From the New York Times:
The best bargains tend to be found midweek and come with restrictions. American’s sale doesn’t include the Thanksgiving holiday period, Nov. 22 to 30, for example, and it requires a two-day minimum stay. Air France is limiting its deals to departures between Sept. 1 and Oct. 29 with a Saturday night stay requirement. The JetBlue deals require a seven-day advance purchase and must be booked by Aug. 6. Travel to the Northeast and Florida must take place between Sept. 3 and Dec. 17, while travel to the Caribbean, Mexico and Western states must be between Aug. 11 and Nov. 1. Although these may not be rock-bottom deals, the sales are significantly better than some of the lofty prices travelers have been facing this summer. They also may be a signal that consumers have reached a limit in terms of how much they’re willing to pay in price hikes.
“I think the writing’s on the wall that the economy is pretty soft.” said Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares.com, a discount travel Web site that tracks airfare changes. “And travel is a very discretionary item.”
Despite capacity cuts, Mr. Parsons said he expected to see more deals to leisure destinations like the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida after Aug. 15, when children begin to go back to school and family travel starts to wane. “As we go into the fall,” he said, “airlines will be begging for people to get on the planes.” He is especially keeping his eye on Southwest Airlines, which he says hasn’t had a systemwide sale since Memorial Day weekend and is ready for one.
No comments:
Post a Comment