Travel Deal of the Day (July 7, 2008)

If you believe the news reports, you would think that there are no more airfare deals due to high gas prices. That is just not true – due to a slowing economy, there are still quite a few deals available. If you are somewhat flexible, you can still find a great airfare deal.

The Deal:
You can still find great airfare deals. The same rules that have always applied to finding great airfare deals still apply: (1) avoid busy holiday weekends and avoid the busiest days of the week (Friday and Sunday) to find the best availability for the lowest fares; (2) check all area airports (so, if flying to or from Miami, check Miami, Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach); (3) check a day before and a day after your scheduled departure and arrival date to verify if the fare varies tremendously; and (4) use an aggregator website such as Kayak as well as checking individual low-cost airline websites (such as Southwest) that are not listed on aggregator websites to ensure you find all possible airfares.

If you are flexible, you will find deals. Even with high gas prices, a scan of Northeast to Florida airfares today (an area of the county with frequent deals) reveals that there quite a few great deals. One example is a $53/way fare from Philadelphia to Ft. Myers. There are also fares from Baltimore to Sarasota for around $70/way with no advance purchase requirement (you can fly today for that price).