Airfare prices drop: time to book your fall and winter travel

Have you been holding off on purchasing your tickets this fall and winter? Well, that precipitous drop that we were all eagerly awaiting has finally taken effect, and there are some fan-freaking-tastic flights waiting to be purchased.

The whole fare tidal wave began with an outstanding Southwest Airlines sale kicked off this week, reducing fares to only $30 each-way among many routes. In turn, many of the legacy carriers dropped their fares to the same destinations, so if you fancy paying for your baggage or earning useful frequent flyer miles then you might be able to switch up.

Sample fares include tickets from Chicago to Minneapolis and Kansas City for only $84 round trip.

Needless to say, sites like Kayak and Travelocity don’t search both the legacy carriers and Southwest’s site, so if you are going to do some fare crawling make sure to check all of the sites. You’ve got until the end of the day on Thursday, October 28 2010 to book your tickets, with available travel dates of early December and January – Mid February.

Abercrombie & Kent one day sale, Thursday, May 6


Abercrombie & Kent
, the legendary tour company providing extraordinary experiences and private guides all over the world is having a big, awesome, one day sale on their Once in a Lifetime packages. And this time, they’re catering to a younger set: there’s a special preview for fans of their Facebook page.

From 8:00 – 9:00 AM Central Time on Thursday, May 6, Facebook fans will have exclusive first-access to the big, 18-itinerary sale including destinations in Europe, Jordan (above), Chile, East Africa and South Africa for travel between June and September. The preview sale will give fans 25 percent off the usual A&K prices.

Not on Facebook? Not a problem. At 9:00 AM Central Time, they’re having one of their “Countdown Sales,” where the savings will start at 5 percent and continue to rise by 5 percent every 30 minutes until everything is sold out (yes, it happens). The sale ends at 3:00 PM Central Time with a maximum savings of 60 percent — so check and see if the itinerary you want is still available at 2:30; it’s a steal.

Click here to become an A&K fan on Facebook, or here to access the big Abercrombie & Kent sale on Thursday, May 6.

Red Roof Inn offers rooms at 1 cent

Need a cheap hotel room in the next fortnight? Scoot on over to The Red Roof Inn website where they’re having an epic sale on rooms. For the next two weeks the discount hotel brand is offering one room at each hotel for ONE PENNY every day, plus taxes, of course.

The only catch? Rates are only good for the following day, so if you want to book a room for tomorrow you need to get online today and be the first person to book. Rates are published every day at 9AM PST (that’s lunchtime for you Red-Roof-Inn-rabid New Yorkers, so be sure to get there at 8:55 with a quick trigger finger and your browser set to reload every 5 seconds.

Check out Red Roof Inn’s frontpage for more details on the promotion. One cent rooms run until April 15.

SkyMall St. Patrick’s Day Sale

SkyMall knows it’s St. Patrick’s Day. They also know that it’s Wednesday thanks to their Day Clock. And they’re celebrating with a St. Patrick’s Day Sale offering 25% off your total order.

What better way to celebrate your Irish heritage (or love of all things green) than with a green Slanket, an inspirational faux emerald or just a plain old green duffel bag to store all of your lucky charms. Perhaps you’d like to start walking through the office with a Handmade Irish Shillelagh. Today’s the day to make that dream come true.

Not all of the merchants on SkyMall are participating in the sale and there’s some other fine print worth scanning. But if you’ve had your eye on a piece of SkyMall swag – perhaps something you’ve read about in SkyMall Monday – then today’s the day to pull the trigger.

Save 35 percent on a Timbuk2 wheelie bag

I first wrote about the Timbuk2 Checkpoint wheelie when it came out in Dec. 2008. The San Francisco-based company is now adding new colors, which will become available online starting Feb. 5. In the meantime, you’ll find that some of the original versions have been marked down by 35 percent. The 22-inch carry-on in brown with orange detailing, for example, is now $163, down from $250. The company hopes to clear that inventory by June.

I loved the Checkpoint so much that I ended up buying one for a family member as a Christmas present just last month. I don’t normally pay retail if I can help it, but I see luggage as an investment so I happily forked over the $250. Tip: Like many retailers, Timbuk2 often has free holiday shipping, which saved me $10 back in December.

Now that the bag is on clearance, I’ve just ordered another one for my mom. She had called me last week because she’s going to Taiwan in March and was shopping around for a new carry-on bag. Did I have any suggestions? Well considering that I salivate over luggage the way some people collect purses, I sent her links to some new lightweight luggage. To my surprise, my mom liked the boldness of the Timbuk2. No basic black, she told me. And at under 8 pounds, I know my mom won’t have trouble lifting the bag into the overhead bin by herself. So you see, the company that earned its reputation for producing durable bike messenger bags is expanding its appeal.

As for the new colors debuting next week, you can expect a green Checkpoint bag with lime trim, as well as one in gray (from $250). Expect to add about $10 for shipping.