A Flight to the Slopes

So if listening to Bing Crosby croon “White Christmas” for the umpteenth time this holiday season has you pondering a ski trip so you can actually see some snow, you may be wondering what the best deal is on a flight to the slopes. Well that depends.

In general, the best deals from New Orleans to some place you can ski are to Denver. In fact, as I research this blog post, Frontier Airlines is offering roundtrip fares there for under $100 on select days during the upcoming season. But that doesn’t make it the best deal. Because, like the other uber discount airlines, Frontier charges for any luggage other than a small “personal item.” So if you’re planning to rent your equipment when you get there, and can get by with maybe just one checked bag, that’s the cheapest way to go. (I often share one big checked bag with my husband, and we each carry on a gym bag with essentials that fits the personal item measurements.)

But if you’re bringing your skis and equipment, the price of checked bags will likely double Frontier’s fare, which then makes the current fare of $188 round-trip on select dates by Southwest [southwest.com] the better deal, since your skis and one other checked bag fly free.

These deals come and go in a flash, so if you miss this one, sign up for alerts from each of these airlines and stand by for the next one.