrier that brought you fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies, is once again “redefining” coach by bringing their Signature seating to their entire fleet and creating what they call “Midwest Class.”
The Signature Seat has been available on select Midwest Airlines’ MD-80 flights for an additional cost of $65. However, with Midwest Class, there will actually be additional payment options for travelers who want a little more legroom and a bit of added comfort:
“Travelers paying higher-value refundable fares will be assigned a Signature seat, if available, at no additional charge. Or, find the lowest available fare and secure your Signature seat for a modest fee at time of booking. Finally, you’ll still be able to choose Signature seating when you check in, as you can on our MD-80 flights today.”
Visit Midwest Airlines News for more details. For more on the “more legroom” options the airlines are offering, check out How Much Would You Pay for Legroom?
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Spirit Airlines is advertising a BSD sale (Big Spirit Deals) and they are showing flights for as low as $19+ each way (one of those fares is from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas).
You have to book by midnight on May 19th, and the sale covers a lot of locations at prices from $19+ to $139+ each way.
Take a look here for more information, and note that travel dates vary.
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Just a quick heads-up for all you American Idol fans out there. JetBlue is part of a sweepstakes that will send a couple of lucky people to see American Idol (the show before the finale). Visit JetBlue for all of the details.
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With new Open Skies agreements in place, we will start to see more routes and flights open up between the US and Europe on a range of airlines at the end of March. While all of these new flights will be touted by the airlines, none get them more excited than new flights to London Heathrow. London Heathrow continues to be the hub for international business travelers, and US-based carriers want as strong a presence their as possible.
American Airlines and Continental Airlines have both announced major changes involving Heathrow. Keep reading to see how they might affect you…
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Open Skies: New Flights to Heathrow
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Not long ago, I set out a trip to try to reach all 48 states in the Continental U.S. over the course of 11 days. In the end, I made it to 43 states (and D.C.). It involved taking 5 to 7 flights on many days, fighting blizzards, falling deathly ill in the great state of Montana, and basically dealing with a lot of misery. Oh, did I mention I was wearing a Santa suit the whole time?
During my Grumpy Santa tour, I learned to latch onto the little things; the small joys in a day filled with nothing but flying. One of those joys was Midwest Airlines chocolate chip cookies. Now, the good people of Kansas City can feel a bit of that joy without ever even having to step on a plane…
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Kansas City Gets Lucky: Midwest Airlines to Sell Cookies
