September Airline Market Update
Hello, travelers! And goodbye, summer.
We just finished packing up our swimsuits and flip-flops, so we figured it was time for another market update.
First things first: We were (sadly) correct when we guessed rising fuel costs would put a damper on this year’s end-of-summer sales. But August still provided a bunch of terrific fares, including some amazing flights to Asia and Oceania, continuing a trend we noted last month. Crossing the Pacific has traditionally been a lot pricier than the Atlantic, but we expect the gap to keep narrowing as more and more airlines form partnerships and build out those networks. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Malaysia (!) and Borneo (!!) for under $800 RT (!!!)
- The other Hawaii of Asia, this time in South Korea
- And the CHEAPEST NON-STOPS TO NEW ZEALAND WE’VE EVER SEEN
We also noticed a fun little surge of European first-class fares covering the holiday season. Something about spending Christmas in Vienna, Athens, or Rome (while flying in style) sounds pretty dang perfect, don’t you think? Maybe that’s just the romantic in us.
Shifting closer to home, you might have noticed some of our famous Getaways in your inboxes last month. You’ve been asking us for more alerts on domestic flights, and we’re nothing if not accommodating! So far we’ve been finding a ton of great fares to smaller airports in spots like Vermont, the Great Smokies, and California’s redwood forests, but keep your eyes peeled for bigger cities too. There are deals to be found all over this beautiful country of ours.
Finally, August surprised us with top-shelf flights to some cool, under-the-radar destinations. Here are a few of the lesser-known locales we sent:
- Some sweet trips to Vietnam’s finest beaches for under $900 RT
- Rare price drops to Ghana and nearby Nigeria
- And fares to Cochabamba, Bolivia, which is almost as fun to say as it is to visit
Looking forward, we don’t expect to see many sales dropping in September. Summer’s gone, and Black Friday is starting to loom large on the horizon. But between you and us, it’s usually a great time to find cheap flights to the Caribbean as airlines hurry to fill their remaining empty seats before hurricane season ends. It’s also the perfect moment to pick up last-minute fares for Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as early-bird trips for next summer.
Route Changes
Traditionally, fall represents a period of transition, a time for letting go of the old to make way for the new. And since airlines are hardly exempt from the great cosmic cycle of death and rebirth, we figured we’d highlight some particularly exciting route changes coming up.
United recently shocked us by announcing its largest network expansion yet, adding 10 new international routes. There are some pretty interesting spots in there, too, like Okinawa, Sicily, Slovenia, and even daily flights from Newark to Luxembourg. Not to be outdone, American is adding 13 fresh routes to its network, split between Europe and South America. The new flights are mostly taking off from New York, Miami, and American’s hub in Dallas, but the ones from Philadelphia to Budapest, Prague, and the Dominican Republic caught our eye the most.
Over on the West Coast, Alaska Airlines is continuing its quest to turn Seattle into a proper global hub by adding new routes to Paris and Athens. These flights are possible thanks to the wide-body 787 Dreamliner planes Alaska picked up when it merged with Hawaiian two years ago. We’re loving Alaska’s ambition, especially since more competition for Delta and American means lower fares for travelers like you.
In domestic news, Allegiant is continuing to shore up its Florida network with a ton of new routes, largely through its hubs in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. The Sunshine State, once dominated by Spirit Airlines, has become a major battleground for ultra-low-cost carriers like Allegiant and JetBlue in the months since Spirit’s untimely demise.
Interestingly, while Allegiant expands, budget competitor Breeze is taking the opposite approach and pressing pause on several Florida routes, citing low demand during hurricane season. But the biggest contraction comes from further north, as Air Canada continues to cut increasingly unpopular American routes from its network.
Flight Nerd Corner
For those of you who aren’t weird airline nerds like us, here’s some news you may have missed:
- Budget carriers aren’t the only ones benefiting from Spirit going under. Google recently spent $10 million to buy the defunct airline’s corporate data and use it to train AI models. We’ll take this as a reminder to always be diplomatic when sending work emails - you never know who (or what) might end up reading them.
- In less dystopian news, plans are in motion to rename Nashville’s airport (BNA) after the late, great Dolly Parton. And sure, she totally hated flying, but we still think it’s well deserved! Plus, she’d probably get a kick out of it.
- JetBlue is rolling out new first-class fares for domestic flights, starting later this year. “BlueFirst” is kind of a goofy name for a fare class, but at least it’s not as bad as “Mint.”