Air New Zealand is playing matchmaker this fall. To really live up to the idea that love is in the air, it has set the matchmaking flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand (read - long flight = lots of time to meet other singles on board) for October 13.

Seems ABC's latest Bachelor, Jason Mesnick and his girlfriend Molly Malaney will also be on board to get the love matches going.

Air New Zealand is having a sale on the matchmaking flight until July 15. "In honor of their special guests, Air New Zealand is offering Matchmaking Flight Web site members who book by July 15, 2009 a roundtrip ticket for $580* USD, a $200 discount on the $780* USD fare."

So if you are single and looking, and want to go to New Zealand, this may be a time efficient, and cost efficient way to go. At the very least, it's certainly a creative concept that Air New Zealand is flying.

Couldn't ignore the deal that Frugal Bon-Vivant found with JetBlue. Essentially, if you purchase a ticket using Paypal for flights on JetBlue (travel to be completed by mid-August), you save yourself $50 on a future flight

Must book by July 20 to qualify for the deal. Took a while but found the link to the deal on JetBlue's website.

A few of the good airfare deals this week come from Continental Airlines and their sale for the Caribbean; KLM for flights out of the UK to all parts of the world; and a deal from Allegiant Air that offers a buy one get one free package deal for Las Vegas. Destinations near and far for this week's airline ticket deals.

Continental Airlines Caribbean sale - no specific book by date mentioned. Roundtrip purchase required. I tested out dates into January 2010 and there seemed to be quite a lot of options at their sale price of $210 roundtrip (add about $45 for taxes) between Newark and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Sample Airfare - Roundtrip Newark / San Juan PR - $210.

KLM has a sale on pretty much all of its international destinations from the UK. I couldn't find any specific book by date. To secure the airfare specials, I found August and September dates to be the most successful. Sample Airfare - Sample roundtrip airfare London / Delhi from £272.

Allegiant Air - Fly free Vegas. " For a limited time, buy one air/hotel package and the second person flies free*:
* Minimum 2 night 2 person hotel package purchase required traveling on the same itinerary
* Purchase by July 22, 2009
* Travel from July 5, 2009 through January 31, 2010"

Don't forget to check the Air Travel Forum - lots of airfare specials/airline promotions are listed, as are plenty of opinions!

Airfare Travel Deals this Week - Cheap Airline Tickets

image by Arlene Fleming

With the crash of a Yemenia flight last week, I couldn't help but notice the renewed interest in the European Union's blacklist of airlines.

Yemenia had a solid safety record before its deadly crash with one survivor, and yet certain aircraft it flew had been cited for potential maintenance / mechanical issues. This however does not mean the airline was banned from flying in the European Union's airspace, unlike another airline that is based out of Comoros, but it has elevated the awareness of safety concerns.

Given too, that an air disaster on a massive scale over water occurred only weeks earlier in the shape of Air France 447 where over 200 people perished, the Yemenia crash is certainly going to be affected by the investigation of that crash - the fact that it was over water, poor weather conditions, an Airbus, and more strongly still, that the Airbus in question was about 20 years old.

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