Yes, our alerts - in email and on Twitter really do work. So get going! Here’s why:

You may recall that I spotted that “second airfare hike of the year” just this week and a lot of publications have been talking about it. I think my “money quote” on airfare prices bears repeating:

“I think for the consumer, it’s as good as we’re going to get right now.” -Rick Seaney in the Wall St. Journal, 6-25-09

And as I’ve been telling you, there are a couple of ways to get great deals first - by following FareCompare deals from your airport on Twitter - or by signing up for FareCompare’s real-time email alerts.

Does it really work? Yes, it does. I just now got this nice note from a very satisfied customer:

“Rick, I have been watching flights to Hawaii out of Dallas all year. I had given up all hope to go when I received an email update on Wednesday for the “fire sale.” Thanks to your service my family of four, and the in-laws will be enjoying a week in Hawaii to see my brother-in-law. You offer an unbelievable service!!” - FareCompare email alert user, 6-26-09

This month is starting at well - as we see numerous cheap flights - some for as little as 99-bucks roundtrip. And when I say $99, I mean $99 - it includes all taxes, fees - everything.

One example: cheap, $99 roundtrip flights between Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Want more? Check out the other bargains listed on the 99-Dollar post on our Deals Blog.

And of course, it’s so quick and easy to see $99 flights from your home airport:

• Check out FareCompare’s Deal Finder - for instant access to bargains around the world

Frankly, now is the time to get going on your summer vacation plans. What are you waiting for?

As some of you know, I’ve joined Twitter - and I invite you all to follow my tweets (trust me, if I can do this, so can you - nothing to it).

Here’s just a few of my latest tweets:

• “Singapore Airlines non-stop San Francisco - Seoul, July departures $770rt all in, down $575″
• “Delta dropped prices from 33 cities to Bogata by avg $300rt, Jul-Aug departures”
• “Cheapest nonstop to Europe in July from New York $441rt allin? Not a typo - Zurich $441rt”

Note: Flights like the “steal” from New York to Zurich go quickly - which is why I always say, use our email alerts (just go to any FareCompare search box - like the one at the top of this page on the left, and after you put in your cities, click the little box that says “Save this Search” and you’ll get your alerts).

One more thing: I was just looking at that San Francisco to Seoul flight mentioned on the first tweet, and if you are flexible - you can fly there in May and save another $100. As always, check with FareCompare for the cheapest airfare to every destination, throughout the year.

More and more organizations are making it easier for the recently laid off - and those who fear they may get laid off - to get out there and travel.

The thinking is - some of these folks who find themselves out of a job have been working hard for years, and have some money in the bank - and now, they also have some (unexpectedly) free time on their hands. And, with airfares as low as they currently are - travel can make for a cheap mental health break - which I’m sure is just what some need.

Please note: I am not making light of the situation - I know some folks are at their wit’s end in the job hunting arena - but there are those who can take advantage of the many travel offers available.

For instance, the Los Angeles Times notes that the Squaw Valley ski resort is offering $30 lift tickets for California workers who have been furloughed under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget cuts - and these lift tickets are normally $79. And the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau is offering a new “deal of the week” every Friday - the current offer is at the Orlando World Center Marriott: if you book 4 nights, the 4^th night is fee.

Check with city visitor bureaus for discounts - and as you may know, even the airlines are getting into the act: just a couple of months ago, I blogged about JetBlue’s program where laid off workers can get refunds if they buy a ticket — then lose their job.

In this economy, nobody’s going nowhere - or at least, that’s what you might THINK from reading all the doom & gloom-ishness out there.

But you and I both know, that’s not true. And the ski resorts are showing how to get people on planes even in tough times.

According to a new report, U.S. and Canadian ski resorts were supposed to be in big trouble this season - but last month, expectations were exceeded. True, it wasn’t a great year, but it was considerably ‘less bad’ than it could have been. How come?

Discounted lodging, incentive packages, and aggressive marketing campaigns (plus, some good snow) - and we tell you all about such deals everyday on our Deals blog.

Another finding of the report? People who could respond to deals on short notice “enjoyed exceptional values”. It’s like I always say, the key to finding almost every great deal is - flexibility.

I told you that 2009 was going to be the “year of the deal” and, for the moment anyway - I’m looking pretty smart. Here’s the proof:

Besides special airfare sales, I noted that resorts would do whatever they could to lure tourists back, and they are. The Los Cabos, Mexico Visitors & Convention Bureau is offering what they call “free airfare” if you stay at a participating resort - it’s part of the Bureau’s “Fly Me to the Sun” promotion and the details are here (it’s not exactly free airfare - it’s a $400 credit you receive upon check-out, which can be equivalent to the price of an airline ticket).

And USA Today reports that Caribbean resorts are also playing this game: “The luxury CuisinArt resort in Anguilla, for instance, is offering a $500 resort credit to those who book a five-night stay through March 13.”

Several other resorts are advertising similar deals - if you don’t see a deal, ask. And be sure to check with the various tourist boards - for example, the Nassau/Paradise Island Promotion Board has its own special perk — $200 rebates — for people who book both air and hotels there.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote the following - in my weekly column for ABCNews.com:

“Watch for destinations with a heavy reliance on tourism to begin subsidizing travel in some manner, just to get the bodies to the resorts.” –Rick Seaney, FareCompare

Well, guess what? Orlando has just launched a new program — loaded with freebies - to entice the tourists.

Check out their deals in a new website - “Bundles of Free Smiles“. The promotion runs now through June 1 (with blackout dates at Easter and Memorial Day) and features free admissions and free hotel stays. Some examples:

• Universal Orlando Resort - Book 3 night vacation pkg, get 2 nights free
• Walt Disney World Resort - Buy 4 night vacation pkg, get 3 nights free and theme park tickets
• Southwest Airlines - Book a SW Vacation to Orlando, flight + hotel for 3 nights or longer, save $100

We all know Times Square is home to the great “ball drop” on New Year’s Eve — but if you have a taste for something different, you might want to check out these weird and wonderful “drops” (courtesy Reuters, via TripAdvisor).

In Port Clinton, Ohio, you can watch a giant fiberglass fish get dropped; or go to Mt. Olive, North Carolina to watch the descent of a 3-foot tall glowing pickle.

In Elmore, Ohio, an 18-foot sausage will be dropped; in Plymouth, Wisconsin, look out for an enormous hunk of cheese.

And in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a 25-pound “illuminated” Peep will be dropped. You know, a Peep — one of those marshmallow confections that used to crop up only at Easter time but are now a year-round staple.

Read about all these “drops” and more, right here.

And of course, if you decide to travel to any of these festivities, head to FareCompare.com first, for the very best airfare available. There are still plenty of deals out there.

FareCompare.com hasn’t gotten an official “seal of approval”, but we have been included in a new book by the editors of Good Housekeeping, and I couldn’t be more delighted.

And I don’t think the timing for this book could be better: it’s called “Good Deals & Smart Steals” and it’s all about a matter close to my heart - saving money.

This is from a review of the book in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch online:

“Here’s another savings for traveling: If you want to keep up with the latest airfares or know when a price drops to a level you’d like, sign up for e-mail alerts. Farecompare.com e-mails prices on flights between any two cities you choose. The alerts are sent up to four hours before fares are published online or to agents.” -Good Housekeeping’s “Good Deals & Smart Steals”

Sounds like this could make a great stocking-stuffer…

We’ve talked about this before - deals and discounts offered by airports - to convince you to keep flying in and out of there.

Now, Nashville International has jumped on this aviation bandwagon, with a “frequent parker” program.

You pay $20 for a Frequent Parker Pass, and you earn points per hour - in other words, points for the time your car sits in the lot - points that can be redeemed for free parking.

Airports are getting creative - but then, thanks to airline capacity cuts, some of them have to. Advantage: travelers.

Used to be, you didn’t have to sell Hawaii - people would simply come.

But that was before airfares started creeping upwards - and Jeff over at the Beat of Hawaii website tells us that “seats, and travelers are down over 20%.” In response, tourism officials are launching a $4.5 million marketing campaign, to lure visitors back.

A lot of the focus will be on “vacation packages” at what are said to be deeply discounted prices.

We have already been hearing about some nice hotel deals there - and the same goes for hotel deals in Las Vegas, another popular destination that’s facing some painful airline capacity cuts.

Just thought I’d remind my faithful readers that we have a slew of airfare bargains over on our Deals Page.

You have to act quickly with some of these deals; Spirit, for example, has a great “48 Hour” sale, but those 48 hours are up at midnight tonight, so you might want to check that out first.

And be sure to look at Delta’s website specials, too. They have flights from $59+ one-way.

Do you live in the “Golden State”? Southwest has a wonderfully cheap Northern California/Southern California sale going on.

And US Airways has great vacation packages to Hawaii.

Not in the mood at the moment? No problem. You can check out our Deals Page whenever you like — and you’ll always find something new there.

I’m starting to get in the groove now! Today is my second column for ABCNews.com; in case you missed it, I am now one of their regular (weekly) columnists.

My latest? Well, I talk about finding the cheapest airfare — how it’s getting harder than ever — but how it can still be done. Click “more” 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.

I don’t have to tell you it’s getting late.

But you can still create a Valentine’s Day getaway…or, a Presidents Day weekend…or even combine the two (a vote for love?).

You have to act fast, though, AND, follow my 5-Last Minute Tips. To see them, just click “more”.

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…

Each and every day, airfare changes are made. Sometime, it’s in the tens of thousands. Sometimes, it’s hundreds of thousands a day.

And here at FareCompare, we track them all. A single “research mode query” (your question about a particular fare) hits over 10-computers during this process, but gets you your information in about 2-seconds! That’s how we get you word of the cheap airfare sales first!

We also have over 3-billion “historical” airfares to help you can make the best buying decisions.

Put it all together, with our Email Alerts. You simply sign in, and get the best deals, first.