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."

Bargains until May

The bargains aren't just for the winter, typically a very slow travel season. On most routes analyzed, inexpensive fares are available for travel through at least mid-May.

For example, on the Denver-Los Angeles route, the cheapest available round-trip coach ticket, on Jan. 27, was $139 on three airlines — United, American and Frontier — for Tuesday travel in February.

That price, which is $150 cheaper than a year ago, also was available for Tuesday travel in March, April or May. It jumps to $179 in June, a busier travel season.

Cross-country flights also are a bargain.

For a Tuesday departure in February, the cheapest available round-trip coach ticket for non-stop flights between New York and Los Angeles was $259 — $100 cheaper than in February 2008 — on Delta or American.

The $259 price was the same for a Tuesday departure in March or April this year. But ticket prices jump to $299 for a mid-May departure and $419 for a mid-June departure.

Data from Travelocity, the online travel agent, also show airfares plummeting.

As of Jan. 21, customers paid an average of $338 for each round-trip domestic ticket departing March 14-April 26, says Genevieve Brown, Travelocity's senior editor. The average was $367 during the comparable period last year,

The average ticket price paid by customers declined for 18 of Travelocity's 20 most-popular domestic destinations. Only Hawaiian destinations showed a price increase.

According to Travelocity, tickets bought by customers for a March 14-April 26 departure cost 21% less than a year ago to Salt Lake City, 13% less to Los Angeles and 10% less to Atlanta.

On top of sales

In addition to dropping ticket prices, FareCompare's Seaney says, major airlines have announced at least 20 sales since Dec. 30. Southwest alone has had four sales, and American three. Sale prices have been valid for a few days, a week or more.

Southwest, which carries more passengers annually than any other U.S. airline, has traditionally been the leader in driving down prices. Competitors then typically match them.

However, Seaney says, legacy airlines such as American, United and Delta have led the way since late October in "firing out airfare sales." American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith says it's "quite normal" to see many fare specials in January and February. This year, he says, "The travel periods for those sales extend farther out into the year than in previous years."

But bargain prices may not fill all the vacant seats the airlines have.

Ray Neidl, an analyst for Calyon Securities, says that not even sales are attracting passengers for some airlines "in this weak economic environment."

Low prices worked for frequent-flier Dave Horowitz of Hamilton, N.J. He couldn't resist a recent Continental Airlines sale. He paid $98 last month for a round-trip ticket this week between Newark and Burlington, Vt.

"This is skiing season," says Horowitz, an account manager for a food ingredients manufacturer. "Normally, the fare would be $350 advance-purchase and sometimes as high as $700 round trip."

Steve Swicegood, a television producer in Charlotte, also didn't waste any time after spotting an attractive deal last month.

"We've been to Orlando many times and had not planned to go back this year," he says. "But when we spotted a $15 each way airfare from Columbia, S.C., to Orlando on Allegiant Air, we figured, 'Why not?' "