Northwest Airlines is very tricky when it comes to filing airfares which must drive other airlines revenue management departments crazy — that along with consumers who try to find the elusive days that seats are released for these airfares.

Last night I got an alert from our system for a super low ball price from DFW-NYC.

Northwest filed a $98 roundtrip airfare betwen Dallas to New York (see the screen shot below).

Yes you read that right! This price is below the fuel surcharge on thousands of routes across the U.S. — but here is the catch …

Whenever I talk about deals, I usually advise that you grab them fast, because they won’t last.

What an understatement — especially in today’s world of lightning fast deals.

For instance, we posted this brand new Deal of the Day on our special Deals section; that was on 4-29-08. With me? Okay, here’s what else was required:

• You had to BUY the ticket by May 2.
• You had to DEPART on May 3.
• You had to RETURN on May 5 or 6.

Talk about a whirlwind purchase, and, a whirlwind trip! But you’ll be seeing more of this, so best to keep reading.

Are You a Day Trader and Don’t Know It?

Does the promise of a few precious days of R&R have you waking up and checking airline ticket websites morning, noon, and night? And then checking them some more? Market research shows this is exactly what you do, and that most of us shop four to six websites at a time, over several days. All in the search for that increasingly elusive “super cheap” airfare deal.

The reason? Trust. Wait, maybe I should say, lack of trust.

You see, shoppers have noticed that price quotes don’t always match what is actually available, even on the same airline site, on the same day; so it’s hard to trust that the price you’ve been quoted is the best deal. Your instincts say, buy now but…you might be sorry later. Who’s looking out for you? Keep reading, and find out!

Did you know that, according to government statistics, there were more than 17-million people enrolled in college in 2006?

And, a lot of them will soon be graduating!

Now sitting through graduation speeches is not a lot of peoples’ idea of fun, but if you’re invited to the ceremony, we can at least ease the pain of expensive airfare…if you use My Trips.

Let me explain.

Let’s see, you’ve received the wedding invitation, bought the gift, rented the tux. What else?

My Trips!

My Trips was made for matrimony–especially when the ceremony involved a lot of guests. There will be a lot of wedding this season (figure at least 100,000 of them in Vegas) and you’ve got to be there.

Let me tell you how to do it cheaply…and show you the most popular wedding months, and, most popular wedding destinations!

I love to share my tips and tricks on finding cheap airfare, and I’ve been doing it for years.

Now, I’ve gathered together my 5-best tips (what I consider to be an essential list), and present them to you here.

Some of these tips are very “basic”; others are a little more sophisticated. But one thing they all have in common is, they work.

But don’t take my word for it. Test them for yourself.

Just click “more” for…THE LIST.

Remember the song, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”? It was a hit for Peter, Paul and Mary when it was released in 1969, and it’s a perfect anthem for the so-called Baby Boomers.

Why? Because boomers love to travel.

And that’s one of the few characteristics you can ascribe to this group of unique and adventuresome individuals (a group that includes Brad Pitt, Jimmy Buffett, Courteney Cox and Madonna).

If you’re a boomer (born 1946 through 1964), I need your help: tell me where you love to travel to (and please keep reading for details).

You may have noticed on our “Cheap Airline Ticket Air Travel Deals Blog” that a number of airlines are running “one-day” airfare sales; we even did a post on these short-lived airfare sales a week or so ago.

Since then, we’ve seen more of this, including a Northwest Vacations airfare sale that only lasts 20-hours!

Clearly, the airlines are up to something. But what? Let me explain.

Many air travelers have been pinging me with complaints about how hard it is nowadays to find a great airfare deal.

I agree! it is getting harder to find a deal, there are several reasons for this (just peruse down the blog) — but there is hope if you are flexible and start shopping earlier than in the past.

I get the luxury of seeing the best of the best airfare email alerts we send out each day (hundreds of thousands) and there are incredible airline ticket deals each and every day.

Just today for example Washington DC to Honolulu, Hawaii $358+ roundtrip in April (Mon-Thur) …

Just the other day, I was thinking about my air travel predictions for this year when, it hit me: airfare is the iPhone of 2008.

No, I haven’t gone round the bend. Still have most of my marbles. But, there are a lot of valid things to be said for comparing finding airfare today, and the experience of folks who stood in line to get that first edition iPhone. Okay, I can explain!

And, I’ll also let you in on my 7-best tips for getting the cheapest tickets in today’s crazy airfare market. Just click “more” to see it all.

This morning in the 10:00am and 12:30pm EST domestic U.S. airfare distributions the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant system wide increase matching activity by several airlines.

At 10:00am EST the following matching activity occurred:

United Airlines is starting the new year off with a bang. They’re offering a range of deals on airfare for both domestic and international travel. You can also find cheap airfare sales to Europe, Asia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, both coasts of the U.S., and more.

Keep reading to see a sample of some of the airfare deals United Airlines is offering…

Air Canada has some super cheap airline ticket deals in April to Rome.

I just posted some examples in our new FareCompare.com Air Travel Deals Blog — we will be highlighting many more of these special published deals as they happen on this new blog — a few sample deals are shown below…

Don’t let this one slip through your fingers: Virgin America is offering 2-tickets for the price of one. Round-trip airfare for 2-people traveling between Los Angeles and New York for less than $340 (before taxes).

Virgin calls this their “diggNATION” sale, and it ends December 7^th. There are some blackout dates, and you can find out more here. In terms of cheap airfare sales, we call this one a “doozy”!

Spirit Airlines has a new sale posted on their website, with flights to various Caribbean islands for as little as $9 (before taxes, etc.).

They call it their M.I.L.F. Sale,for “Many Islands, Low Fares”. But that also happens to be a vulgar (not to mention offensive) blogging term for young men’s interest in attractive, older women.

No doubt the marketing department is enjoying the stir this has created. After all, it’s doing exactly what they wanted: it’s getting them some attention. And getting people looking at their cheap airfare sales.

Virgin America is offering low airfares for travel through March 12 of 2008. The deal ends in two days, so act now if you want to take advantage.

And for more cheap airfare sales, visit FareCompare’s Deals Page to get more info.

In the midst of $20 fuel surcharge increase by Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways, the airlines have fired out “off-peak travel day” cheap airfare sales through early spring next year. The legacy airlines are furiously matching these sales in the 10:00am EST airfare distribution.

Flexible travelers should be buying now for travel into the wee days of spring. The Southwest sale is for Tuesday and Wednesday travel and AirTran adds Saturday as well:

As you might have noticed I like giving things “pet-terms” (it makes it easier for me to remember things within vast amount of esoterica I review each day)

A while back I waxed on about the “Northwest Airlines Crazy Ivan ‘K’” airfares and thought now would be an interesting time to highlight American Airlines version of these I call “Oh-No” airfares.

I call them “Oh-No” because a) These great deal airfares show up for a brief time and just as quickly “Oh-No” they’re gone b) They are booked in the limited seat inventory “O” class.

If you are flexible traveler and want to learn more about the super cheap airfare deals on American Airlines read on …

As many of you who follow this blog are aware, the legacy airlines have increased airfare 8 times since labor day weekend (a few times for the lower cost airlines and probably at least 1-more price increase before the end of the year). But, in the midst of these increases, both legacy and lower-cost airlines have also fired out off-peak holiday travel sales; however, these are only for “very flexible” travelers (cheap flights, yes, but during times and days you normally wouldn’t want to travel) and we should note, these off-peak fares are available only in limited city-pairs.

Good news: Virgin America has a sale on now, good for flights into December.

And, not to be outdone, Southwest is offering new cheap rates on flights throughout the winter.

But act quickly; the window for buying these tickets closes this week.

All, I can say is, wow. ALL the major airlines have come out with some really great airfare sales for the holidays; some for Thanksgiving, some for Christmas-time, and many for both!

But hurry, because, as they say, these prices won’t last.

Procrastinators, this is your lucky day!

Tracking the recent airfare increases has been a bit like heading down the track on a roller coaster. You’re up one second, and the next you’re plunging downward.

Take a look at the effect American’s initial airfare raise has had, and see how some airlines who were quick to match American have now stepped back.

Virgin America is having an airfare sale on flights from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., or, as they say in their promotion, “from one acting capital to the other.”

Main cabin seats are 25% off; you have to buy your tickets by November 9^th, and the sale is good for flights through December 18^th (I saw prices as low as $104 one-way, not including taxes and fees).

Don’t want to go to Los Angeles or Washington? Virgin America is also offering 10% off main cabin seats on all their other flights.

Usually when the major airlines lower prices significantly (airfare sales), they tend to highlight the large hubs and most popular destinations they’re offering deals for.

It’s rare that our airfare processing system notes new airfare deals to some of the “really” small airports out there.

It was fun to see on Halloween that United Airlines has seen the light (or the darkness as it were) and has offered savings ranging from $20 to $300 on new 21-day advance tickets to/from some of the smallest airports in the U.S: