Gotta fly? Now's a good time to get bargain airfares

— -- For $17, Carol Tucker will fly this month on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale to the U.S. Virgin Islands. She flew last month between Providence and Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines for $69 each way.

"I can't imagine anything in the past could have been cheaper," says the frequent flier from Cranston, R.I.

Airfares for many routes haven't been this low for at least a year. Some fares are less than half what they were last winter, an analysis by FareCompare.com for USA TODAY shows. And they're a far cry less than they were last summer, when rising fares and steep surcharges for fuel threatened to make flying a luxury.

Bargains abound because airlines are hungry to fill seats in a recession. The question, however, is how long the discounts will last or whether cash-strapped consumers have enough money to take advantage of them.

Aviation consultant Michael Boyd advises consumers to "book now and book quick," warning that airlines are cutting flights in response to fewer people being able to afford to fly. By July, Boyd says, low fares will largely disappear.

In the meantime, FareCompare.com, which tracks fares for consumers, found plenty of bargain ticket prices by examining the cheapest round-trip coach fares for non-stop flights on 30 of the most-traveled domestic routes. Flights of Southwest Airlines, which is not listed in all computer reservations systems, weren't included.

On 29 of the routes, the cheapest coach ticket available on Jan. 27 — for Tuesday travel in February with a return seven days later — was less expensive than the cheapest fare for comparable days last winter.

The biggest price drop was on the Atlanta-Tampa route. A $139 ticket on Delta Air Lines or AirTran Airways was about $200, or 56%, less expensive than last year's cheapest fare. For a family of four, that translates into nearly $800 in savings on a round trip this year.

"Non-stop flights typically garner a premium, so I'm surprised how good the pricing is right now," says Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, which tracks airfares for consumers. "It underscores just how uncertain airlines are about future bookings."