Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Tom Parsons of BestFares.com

Aired February 03, 2002 - 17:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, don't say anybody didn't tell you, but Valentine's Day is just around the corner and perhaps you want to get away with your sweetheart. Well, there are some deals out there, travel deals that is, and Tom Parsons with BestFares.com is joining us now from Dallas, with a look at some of the deals out there. Is it too late, or are we just in time to try and get some good deals out there?

TOM PARSONS, BESTFARES.COM: Well you know, if you asked me last week, last Thursday or Friday, I'd say the cheap deals if that's what we're looking for are gone. But because many of the airlines raised their fares over the last week or so, they're also getting upset with each other because they're touching each other's turf and we're seeing some wild and crazy deals.

And some of them only require seven-day advance, like Seattle to Miami. Almost everywhere to Miami right now, on some of the major airlines, like Continental especially, $148 with a seven-day advance to Miami and that means you can be there for Valentine's Day.

Even up in the northeast, we see Northwest cutting the fares out of Newark, almost everywhere to the West Coast, and we're seeing $198 fares. Most the major airlines are asking for $438 or $498 round trip. So there are some pockets, especially in the bigger markets all over the U.S.A. today.

WHITFIELD: Well, I even noticed in today's newspaper that Air Tran is offering deals as low as $34 one way, and they're not even requiring a seven-day advance.

PARSONS: No, and again Air Tran was probably the first one to break out of the market last, I think it was last Wednesday. Again, if you want to go to Atlanta, it's dirt cheap. If you want to get out of Atlanta, it's dirt cheap, and if you want to connect to any one of the cities they serve, which is about 30 now, you'll probably not see a fare of $198 round trip, and that could be Dallas or Houston or Minneapolis, if you want to go up to the Northeast, including New York.

WHITFIELD: Now what about packages?

PARSONS: Again, right now one of the -- I mean you can look at our site, BestFares.com. We have what we call last minute getaways, but also Site 59 (ph) has these -- you can leave next Thursday -- you can actually book two to three weeks out and you can get these hotel and airfares and this week we saw Miami from New York for $229 including two nights hotel. Coast to coast we're seeing them for like $300 airfare plus two nights hotel.

So I think if you look at those, what we call bundling type deals, you'll do very well. But with all the cheap fares though into Miami, and Miami's a lot cheaper for some reason this week than Ft. Lauderdale, the cruise companies like CruiseCheap.com, those companies, you can actually probably still end up getting a cruise with this short notice and we're seen three and seven-day cruises.

Some seven-day cruises I've seen for $399, and if you can lock into one of those cheap ones for the weekend that you want to go, those are some good deals too, when you get all food paid for.

WHITFIELD: Wow, those are some pretty good deals. You know, it used to be a given that the packages were ideally going to be the best deal for you, because everything was wrapped up. But with these low fares, these airlines are still, you know, trying to lure travelers. They're still having a difficult time getting all these planes full. So perhaps you could even create some of your own little packages and still save some pennies.

PARSONS: Sure, and again if you want to look for a Web site like www.Hotel or Hotels.com. They're buying -- they're selling -- they sold four million rooms last year on the Internet. But this year because of 9/11, the number of people not flying, some of the three and four-star hotels are negotiating unbelievable deals.

What was selling for $200 last year may be for $150 this year. That might be, if you -- for example, if you can't get out of town, you don't want to go on an airplane, you may have a great hotel in your town that's a four-star hotel. Just take your spouse down there, have that bed and breakfast and have that champagne, and you can do it cheaply right in your own city.

WHITFIELD: Now how about after Valentine's Day? I mean, will these deals still be around?

PARSONS: Well again, with the ones that we're seeing today, if you can go out of the major hub cities, this is one of the first times I've seen this in probably the last couple of weeks, if you can go out of Dallas and Atlanta and Newark or Chicago or Cleveland or Detroit, Minneapolis, Denver, Miami, all these major hubs are having a special today.

I can't even promise they're going to be there tomorrow, but most of the travel period is good until June 7, so that can cover Spring Break, maybe even Memorial Day.

If you can go to the Internet today and look for these cheap airfares, especially out of those hubs, I bet you save a couple hundred dollars just for the looking.

WHITFIELD: Wow, get on the net then?

PARSONS: Right.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much Tom Parsons with BestFares.com. All right, thanks very much.

PARSONS: Well, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com