Travel News: Deals-and-Dreaminess Edition

Lots of deals on flights across the country and around the world—plus a sexy artist-in-residence at Colonial Williamsburg. By Sophie Gilbert

Comments () | Published August 20, 2010

There must be some kind of end-of-summer juju in the air, because airline deals are everywhere we look this week. Whether you want to go exploring in Scandinavia, gambling in Vegas, Jersey Shore-ing in Miami, or flying off to absolutely anywhere you can possibly get to in 30 days, there’s an offer to be found. First things first: JetBlue is attempting to get out of its Steven Slater notoriety by replicating last year’s amazing all-you-can-fly deal. For $499 to $699, you can buy a pass giving you unlimited flights anywhere in the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean between September 7 and October 6. The $499 ticket is valid five days a week, excluding Friday and Sunday, while the $699 ticket has no blackout days all month.

Scandinavian Airlines has a fall-and-winter sale for flights from DC to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Amsterdam, and more. Flights start at $279 each way (some destinations require a connection). Taxes and fees are approximately $80, meaning you can fly direct to Copenhagen, home of the Tivoli Gardens, Lars von Trier, and the world’s best restaurant, Noma, for around $640 round trip. Flights to Paris, Moscow, and Milan are also currently on sale, starting at $299.

If you prefer hot wings to herring and you’d rather have a Corona than a Carlsberg, fear not. Plenty of domestic deals are available too, valid through Labor Day and beyond. Fly.com has flights from Reagan and BWI to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Vegas, New Orleans, and more for $50 to $109 each way. So you can fly to the Golden Gate Bridge and back for $212 round trip, which is less than a peak return Amtrak ticket from New York City.

Beyond super-cheap airfares, we recently learned that Jesse Williams (a.k.a. Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey’s Anatomy, a.k.a. the Pretty One) will be the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s second guest artist this September, starring in two historically based performances on September 25 (tickets are $15). Before he was an actor, Williams taught American studies and African studies at a Philadelphia high school, so education and history are apparently near and dear to his heart. Sigh. 

And finally, with all the abysmal weather we’ve had this week, CNN strikes fear into the heart of every traveler by announcing that lightning strikes every commercial plane in the United States at least once a year, usually without doing any damage. That’ll surely make us sleep better during turbulence from now on.

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