Thursday, August 28, 2008 --- 11:55 a.m.

“Despite high jet fuel costs, good deals flying out of Dane County Regional Airport (DCRA) are still available,” Airport Director Bradley S. Livingston, AAE, said today.

The airport's Web site has added an Airfarewatchdog.com “widget” to its home page, that tracks fares out of DCRA and reports low fare opportunities. Airfarewatchdog.com is a free, low airfare listing and alert site. It is different from a fare search engine, such as Travelocity or Orbitz, in that the site has already done the searching for users and simply lists “cherry picked” low fares that the search has generated.

“The site’s mission is to monitor airfares, which can change up to three times a day,” says George Hobica, who created the site and maintains a team of fare analysts to produce the listings. The unique site, that uses people rather than computer programs to find and list low fares, has been hailed as a “best source” for airfares by The Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Today, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Fodors.com, and a number of other travel news sources.

“Travelers need to be flexible to take advantage of the fares,” said Sharyn Wisniewski, airport marketing and communications manager, “but there are good deals to be had.” She advised checking the “flexible dates” option rather than putting in a firm date to take advantage of the site. The site notes that some fares sell out fast, so may not be available for long.

The service is free to the airport. Advertisers on the connecting pages pay for the service. A number of airports around the nation use the service.

The “widget” is on the front page of the airport’s website at www.msnairport.com . Fares scroll in a window. “When you see a fare and destination you like, just click on it,” said Wisniewski. “You will be sent to a page with details about the flight and directions for booking.”