5 common airline ticket myths debunked

Somewhere I'm sure there are folks who won't mind spending $42,000 for a round-trip flight on Etihad's new super-duper first class –which comes with a shower and butler.

If you’re not that person, then let's bust some myths so you can find the cheapest tickets possible. 

• 1. Myth #1 - One airline always has the cheapest fares

  FALSE. No airline has a lock on the cheapest fares every time, everywhere because airlines match prices of competitors.  Even ultra-discounter Spirit sometimes costs more than, say, Virgin America, if you add in the cost of a single carry-on and the fee for choosing a seat. This is why you must compare prices. Always.

• 2. Myth #2 - Buy your tickets super early and you'll save a bundle

  FALSE. Airlines don't begin actively managing their fares for domestic flights until about three to three-and-a-half months ahead (for international flights, about five months). If you buy before that window opens, you'll likely pay a mid-range price. It may not be the most expensive fare but it probably won't be the cheapest, either.Exception: For holiday periods such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, you can buy earlier.

• 3. Myth #3 - Wait until the last minute and airlines practically give tickets away

  FALSE: Once upon a time, this used to be true but not since airlines became capacity experts. Now they know when people want to fly and where, so they can fill up planes without a single empty middle seat (or at least very few). This means there are no more last-minute steals.

• 4. Myth #4 - If you take the long way to your destination, you'll always save

  FALSE. While it is true that adding a stop (or two) to a flight can often save you money, it isn't always the case. This is just one more reason why you must always compare airfare prices including prices for various routes.

• 5. Myth #5 - Overweight and oversize fees do not apply to carry-on bags

  FALSE: Almost every airline specifies size limits for carry-ons, and an increasing number are adding weight limits. Hawaiian Airlines, for example, allows up to 25 pounds. Ditto for Allegiant. Europe's Ryanair allows a mere 22 pounds. Anything over may cost you an overweight fee and if the airline sends your bag to the cargo hold, you could wind up paying the checked-bag fee.

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Virgin America has begun offering $79 one-way fare sales out of Love Field

This fall we will see big changes at Dallas Love Field.

On Oct. 13, the Wright Amendment restrictions on nonstop flights between Love Field and cities in the continental U.S. will end. The party is already getting started.

Last week Virgin America offered a three-day fare sale out of Love Field, with tickets as low as $79 each way, for flights to Los Angeles, New York LaGuardia, San Francisco and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

In March, we thought the party would be twofold, with Southwest launching sales and other airlines matching, but Virgin America came in first with these deals. It has been a long time since we’ve seen an airline the quality of Virgin America offering $79 one-way fares.

Virgin America launched the sale after announcing that it had reached an agreement with American to take over two gates that American has to give up as part of its merger with US Airways. The Department of Justice has approved the transfer to Virgin America, and now we are awaiting word from the city of Dallas, so it’s not a done deal yet.

Virgin America plans to offer three flights a day between Dallas and Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., and four to New York LaGuardia. The airline is hoping to get approved for another gate in Chicago in the next few weeks. If it wins a gate, it is likely to add Dallas-Chicago service, but that wouldn’t start until sometime in 2015.

One airline we’ve been overlooking is United.

United has been flying smaller airplanes, offering six daily flights to Houston from its two gates at Love, but once the Wright Amendment restrictions end, United may change its strategy.

Since Virgin America is planning to offer double the number of flights that United currently offers, we could see United double its nonstop routes since the airline has the same number of gates. The airline may offer flights to hubs like Newark, Denver and Chicago, which could lead to more competition. I’m sure United has something on the drawing board that will take it past just serving Houston’s Bush Intercontinental.

Local airport codes

We know to go to Southwest.com to find Southwest fares, but one issue that Virgin America must handle is making sure that consumers know to enter airport code DAL when looking for flights into and out of Love Field. Unlike Southwest, Virgin is on regular booking sites, but many people don’t understand that if you enter DFW as your airport, you’ll only get fares for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport flights.

In other cities with multiple airports, you can enter the city name when looking for flights and the booking engine will pull up flights to all of the airports. For example, you can use the code NYC for New York and you will see flights to LaGuardia, JFK and Newark. We don’t have an airport code in Dallas that will show both airports, so you have to enter DFW and DAL separately to see the flights and fares.

Watching Southwest fares

Airlines like to start selling seats at least five or six months before starting new nonstop routes. I expect to see Southwest come out with introductory fares in May or June on new nonstop routes out of Love Field for flights starting on Oct. 13.

When you start selling fares on new routes at $79 one-way, what’s the next sale going to be? We could see another $79 sale, but even if it’s $89 or $99 one-way, it’s still an excellent buy. One way to get people to look for Love Field flights is to offer great sale fares. We expect to see fierce airfare sales on new routes offered by Southwest and Virgin America, and I think it will spread to D/FW to be competitive.

While most summer airfares look ugly, the late summer and fall fares are starting to look promising for travel starting Aug. 25 up until Thanksgiving, and that’s good news for consumers.

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'Can you smell roast chicken?': What Thomson pilot asked passengers after seagulls were sucked into airliner's engine forcing it to return to Britain

An airline pilot asked his passengers if they could 'smell roast chicken' after a flock of seagulls flew into the aircraft's engine. The Thomson holiday jet had just left Cardiff airport when it hit dozens of gulls over the South Wales coast. One hour later the pilot announced to passengers over the tannoy that the plane had been involved in a bird strike.

The announcement was made while the airliner was flying over Switzerland. The plane immediately turned back to Gatwick Airport in London as a 'precaution', a spokesman for Thomson said. Holidaymaker Dan Tyte was one of 300 passengers on the plane headed for Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Mr Tyte, who was travelling with his girlfriend Rebecca, said: 'The captain came on and said: "I don’t know if you can smell what seems to be like roast chicken.

'"We have looked into it and it turns out as we were leaving Cardiff, some seagulls flew into the engine".'

Mr Tyte, who was travelling with his girlfriend Rebecca, said: 'From that it seems like it was quite a dramatic situation.

'But it was handled with such calm assurance by the captain and his crew everyone handled it well. 'The flight itself was really smooth so I suppose safety must come first.'

A spokeswoman from Gatwick said the passengers got off safely and were transferred to another aircraft. A spokesman for Thomson said: 'Thomson Airways is sorry for the delay caused to passengers on board flight TOM532 from Cardiff to Sharm el-Sheikh, which diverted to Gatwick airport as a precautionary measure. 'The decision was taken to divert the plane due to a suspected bird strike. 'The plane landed safely at Gatwick airport where passengers were transferred onto an alternative aircraft to continue their journey to Sharm el-Sheikh. 'Our team at Thomson Airways did everything possible to minimise the disruption to customers holidays and get them on their way as soon as possible.

'The safety of our passengers and crew is of paramount importance and we would like to reassure customers that issues of this nature are very rare.'

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