Fare Sales Aplenty, But It Depends ...

All these reporters are clucking in the media about all these airline fare sales! Cluck, cluck, cluck. And sure enough, you can find some good ones -- assuming you're going where and when the airline is selling. On the other hand, I've found that business-travel fares -- on routes that do not depend heavily on leisure travelers -- are significantly higher now than they were a year ago.

Priceline.com just put out some interesting examples showing the craaaaaaazziness in current fares. The Priceline airfare index identifies the largest week-to-week swings in average published roundtrip airfares for select markets. (Each price shown is the average of the lowest fares returned through multiple airfare searches for flights that are at least 7 days away from departure. The percentage change compares fare averages for the current week with those from the previous week. Amounts shown include all taxes and airline fees)


Portland to Las Vegas $ 233 -20%
Indianapolis to Orlando $ 214 -16%
Chicago to Phoenix $ 280 -14%
Chicago to San Francisco $ 283 -14%
Seattle to Phoenix $ 266 -12%
Dallas to Las Vegas $ 328 -12%
Los Angeles to Miami $ 350 -12%
Minneapolis to Los Angeles $ 259 -11%
Minneapolis to Chicago $ 135 -10%
Minneapolis to New York City $ 268 -9%
Houston to Las Vegas $ 314 -9%
Newark to Honolulu $ 674 -9%
Minneapolis to Las Vegas $ 279 -9%
Cleveland to Las Vegas $ 303 -8%
Chicago to Dallas $ 273 -8%
Washington, DC to Atlanta $ 262 +9%
Washington, DC to Los Angeles $ 304 +9%
Los Angeles to New York City $ 336 +10%
Atlanta to San Francisco $ 344 +10%
Detroit to Newark $ 215 +10%
Washington, DC to Chicago $ 279 +10%
Los Angeles to Washington, DC $ 293 +10%
Washington, DC to Denver $ 292 +10%
San Francisco-o Washington, DC $ 292 +11%
Los Angeles to Newark $ 378 +11%
Washington, DC to Dallas $ 292 +11%
New York City to Los Angeles $ 341 +11%
Atlanta to Washington, DC $ 266 +12%
Washington, DC to Boston $ 263 +17%
Boston to Washington, DC $ 282 +21%

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