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Airfares lowest for travel through mid-August
June 29, 2009

If you've been waiting for the lowest possible airfare for a trip this summer, it may be time to get off the fence.

Fares have dropped for months while travelers held off buying tickets because they were afraid of losing a job or worried about affording even a scaled-back vacation. But with jet fuel prices rising, some fares could be set to climb again.

Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, said it looks like airlines are trying to halt the fare slide, with recent increases of $10 and $20 per round trip. Still, he wrote in an e-mail that the minor increases in the last two weeks "have by no means completely curtailed the flood of cheap airline" tickets from the first half of the year. In fact, AirTran recently published fares that hit new market lows on hundreds of routes, he wrote. Memorial Day usually signals the end of the best time to book travel, but this year was different. With fewer people traveling, the sales continued. A Travelocity survey shows fares down 17 percent for travel between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day.

Tom Parsons, CEO of discount travel Web site Bestfares.com, recommends making a top-10 list and checking fares until you find a bargain. Chances are some of your favorite spots will be on sale.