Airlines cutting fares to build summer travel

If you have money, this might be the year to take that dream vacation.

Frantic to fill seats, the airlines are discounting summer travel, which is usually the busiest and most profitable time for the industry.

Although the economy is in a tailspin, and companies are cutting travel expenses, airlines are offering some of the cheapest airfares in years to try to attract leisure travelers this spring and summer.

"Airlines are just trying to put warm bodies in a seat at whatever price they can get," said Tom Parsons, who tracks low-cost airfares on his Web site BestFares.com. "This is one of the more wild and crazy airfare sales I've seen in years."

To get people to fly, Southwest Airlines, Philadelphia's second-busiest carrier, launched an early summer sale fare last week for travel through Aug. 14.

AirTran Airways has a sale that ends at midnight today to all its destinations. Off-peak prices start at $39 one-way, not including taxes and charges, for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through Oct. 30.

The lowest fares may be available on only a limited number of seats. Prices vary, depending on factors including how far in advance you book and the date and time of travel.

Southwest's $99 or less one-way sale to many U.S. destinations must be purchased by April 6. The fares apply to travel Monday through Thursday and Saturday.

Other airlines including US Airways, American, Delta, United, and Continental quickly matched the fares on competing routes flown by Southwest.

US Airways Group Inc. offered a spring fare deal of $298 round-trip to 18 European cities from Philadelphia and New York for travel through May 20. (Tickets had to be purchased by Feb. 26.)

The busiest carrier at Philadelphia International Airport, US Airways is offering introductory fares on two new international routes - $1,099 round-trip to Tel Aviv, Israel, from Philadelphia, if purchased before Tuesday for travel July 1 to Sept. 30.

A round-trip flight from Philadelphia to Oslo, Norway, is being offered at $848 by US Airways for trips booked by May 1 and travel May 21 to July 31.

US Airways is advertising this week an all-inclusive Jamaica vacation - airfare and five nights in a four-star hotel on the beach - starting at $583 a person from Philadelphia. Trips must be booked by Sunday for travel through Aug. 31.

"There are some pretty attractive deals right now, especially compared to the past couple of summers," said Robert Mann, aviation consultant with R.W. Mann & Co., of Port Washington, N.Y.

"These prices, if they were to continue, wouldn't be economic" for the airline industry, Mann said. "It's revenue management. They are selectively offering some low prices to entice people into the marketplace. And to some degree, they are trying to steal from each other."

Mann said airlines were hoping that when summer rolls around, "the combination of the amount of capacity that's been cut" - seats and flights - and a "bounce in the market" would cause subsequent purchases to be at higher prices.

Several airlines are offering low-price vacation packages to destinations such as Orlando and Las Vegas.

"In June and July out of Philadelphia, you can book five nights in a four-star hotel in Orlando for around $259 round-trip per person for a family of four," Parsons said. "For a three-star hotel, it would be around $189. It's on multiple airlines. It just depends on who has the seats available and the day of the week you are going."

Vacation packages to Las Vegas from Philadelphia - for round-trip airfare and three nights in a three-star hotel - start at $249, Parsons said. Four-star hotels, such as the Golden Nugget, run about $289. "That's very unusual for Las Vegas."

The lowest fares are for travel midweek. "If you fly on a Friday or a Sunday, your airfare will be $100 to $120 more," Parsons said.

With the global recession causing fewer people to travel, Americans who do take trips to other countries will find the dollar buys more.

In Australia the U.S. dollar has "about 50 percent more in buying power" than last summer, Parsons said. In Mexico, where the currency exchange rate had been 9.8 pesos to the dollar, it is about 15 pesos now. In England, the dollar is worth about 40 percent more than last summer, and is 25 percent "stronger" to the euro, Parsons said.

Still, people are waiting longer to book deals for summer.

"Everybody is pinching pennies," Parsons said. "Consumers are booking flights 60 days or less before they want to travel." That is causing airlines to scramble to fill up planes.