Fares at $99, Airlines Doing Fine

Jan. 7, 2009 — -- When was the last time you flew across the country for $99?

Thanks to the current crop of incredible airfare sales, you can do that now -- on Southwest, for example -- and other airlines, such as JetBlue are advertising shorter hops, starting at just $39.

And the legacy carriers have plenty of bargains, as well. So the airlines must be desperate, right? I can hear you thinking: the airlines are in big, big trouble!

Well, no. Not really. Sure, the economy's tanking, and people are losing their jobs and houses are losing their value and … well, I don't have to tell you any of this, we're all living it.

And in the travel and tourism sector, we're seeing the same thing: notice how you can get a room in a "name" hotel in Las Vegas this month for $33 a night? But when it comes to the airlines -- they're actually doing OK.

For more travel news and insights visit Rick's blog at: http://farecompare.com.

How do I know? I'm a student of history. Let's go back to January of a year ago, and -- what do you know -- there were tons of airfare sales back then too, at least 18 by my count. In fact, I checked FareCompare's historical data for the cheapest airfares in January the past four years, and here's what I found:

Average cheapest round-trip airfare between the top 50 U.S. cities each day in January ranged from:

So far this January, the price is hovering right around $250, so not much has changed since last year, except that the price of jet fuel is down, about a buck-and-a-half less per gallon this year, so that's a win for the airlines.

Plus, there were no bag fees last year at the same time. But today, check a bag and you've just added $30 to your round-trip flight, or $80 if you check two. The airlines score again.

Business travelers are still getting roasted over the coals. At least that's how many feel, with higher prices and more onerous "rules" like the Saturday night stay-over, which made a comeback over the past year.