A $39 sale started by Southwest and matched by other airlines including United Airlines has brought fares from Chico to Las Vegas, southern California, and Portland down to $59 one way or $118 round-trip. This is a steal.

Terms:
- travel between 15 March and 25 May 2010
- valid daily except Fridays and Sundays
- price with all taxes/fees is about $150 (example: total round-trip fare to Las Vegas is $148.90)
- fare does not show a ticketing expiration date but Southwest's fare must be bought today so you may lose out if you don't buy it today.
- fare basis code: LAG14KS (book L class)

If you're looking for a relatively inexpensive way to take a youngster on his or her first plane ride here's an idea.

Effective 25 March, Horizon Air will operate two flights (Monday-Friday) each direction between Sacramento (SMF) and San Jose (SJC) that enable an easy same day trip starting in Sacramento. (Saturdays and Sundays only one flight operates each direction.)

Leave SMF at 10:05 a.m., arrive SJC at 10:50 a.m.
Leave SJC at 6:15 p.m., arrive SMF at 6:55 p.m.

A similar schedule is available in the reverse direction for those who live in the San Jose area. And naturally you could simply stay overnight if you have relatives or friends in the area.

Now you'll need to find things to do in San Jose with a child, but that might include the Great America amusement park (not too far from the airport), the Tech Museum downtown, or anywhere else you could get to in a rental car or with transit.

Horizon is currently selling seats on these flights for $29 one-way. The fares require at least 14 days advance purchase, and of course are non-refundable. Round-trip, the total price with all taxes and fees comes to $79.40 per person. As with anything airline fare related, this could all change in the blink of an eye so if you like this idea then it's best to act on it soon.

For adults who wish we had more airline options out of Chico, this will give you an opportunity to experience Horizon Air's service. (They still serve free beer and wine!) These are not the little Embraer 30 passenger jobs that United Express flies out of Chico but rather the Bombardier Q400, a 74 passenger turboprop and the workhorse of Horizon's fleet.

Horizon Air (part of the same company that owns Alaska Airlines) is the carrier that Chico would most like to land for service to LAX and elsewhere. Horizon flies the Q400 from Redding and Eureka to LAX and Seattle, and from Sacramento operates flights (Q400s and regional jets) to San Jose, Spokane, Boise, Santa Barbara, Portland and Palm Springs, but does not yet grace the tarmac in Chico.

When you take your child or grandchild for a first plane ride on Horizon be sure to tell the employees how much we would really like to see them land here in Chico soon. Who knows - maybe someday that first plane ride could start right here on Horizon.

In the wake of the bankruptcies of ATA (America Trans Air) and Aloha Airlines, an interesting thing happened. Clearly seeing an opportunity, Alaska Airlines, named for the coldest and furthest north part of the U.S., began or will begin service from several California cities to two Hawaiian destinations.

Since last fall Alaska has offered nonstops from Oakland (OAK) to Maui (OGG) and Kona (KOA) on a 3 times a week and 4 times a week frequency respectively.

Starting in early March the same frequency of service will be available from San Jose (SJC) to Maui and Kona.

Noteworthy for north state residents, effective 26 March, Alaska Airlines is offering daily nonstop service from Sacramento (SMF) to Maui. The schedule is convenient, outbound at 8:15 a.m. arriving 10:15 a.m., with the return flight leaving Maui at 11:50 a.m. arriving Sacramento at 8:00 p.m.

From its principal hub city, Seattle, Alaska Airlines flies to four Hawaiian destinations including Honolulu and Lihue (Kauai) in addition to Maui and Kona.

If you're heading to Hawaii be sure to compare package prices that combine air + car, air + hotel/condo, or air + car + hotel/condo before you buy a simple airline ticket. You may find the package price a better deal.

Keep in mind when comparing, however, that packages that include car rental normally do not include tax for the car, and tax on car rentals in Hawaii is high. Ask the tour operator that gives you a price quote what the additional tax amount would be that you will have to pay directly to the car rental company. That way you can make an apples-to-apples price comparison with booking the components separately.

My misspent career in the travel industry began in the spring of 1979 at the tender age of 23 when I was hired as a reservations sales agent for TWA in their San Francisco call center. I was laid off in September of the same year, a warning I should have taken to heart, and then moved into a different industry with fewer ups and downs. I didn't.

For all of the wackiness of the airline business, I appreciate the fact that I began when I did. In this day and age it seems unheard of, but TWA spent two intense months training our class of 20 future employees. (Not all made it - some were cut.) Computerized reservations systems had been a mainstay of the airline industry for some time by the late 70s, but they couldn't do everything; there was a great deal of technical knowledge that had to be taught.

Not to mention - as in any industry - even if the computer could do something you needed to know what it was doing and why it was doing it (or why you were telling it to do it).

I picked this up from several of the travel industry blogs I read.

Story in brief.

- Dave Carroll, a musician from the band "Sons Of Maxwell", flies United from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Omaha, Nebraska
- Dave sees his guitar trashed by United ramp service agents (baggage handlers for civilians) at the connection in Chicago O'Hare
- Dave seeks relief from United and gets none
- Dave writes first of three songs about the saga
- Dave puts song up on YouTube

Uh, oh. You've got a problem now, United.

Enjoy! It's a great song and a hilarious clip.

It hasn't gotten a lot of press outside the travel industry but a recent move by United Airlines may change how you buy airline tickets.

If you live in California, Oregon, or Washington but are not an especially frequent flyer it still pays to be enrolled in two airline mileage programs to capture the benefit of the trips you do take.

Membership in more than these two mileage programs means that you are scattering your miles among too many programs so you'll probably never earn a free ticket and the miles will ultimately expire.

The two airline programs I suggest people belong to are Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan and United Airlines Mileage Plus.

One of the ways that many airlines and all of the on-line travel agencies fail to serve customers is by presenting airfare choices for round-trips as an either/or proposition.

Choice 1: I want the lowest fare and I'll give you my first born if necessary to get it.

Choice 2: I need the full fare in case I need to change or cancel the trip altogether.

Usually you make your choice when typing in your flight criteria as in the example below.

If you select the "Refundable" check-box you'll get full fare prices for both your outbound flight and return flight. Leave it unchecked and you'll see the lowest prices with the usual restriction of non-refundability, and changes only for payment of a fee, a huge fee.

Thanks to the sour economy, elite status in the big network airline frequent flyer programs is available for half of the miles normally necessary, provided you fly by 15 June.

Since United is the only carrier that serves Chico I’ll focus on it, but similar offers are available at American and Delta and probably US Airways and Continental, too.

OK, I thought I’d scare you with this ominous, 1984-ish term. Are you shaking?

Really, you shouldn’t be. Here’s all that you need to be ready for.

Effective 1 May 2009, the Transportation Security Administration requires that airlines and travel agencies obtain the following from each passenger at the time of booking:

- Complete name (first, middle, last)
- Date of birth (month day year)
- Gender

Rather than paraphrase what the T.S.A. has already written, here’s a link to the Secure Flight website where the details and goals of the program are explained.

Ah, for the good old days. Here’s a story that would not be possible today.

Knowing the ins and outs of airline fares as I do, in the early 90s I bought a full-fare round-trip ticket from Spokane (where I had been on Amtrak business) to Mazatlan, Mexico on Alaska Airlines. (I needed to get to Seattle quickly for a friend’s graduation and the price of a restriction-free ticket from Spokane to Mazatlan wasn’t all that much more than the one-way just to Seattle.) Because the fare allowed stopovers and it suited my purposes, the ticket was written in three segments: Spokane-Seattle, Seattle-San Francisco, San Francisco-Mazatlan, and the same in reverse.

All of the ticket was left open (no reservations) except the first leg from Spokane to Seattle. Naturally this was a paper ticket – electronic tickets had not yet entered the picture.

Over the next nine months or so, I had the opportunity to use all of the pieces except the last Seattle-Spokane flight coupon. How did I dispose of it? I sold it to an acquaintance in Seattle who needed to fly one-way to Spokane. He made a reservation under my name and used the ticket – no I.D. check!