• Washington Post , Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11 AM

Fact is, there are plenty of kindred to Spirit's fare-cutting in Detroit this season. Even though airlines have eliminated about 200,000 seats per day by zapping routes and grounding planes, analysts say the winter sales suggest that airlines are struggling to fill their planes.

Delta has a long list of one-way specials priced between $59 and $199; Southwest is offering $87 one-way flights between Baltimore and Chicago in early December; American has one-way tickets between Washington and Miami for $49 and one-way tickets to Los Angeles for $109, though it refuses to call its discounting a fare sale, Sholnn Freeman reports.

"It's a benefit of the economic meltdown," says Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com, which allows travelers to compare prices among Web sites. "People are pulling down demand, deciding not to bring kids home or deciding to drive."

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