I would not be surprised if somewhere in the land of airline
 chief financial officers, there are a few shrines to the Internet.
 There has never been a better tool for selling seats on half-empty
 flights. Consumers might light a candle too, since the Web is
 proving to be fertile ground for bargain-hunting travelers.
     It all started in late 1995 with American Airlines' Cable
 SAAvers. American was first to realize that empty seats could be
 filled with last-minute travelers if fares were lowered enough to
 make discretionary travel more affordable. They released discounts
 for the upcoming weekend via cable television and a special 800
 number.
      The response was impressive, and American moved to the Internet
 in March 1996, with limited offerings. By May 1996, its Net SAAver
 fare program had 20,000 subscribers. Today, there are 1.6 million
 subscribers, with an average of 3,000 additions each day.
                          Staying Wired
     We currently have more than a dozen weekly Internet discount
 programs to choose from, and a wealth of other discount deals that
 appear outside of the weekly cycle. Along with the standard Wednes-
 day release of discounted domestic coach fares for travel the fol-
 lowing weekend, various airlines are adding features designed to
 pull in even more travelers and fill more seats.
     Many airlines also offer special incentives for booking by
 Internet. Northwest just began offering a $20 discount to
 travelers booking online. This makes sense, since the airline
 saves commission. It is a rare instance of an airline actually
 passing on savings to consumers. Southwest offers double
 Rapid Rewards credits.
                         Buying Offline
     For those who are only tentatively venturing onto the Web, there
 are ways to access many of these discounts without getting near a
 computer.
     You can book Internet specials from six major airlines by phone.
 They will even read off the list of destinations available from your
 city. Be sure to also ask for alternate airport specials. If you are
 in Oakland, for example, ask for San Francisco fares too.
     In all cases, you have to ask for the Internet specials by brand
 name: American Airlines Net SAAvers at (800) 344-6702; Northwest
 CyberSavers at (800) 692-6961; TWA Hot Fares at (800) 221-2000;
 United E Fares at (800) 241-6522; and US Airways E-Savers at
 (888) 359-3728.
     Air Canada requires that all travelers using their WebSaver fares
 be enrolled in their e-mail program, but even if you're not, you can
 call (800) 776-3030 and book any WebSaver ticket for about $20 more
 per round trip.
     Or let someone else do the surfing. Most good travel agents are
 up on the Web deals and they can book the fares for you.
                      New Deals on the Web
 1   First class discounts. American pioneered them and carriers in-
 cluding Alaska and TWA now offer them. You can sit in the front of
 the cabin for what you would normally pay for a 21-day advance coach
 fare. There is little sense in using them for short flights, but a
 first-class round trip at $359 is a worthwhile deal for a longer
 haul. Try to book a meal flight so you can discover that there really
 is more to airline cuisine than rubber chicken.
 2   International travel discounts. Some airlines include interna-
 tional bargains with their domestic offerings; others release them
 separately. Look for Continental and US Airways international deals
 on Fridays, American Airlines discounts on Mondays. They sometimes
 include an array of destinations. Other times they focus on a
 particular locale, like Continental's Latin America specials.
 3   Miles plus money discounts. Continental OnePass members were
 first to be able to take advantage of this method of purchase. Amer-
 ican has now joined in. Fly round trip Austin-Chicago, for example,
 for $39 plus 13,000 miles, rather than $129. Be careful with these
 deals, however. Using the standard value of two-cents per frequent-
 flier mile, the miles plus money deal has a real cost of $299. These
 deals are best for people who have more miles than they can reason-
 ably use or for those who fly infrequently and rarely hit the 25,000
 mile award ticket threshold.
 4    Early release of discounts. Three major airlines get the jump on
 their competitors and hope to win more bookings by posting bargains
 before the usual Wednesday rollout. Alaska Airlines releases their
 fares on Friday. TWA releases their fares on Tuesday. Delta Escape
 Plan (a membership-only program, closed to new enrollees until 1999)
 makes their fares available at midnight Sunday.
 5   Advance purchase discounts. America West offers Surf 'n Go
 specials for the following weekend and ETO (effortless ticketing on-
 line) specials for future travel. Southwest's Tuesday Internet fares
 can be used for travel many months in advance. Northwest has started
 issuing long-range discounts in addition to their weekly CyberSavers
 fares.
 6   Low-cost and niche airline specials. American Trans Air offers
 Net Fare Specials that can be purchased for one-way travel. They
 choose four to eight city pairs each week and list specific travel
 dates up to two weeks in the future. You can find deals like
 Indianapolis-Orlando at $69 and Chicago-San Francisco at $79. Kiwi
 also offers weekly specials for one to three city pairs. They can
 be booked for one-way travel also.
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