Don't hang around before taking flights

Last week — for the fourth time this year — the U.S. airlines raised their prices.

This time it was due to Middle East unrest and the rising cost of oil.

There are still deals to be had, but if you see one, you shouldn’t wait as oil could still climb and so may airfares.

WestJet seat sale

Joe Amaral of C Travel alerted me to a seat sale to Toronto on WestJet.

The Canadian carrier is offering fares as low as $89 each way (not including taxes).

You have to travel by April 30 and the last day to purchase is March 3.

British Airways sale

As already mentioned in the press, British Airways is having a seat sale.

I’ve heard people complain about how much of a ‘sale’ it is, while others are happy to save any money on a BA ticket.

I guess your perspective will be skewed, depending on whether you’re a glass half-full or half-empty type of person.

Examples of round trip prices, including taxes and fees:

March 1 to April 3: $902 (midweek);

March 1 to April 3: $962 (weekend).

You must stay one Sunday night.

Service cuts

The bad news from the Budget was both WestJet and JetBlue are planning to cut airlift to Bermuda. That could mean less flights or smaller planes.

No details were issued except that Government was going to lobby the two carriers. But unless Government can offer them some sort of guarantee, I don’t see it happening.

The times my family has used WestJet this past year, the flights have been half-full.

It’s a real head scratcher because their ticket prices are often way cheaper than Air Canada.

I ran the dates for an upcoming vacation and Air Canada’s price was $432 while WestJet’s was $302.

WestJet would be better off if it increased its Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule to offering flights on the weekend.

But people like travelling on the same airline round-trip so while some maybe can’t get away, others will have to get back at the weekend. JetBlue faces a more competitive market in New York but still offers the lowest fares, generally.

Comparing the same holiday dates, JetBlue’s tickets were $292 — the same price as Continental. Delta on Expedia was $496 and US Airways was $566.

The other problem with WestJet and JetBlue is their fares are not listed on Expedia or Travelocity.

So if you don’t look at westjet.com or jetblue.com, they won’t be an option.

Shameless plug

On the Bermuda Sun website’s News section is an ad for American Airlines. If you click on it, it will redirect you to a page featuring any special offers from Bermuda.

Duped

I hate spam.

This past week I accidently spammed a group of my friends on Facebook by clicking on what appeared to be a Southwest Airlines offer.

The company that set up the fake offer then redirected me to their site.

It sent out the same offer to a group of friends — from ‘me’.

I spent 15 minutes deleting the fake post from ‘me’ but apologies to anyone who ended up with that post on their page.