Weekly US Airways e-Savers make comeback

Dedicated followers of US Airways -- the air carrier that still offers more daily departures from Pittsburgh International than all the others combined -- are probably aware that it has reinstituted its weekly e-Saver fares to domestic and international destinations.

These deeply discounted fares for tickets purchased at the last moment had been popular options for years, but they were suspended in the wake of its merger with America West 18 months ago.

Air carriers had become adept at filling as many seats as possible on every departure. In the absolute economy of the airline industry, every empty seat becomes a total loss the moment the cabin door is closed; any revenue gained by putting a warm body in that seat is found money. That is especially true on the weekends, when many flights, light on business travelers, are not booked to capacity.

The idea is simple. Routes filling up slowly are discounted on the airline's Web site, and e-mail alerts are distributed automatically to anyone who's signed up in advance.

The tactic was effective, which is why legacy carriers such as US Airways, American (Net sAAvers) and Delta (Weekly Web fare specials) offered variations on this. However, America West operated a simplified fare structure with no weekend specials and didn't offer e-Savers when its management team took over US Airways.

Now early each Wednesday US Airways posts a menu of e-Saver specials good for coach class, round-trip travel between selected cities.

The domestic fares apply to flights that depart Saturday through Monday, and require a return by midnight on the following Tuesday. Its international e-Savers must be purchased within one week of the offer date, and travel must be completed within a given period, generally six weeks.

The posted fares are for travel in each direction, and a round trip is required, so the final ticket price actually doubles the advertised figure, plus taxes, security fees and any applicable surcharges.

The discounts can be as much as 40 percent lower than normal advance purchase discount fares and as much as 75 percent off regular, full fares that can be booked at the last minute.

Like any other blue-light special, the availability of these cheap seats is limited and sold on a first-come basis.

Unfortunately, the new range of e-Saver fares from Pittsburgh International these days is limited to a handful of destinations.

For example, this week the airlines offered domestic e-Savers to six airports: Boston ($84 one way), Chicago ($74), Fort Lauderdale ($94), San Francisco ($119), Newark and La Guardia ($84); Frankfurt, Germany, was the only international e-Saver ($155).

While these fares look low, they're not always the best deals.

It turns out that US Airways regularly offers even lower round-trip fares to cities where it has significant competition: Boston ($158 last-minute and $138 one-week advance purchase), Chicago ($151 last-minute and $98 one-week advance, and the New York area ($138 both last-minute and one-week advance).

The e-Savers to Fort Lauderdale and San Francisco do represent significant savings over the normal fares, but the Frankfurt e-Saver wound up being the same as the regular round trip offered at this time of the year.

Unfortunately, the other legacy carriers seldom offer these last-minute savings for the relatively few flights they have departing from Pittsburgh. Also, while other carriers, such as Southwest, Jet Blue and AirTran, offer special fares, they make the options more transparent, clearly delineating advance purchase requirements and displaying special fares on their online menus for any given flight rather than announcing them weekly.

In the end, despite their marketing appeal, e-Savers wind up being of limited use for most travelers. Still, with some advance preparation, date flexibility and a little luck, an e-Saver can be a key to serendipitous adventures.