JetBlue offers unlimited travel for $599

Got a lot of flying to do in September? If so, JetBlue has the deal for you.

Book an All-You-Can-Jet Pass and you can fly anywhere that JetBlue goes, as many times as you want from September 8 to October 8, for one low price. Saint Lucia one week, Seattle the next, all for just $599 (plus taxes for international destinations and Puerto Rico – domestic taxes are covered). Depending on which of JetBlue’s 56 domestic and international destinations your travels will take you to, the Pass could easily earn its price in two or three trips.

But, as ABC News points out, you should compare the cost of buying each trip a la carte versus going with the Pass; if you’ll be flying the cheaper routes, you’d have to fly a whole lot to make the Pass a good deal. Do the math before you commit.

Flights must be booked three days in advance and you may only book one flight per day. There are no blackout dates. If you’ve already bought tickets to fly on JetBlue during the month, you can pay the difference to upgrade to the Pass.

Passes will be on sale through Friday, August 21st “while supplies last”. There’s no word on how many Passes are available, so act fast or you might miss out.

Students and teachers can fly to London or France for $30 – No joke!

Got thirty dollars? You could go to lunch … or Europe.

STA Travel is offering $30 round-trip airfare to London and Paris while supplies last. But not yet. Calm down.

On Wednesday, May 20th, the tickets (whose totally ridiculously low price includes taxes and fees) will go on sale, so call them right away in the morning at 1-800-360-9273. You can choose a round-trip flight on Virgin Atlantic or American Airlines to London or Paris from any of these cities:

  • New York City
  • Boston
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Los Angeles
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • London
  • Paris

A couple more rules: You have to be under the age of 26 and/or a currently enrolled student or teacher. A valid ISIC/IYTC/ITIC identity card is required to purchase a ticket and is available for $22 if you don’t already have one.

The ticket is non-refundable, but don’t go buyin’ ’em up and not usin’ ’em. That makes you mean.

You can only get the discount by calling or visiting an STA Travel retail branch, and you have to mention the promo code $30OFF when purchasing.

Put Wednesday on your calendars, folks, and set your alarm. But don’t worry if you miss this deal, we’ll have another for you soon!

Many inexpensive last minute holiday airfares do exist

You’ve probably noticed the stories about how airfares have dropped and air traffic is down. Two weeks ago, I flew from Copenhagen to Columbus on two airplanes that were not full. The Continental flight from Copenhagen to Newark was empty enough that most people had seats between them.

The flight from Newark to Columbus was even more roomy. The row in front of my daughter and me was empty, and we had that hoped for seat between us as well.

With less people flying that means more competition to entice passengers to fly. My mom is heading to New York City for the holidays. This past May, she took the bus because of gas prices and soaring airline costs. Her ticket plane ticket would have cost almost $400 at the time.

She thought about the bus again until last night when I searched for airplane tickets on a whim. There were several options for a $166 airfare when I used the variable date function. Delta and Northwest were the least expensive flights, but the flight she wanted was on Delta to LaGuardia which she prefers over JFK. Flights into Newark, at least the ones I saw, were more expensive.

Not only was she able to score a flight to the airport of choice, she also was able to get flights that are direct and leave at the times she preferred. At first, it looked like she’d have to leave at 6 a.m., but after going to another day of departure, an early afternoon flight to New York appeared. She also wanted to book a return flight later in the day than what originally appeared. Again, further looking found the exact flight out of LaGuardia.

After using Travelocity to find choices, I went directly to Delta’s web site to book the ticket. The amazing detail is that she’s leaving on Monday, just days from booking the ticket. Cheap flights so close to departure used to be unheard of.

So, if you’re thinking of going somewhere for the holidays, look into flying. It may be far less expensive than you thought. These are the days of deals. To find the best ones, look for flights during the week. My mom is flying out on a Monday and back on a Wednesday. In this case, the direct flights were less than the flights that went through another airport. I am amazed.

Cheap air travel options if the tropics suit you

What I really want is a cheap airfare to New York City from Columbus, Ohio. Since that’s not on my horizon, I’m taking an Amtrak train from Cleveland and a Greyhound bus back. For adults traveling with children, both offer a discount that can’t be beat.

If I were to head to the Caribbean, the Bahamas, or Bermuda, I might find different options that would put a cheaper airplane ticket in my hand. According to a recent “Practical Traveler in the New York Times,’ there are tickets for a bargain to these tropical locations.

Check out American Airlines, JetBlue. and Air France for the deals. Perhaps, you’ll be lucky and an airport near where you live will have one of those bargain flights to a place you’d like to go. Going to Cancún out of JFK airport in New York City is only a few dollars more than a trip to Denver, for example. Denver’s nice, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a destination for a holiday.

Yes, I did go to Denver myself two years ago and considered it part of a summer vacation, but there weren’t any hours relaxing by a pool.

One day, I might be looking to head to the tropics, but for now, it sure would be great to find a deal to New York. My son who is six years-old thinks Greyhound will be swell.

Also, an airline to keep an eye on for a travel deal, according to the article, is Southwest. As the article points out, Southwest has not offered a travel deal for awhile.

Skybus to Cut Flights and Add More

Rats! Be still my heart. I just heard that Skybus is canceling its Columbus to Bellingham flights starting in the spring.

I wrote that line last Thursday after I heard it on one of my local news stations, but I couldn’t get a confirmation if this was indeed fact. Skybus wasn’t talking on their website and whatever I did find, was a vague might. Today, it’s official. My husband even called me downstairs with the news. “No more flights to Bellingham,” he said, pointing to the headlines on the front page of the paper. I, of course, went into my, “Oh, I knew that,” mode.

What a disappointment. Besides Bellingham’s flights ceasing in March, so is the San Diego route and one of the LA flights. Triple darn. My husband was getting ready to book a cheap flight to San Diego to see his cousin. I do have to say, that if you plan ahead, you can get a flight to Seattle for almost as cheap as our Bellingham flight was this summer. By the time we were finished paying for luggage, two beverages and priority boarding, I think we were up to $360 a piece. I’d rather pay a little more for the service and not have to be at the airport with a child before the crack of dawn.

Skybus has a new round of $10 tickets through May on all their locations, but we can’t make up our minds where we want to go or when. It’s too hard making decisions so early in the morning and by the time the caffiene has kicked in, it’ll be too late for us, but if you’re awake, go for it. There are more flights to Ft. Meyers, Florida and Greensboro, North Carolina now, and you can fly directly from Portsmouth, New Hampshire without going through Columbus on a few of the flights.