A. Airline fares tend to change (almost always increase) the closer you get to your departure date. When shopping for the best fare, it’s generally best to book early. Although walk-up fares tend to be very expensive, on rare occasions you may find a good deal; however, there are no guarantees, and this is not the best way to plan a trip.

A. AirTucson.com searches 14 days out to find the best fare values in terms of price, but we also consider travel time and the number of connections required before selecting only the fares that represent the best all-around value. When we find a good deal that doesn't require14-day or more days advance booking, we will post that too.

A. The real test that a “Featured Fare” must pass is how it compares to what is being offered at Sky Harbor; not just price, but flight time and number of connections. “Featured Fares” are less than, equal to, or perhaps a few dollars more, but not enough to justify a traveler driving to Sky Harbor.

A. Quite often seats are priced differently on certain days of the week and even during certain hours of the day because they are in greater demand. We put the best-of-the-best on AirTucson's "Featured Fares," and we tell you exactly which days we find these fares to be available. It may be advantageous to be flexible with your travel dates to take advantage of them.

A. The strategy for selecting the destinations and fares we feature is simple. First, we analyze the traffic patterns between destinations frequented by Tucsonans throughout the previous twelve months. There are some significant seasonal changes! Then we search the top 30 destination cities for the best travel value and feature those fares and the airlines that provide them.

A. Yes. Enter your postal code in the ZIP code field and your e-mail address in the e-mail field, and you’ll go right into our subscriber database.

A. Absolutely! You’re probably already aware that Southwest will begin flying nonstop to Chicago from Tucson on July 5, 2005. The benefit of the Southwest codeshare with ATA is that Tucsonans will now be able to book low Southwest fares to a number of the destinations served by Southwest and ATA from Chicago Midway. You can check these on the interactive route maps on www.southwest.com.

A.Southwest Airlines’ flights and fares can be booked on only one web site: www.southwest.com. This is Southwest’s own proprietary site. So why doesn't’t Southwest sell its seats through Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, or the other travel related web sites? According to Southwest Airlines, the main reason is to keep their operating costs as low as possible so they can offer their customers consistently low fares.

A. It’s the airlines that decide where to concentrate their hub activity. There are 31 recognized hub airports in the U.S., including cities such as Detroit, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas and Phoenix. The most common characteristic are large metro populations and broad geographic service areas. Tucson, at slightly less than one million residents in its service area, isn’t quite in the competitive arena for a hub operation.

A. Yes, there would be more destinations and volume of service, but there is a significant downside to being a hub city. In many cases, one airline may dominate 50 to 85 percent of the service at their hub, and without a significant level of competition, the hub airline sets the price. The only exceptions would be the routes served by other carriers to their own hubs.