The great airline sale of 2009 may be ending.
Air fares, which had declined steadily throughout this year, are beginning to show signs of stabilizing. For travelers, that means the strategy of waiting to book so prices can drop even more has probably run its course.
Fares in general are still much lower than they were last year -- Travelocity reported that fall airfares fell 14 percent compared with fall 2008. That's not as sweet as the summer months, however, when fares were down 18 percent.
Genevieve Shaw Brown, Travelocity's senior editor, checked prices for travel for the period from Labor Day to the weekend before Thanksgiving. When she checked on July 15, fares during that period were running 15.3 percent lower than a year ago. By Sept. 15, they were down only 14 percent.
"That suggests to me that airfares are stabilizing," she said.
The good news for travelers is that airlines are still running sales. In fact, says Tom Parsons, CEO of discount travel site Bestfares.com, they seem more widespread this year.
"It's like every other day has an airfare sale from someone," he said.
But Southwest, for example, isn't discounting as deeply as it used to. Parsons said airfares that once sold for $99 each way are now going for $149 each way. Still, Southwest is running its current sale through Feb. 11 (much further out than many airfare sales) although tickets must be purchased by Oct. 15.
