SIDEBAR On the Fly If you haven’t made any summer plans yet, no worries. There’s no shortage of last-minute travel sites offering first-rate deals. And especially in the wake of the sluggish economy, tourist destinations are eager to entice travelers with deep discounts. Among the popular online sites are Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, Hotwire and CheapOair. New to the scene is Bing, which is powered by Microsoft and already growing in popularity. Or sign up for regular newsletters from companies such as Travelzoo or Cheap Caribbean that scour the Internet and send out e-mail alerts when particularly attractive packages come up. Travelers should also not overlook individual airline sites that also tend to have great bargains — for example, Southwest Airlines always has cheap flights out of Washington, while Virgin Vacations offers jam-packed, all-inclusive itineraries to Europe and other destinations. Domestic rates in particular have been coming down lately. In June, for instance, last-minute summer and fall travel deals (mostly roundtrip airfare) on Expedia from Washington, D.C., were priced from $118 to Detroit up to $286 to El Paso. In the middle price range on Expedia, sample roundtrip airfares from Washington were $178 to Orlando and Tampa, $202 to Indianapolis, $252 to Houston, and $254 to Baton Rouge, La. Or take advantage of off-season discounts to avoid the peak tourist crowds. On Bing, airline ticket deals include $200-something trips to Las Vegas in August, or $400-plus tickets to Rome in November. Want to go to Cancun? Tickets on Bing from D.C. averaged a fairly cheap $230 a person. Orlando deals were around $150 a person. The key to shopping for last-minute deals is to act fast. The Bing deals have helpful notes about trip “fares rising” or “fares steady.” Ground transportation is also crucial when it comes to figuring out what to do when visitors get to a destination, and most sites such as Expedia offer transport options. Likewise, you can tack on various amenities and packages, such as theater tickets or bus tours, to create your own worry-free, ready-to-go vacation itinerary. — Christine Cubé

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