George S.

I just looked at my emails and saw that National Airlines is offering $75.00 RT fares from the east coast to Las Vegas. Before the plane crashes we would have left tommorrow at that price. Strip hotels which are nearly empty are almost giving away rooms. If you were not able to afford a trip out west before it sure is affordable. I always wanted to see the canyon country of Utah.

What do people think, should we travel before the prices go up with that $50.00 security fee that may be added to tickets takes effect? Or should we sit at home watch CNN and continue to heal?

John

Fares don't seem to be universally low yet. Depends highly on the airport on whether it's served by certain carriers. From my hometown (New Orleans) it's still $156 for a Dallas roundtrip but the New York flights are $138 roundtrip. Vegas is still the same $178-198 it always is.

My spouse flew home yesterday and actually commented that, ironically, it will make the traveling job somewhat easier since the crowds aren't yet back in the airports. I plan to fly as soon as work permits.

look

Don't be so sure of those low prices. I just checked travelocity because I got an e-mail advertising $ 100 R/T from Hartford to Fort Myers. When I looked into it, it turns out that the price is only good for 3 days the first week of October (midweek of course). The times when I want to go the price is close to $ 300. These deals aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Ed

National Airlines is on the verge of shutting down.

Owen O'Neill

I agree that fares have not dropped acrtoss the board. I've been checking Newark to Chicago and saw it drop from about $250 non-stop to $165 (I had already booked but am now bringing a friend). I've also been checking Newark to Fresno CA, as I have an ill relative there whose days are numbered. Fares to Fresno remain unchanged. It appears to be very much a question of volume and popularity of route.

MHS

Look, you are correct. I checked flights from HFD (Hartford) to PNS FL for April and prices start @$350. Am I the only one really very annoyed that the airlines are begging/threatening/ etc. so they can get our tax dollars but are doing nothing to book future flights? And what airline CEO is taking a cut in his pay proportionally equal to the cut his laid-off employees are facing?

begging?

The airlines are not begging, the are just stating the simple facts. They are losing money! Some will be bankrupt in a couple weeks if not sooner (Midway). Not just because of the attack, either. Only 2 airlines were profitable the past 2 quarters, Southwest and someone else. I agree on the CEO salaries but that's just the way it goes in almost every business. The Big 3 give the CEO's big bonuses while laying off 10's of thousands. I'm not saying it's right, but the airlines are really hurting and if they go out of business, we are the ones that pay.

Look

Now I may just an ignorant housewife, but I do understand the economic concept of supply and demand. That being the case, I wonder why all airlines aren't cutting prices to a bare minimum to encourage travel. It would seem to me that a very little profit is better than no profit at all, and that some people really NEED a reason to fly at this time, like a price too low to turn down. What would it hurt for the industry to try it and see what would happen, particularly if people look upon it as a last chance trip before a full scale war breaks out?

Mike

The airlines cannot make profit without business travel. They do not make money by selling coast to coast tickets @$200. They do that to limit their losses on open seats. They need business travellers like myself who pay $1500 to go coast to coast to make profit. They obviously can't sell cheap business tickets in this time of tradgedy just to say the plane is sold. They would not make profit and the owners (shareholders) would not stand for it. They would be better off to go bankrupt and at least recoup their asset value (book value) for shareholders. Now for tourism: How much lower can they drop the tourism prices (3 week advance, non-ref)? It is ridiculously cheap now. Midway did the right thing (from a business standpoint) and just packed it in. At current discount fares, the could sell out the whole plane and not make a profit. It would make no sense to try and fill the plane with discount fares.

Pat

Yesterday, 9/19/01, I was searching for airfare to Vegas and saw a website offering $1 to and $50 from. It listed a number of airlines however, I didn't completely look at the list and now wondering what that website is, would anyone know? I've already checked that National Airlines' because they were on the list but seems like the info on the National's website was quoted differently. I'd appreciate any info, thanks.

look

O.K. Mike, my husband flies for business also and regularly pays ridiculous prices ($700 from NY to Washington), so I get your point about biz travel. But if his plane flies out 1/3 full, please tell me how it would hurt the airlines to try and fill those empty seeats at even $ 100 R/T? It's still thousands of dollars more than what they would have if the prices stay high. And let's face it, not all routes are sustained with business travel. Flights to Orlando, Vegas, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Europe are at least half if not more leisure travelers. They are certainly not going to fly right now unless there is huge incentive (low prices). As far as prices being "ridiculously low" already, Maybe you consider $ 300 R/T from the Northeast to Florida to be low, but I don't.

yes

I just checked Hartford to Las Vegas on travlocity. RT is $98 on Delta or any other airline, just about any day you want. Only problem I saw was most of the return flights were red-eyes. Lots of deals are out there if you're up for traveling.

Thyra

I just got an email from Tripres.com a service I use frequently to book myself and business associates into Las Vegas. They are offering $1.00 fares to Las Vegas from selected cities (I think there are like 5 places, with a $24.00 return.
Yep that's right. Of course the fares are only valid for travel on Tuesdays on only certain Tuesdays.

las

ATA charged us $200 each for cancelling a Vegas package in Oct. I guess they can offer low fares since they got our money for nothing.

George

There are deals to Las Vegas right now because Vegas is hurting. As for Florida, this is low season. Maybe if people are not traveling in peak season Jan-Feb-March, will we see deals to Florida and other warm weather destinations.

ldsant

Mike:

You're right, airlines do make most of their $$ through business travel. HOWEVER; since the economy has taken a turn for the worse (and this was happening big time before the tragedy), the airlines have seen business travel and their profits drop tremendously. I agree with other posters. The airlines need to do something to get people in airplanes and feeling that flying is all right again. It's a short-term view to think, well, we'll just go bankrupt and pack it in. At least try and do something to restore the public's faith in flying as well as make some type of profit. The other poster is correct - $200 a seat is better than $0 a seat! This is simple economics. There aren't enough business travellers to sustain the airlines; it is ridiculous to think that businesses are going to ramp up again so quickly and allow their people on airplanes. A recent report showed that most businesses are now planning on resorting to video and audio conferencing as much as they are able to for the near future.