As fellow passengers at Los Angeles International Airport grumbled about soaring airfares, Gilda Chavez-Diaz flew home to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last week. The cost of the round trip? $18.
"People don't believe me," Chavez-Diaz said with a smile as she boarded a Spirit Airlines flight. The "ultra low cost" carrier offered a promotion Chavez-Diaz seized on after receiving an e-mail from the airline.
It wasn't the only deal she's found lately. In the last year, empty nesters Chavez-Diaz and her husband, Carlos, have taken six trips to locales such as the Virgin Islands and Las Vegas, never paying more than $68 each for a round-trip ticket.
With soaring fuel prices, airlines are hiking fares unlike ever before just as the peak summer travel season is set to kick off. But bargain hunters say airfare deals still abound -- they're just harder to find.
Increased competition is holding down fares on certain routes. Domestically, new entrants and added flights along the West Coast are keeping prices low. With upstarts Virgin America and JetBlue Airways expanding West Coast service, a round-trip ticket to Seattle from LAX can cost as little as $179.
International fares to Australia and some cities in Europe, including Rome and London, are falling as more foreign carriers have jumped into the fray this year.
Travelers are also relying more than ever on money-saving tricks, such as scouring last-minute online deals and trying out smaller airlines that often have cheaper fares but can't afford to advertise them. Such bargains aren't always included on airfare websites such as Orbitz and Expedia.
Some fliers are even doing the unthinkable: going where it's hot. (Think Texas in July.)
Deals "are available but it does take time to find them, and flexibility is key," said Kellie Pelletier, spokeswoman for Kayak, a travel search website, adding that old rules to finding bargains no longer apply.
"This is just a crazy summer. There are no absolutes. You have to look around, and it's really important to be flexible and look at all the dates," she said, noting that the cheapest airfare to St. Lucia from Los Angeles this summer is on the Fourth of July weekend. In years past, the holiday was among the most expensive for the route.
