Tuesday, Twin Cities.
One fare this week, and it's a good one. Then a short story about two that got away while we were watching.
🌴 MSP → Tampa (TPA) — $162 round-trip
Thu Dec 31 – Wed Jan 6 · Sun Country, nonstop · 3 hrs 20 min
Ring in the new year somewhere it's 75 degrees.
Sun Country has two nonstops to Tampa on New Year's Eve morning — 6:20am and 8:20am — at $162 round-trip. Google's data puts the usual floor for this route at $165, so this is below the bottom of the normal range, over the most expensive travel week of the year.
For comparison: Delta's nonstop on the exact same dates is $418. Same route, same week, same three-and-a-half-hour flight. $256 apart.
The catch: Sun Country charges for checked bags and seat selection, so the all-in number is higher if you need either. It's still not close.
Book by: This week. Holiday-week fares from MSP don't drift down, and as you'll see below, this week they didn't even hold.
Two that got away
Every Monday we re-check every fare before it goes in the newsletter. This week that check killed two.
Washington DC. On Thursday, Delta had a nonstop for October 17–24 at $195, right at the bottom of the route's normal range. By Monday it was $292, and Google expects it to climb another $25 this week.
Orlando. On Thursday, Sun Country had a January nonstop at $157, below the normal floor. By Monday the same flight was $238.
Four days. Roughly $100 each. Neither was a mistake fare or a flash sale — just a normal good price that got bought up.
That's the case for the "book by" line on every fare we send. It isn't urgency for effect. It's what actually happens to the good ones.
What else we passed on
Los Angeles — $163. Google flagged it as 19% off. It's a 12-hour Frontier one-stop. The nonstop is $248.
Tampa — $115. Same story: the headline fare is an 8-hour one-stop. The $162 nonstop above is the one worth booking.
Washington — $176. "Save 26%." One of those itineraries takes 26 hours. To Washington.
Thursday we're back with the bigger trips. Copenhagen and Reykjavik have both been moving in the right direction.
If you book New Year's in Tampa, reply and tell us. We'll be jealous.
— MSP Departure
P.S. Forward this to someone in the Twin Cities who'd rather spend New Year's somewhere warm. Three referrals gets you the MSP Travel Cheat Sheet.