So many of us love to travel - whether it's for a vacation or to visit friends and family...and we all look out there for the best deal especially those airline deals. So how can you get great deals???? Let's look at the DC Metro area - the major carriers such as United, American, US Airways and Delta really dominate the market esp. in Washington Reagan Natioanal and Dulles airports and hence they really "set the fares." But once a low cost carrier comes in the market, the fares tend to dip and the low cost carrier "sets the fares." For some the thought of going up to Baltimore rather than using Reagan or Dulles just isn't an option, but for others it can work, AND can save money ;) With Southwest in Baltimore, fares in and out of BWI tend to be lower than those out of DCA (Reagan) and IAD (Dulles).

We also now might be seeing DCA getting some lower fares (granted, it will be on specific routes), Recently the Department of Transportation will allow what they call "beyond-perimeter" routes giving Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America permission to fly longer haul flghts into and out of DCA. This should drive the fares down on those specific routes... to Portland, San Juan, Austin and San Francisco -  so if you are going that way, have a look....

And just a bit of trivia for this week ---

Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela who turned 94 July 18 and be grateful for William Carrier who 110 years ago invented the air conditioner : )