First it was planes and trains and now it's automobiles, too. Avis and Budget are banning smoking in their cars, starting Oct. 1.

The car rental companies told USA Today that they will impose a cleaning fee of as much as $200 on customers who violate the rule. The firms also noted that they would forbid their own employees from smoking in the cars.

For me, this is great news. I hate getting into a rental that smells like smoke. And apparently I'm not the only one. John Barrows, a spokesman for the Avis Budget Group, the parent company, told USA Today that "the No. 1 request we get is for a smoke-free car.''

This puts Avis and Budget in front of the pack on this issue. Other major competitors either do not have an across-the-board ban or simply allow customers to request smoke-free but don't guarantee it.

Domestic airlines, buses, and Amtrak have had severe restrictions or bans on smoking since the early 1990s.

Photo by iStockphoto

JetBlue has just launched a sale, with fares as low as $29 each way. Travel must be booked before Sept. 11; trips need to be completed by Dec. 16.; and sale fares require up to a 7-day advance purchase.

The Thanksgiving holiday period is blacked out and it will come as no surprise that "advertised fares are most often found on midweek travel dates.''

Here's a quick look at the advertised one-way prices from Logan: to Baltimore is $39; Washington Dulles $49; Charlotte, N.C. $69; and LA $109.

And the rest of the fine print can be found here.

Call this the upside of trimming flight schedules. The on-time rate for US airlines in July was the best it's been in six years.

In fact, on-time rates in the first seven months of the year have been at their highest levels in six years, owing in part to the fact that struggling carriers have been cutting flights to save money amid the recession and falling demand.

This from Bloomberg News:

The 77.6 percent on-time rate for the month compares with 75.7 percent for the same month in 2008 and was the best result for the industry since 79.7 percent in 2003, the department said in a report released in Washington.

Which airline was best? Hawaiian Airlines at 93.6 percent, followed by Alaska Air at 87.2 percent. And the worst? Delta’s Comair unit with 63.6, followed by SkyWest’s Atlantic Southeast unit at 68.3 percent and AirTran at 69.8 percent.

An interesting bit: The most frequently delayed flights were Northwest Airlines 1266 from Boston to Tampa and Northwest flight 1154 from West Palm Beach to Boston, both of which were tardy 96.77 percent of the time.

JetBlue has just sprung a fall sale, with one-way, online fares as low as $49 from Boston. You have to book before Aug. 6, and fares require up to a 14-day advance purchase from travel between Sept. 8 and Dec. 16 -- note the Thanksgiving period is blacked out. And, for this one, you best shot at finding sale fares will be midweek.

Here's all the fine print.

Southwest Airlines, which will launch service from Logan starting Aug. 16, announced
a big 48-hour sale, with one-way fares going for as low as $30, $60, or $90 based on length of travel.
The move bucks a recent industry trend, which saw the major airlines raising ticket prices over the past couple of weeks as the beleaguered carriers once again find themselves facing volatile fuel prices.
The terms of the Southwest sale go like this: For flights up to 400 miles, you could pay as little as $30; 400-750 miles $60; and more than 750 miles $90. These fares don't include taxes and fees, and you must purchase before July 9 for travel from Sept. 9 through Nov. 18. Also you can't travel on Fridays or Sundays.
The complaints with this kind of deal tend to focus on the fact that sale fares tend to be in rather short supply. But here in Greater Boston we have an advantage because Southwest doesn't begin flying till next month, so, for the most part, there's no shortage of seats available for the fall.
I plugged in a few September and October dates for flights to the Midwest and California and found a number of openings at sale prices.
This sale could also kick off a smallish price war on competing routes, according to one airline analyst who was quoted in a Reuters story.
"While airline ticket prices have stabilized recently from their free fall, airlines are by no means out of the woods as oil prices remain volatile and demand precarious," said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com, in an e-mail this morning. "Later today we should see significant airfare matching activity (even for the modest 2-day purchase period on the Southwest sale) as legacy airlines will not want to be undercut."

Forewarned is forearmed. Recent reports suggest that problems for the airline industry may be near bottoming out, and with the the seasonal uptick of air travel it looks like carriers are trying to may some hay. Bloomberg, citing numbers from Farecompare.com, is reporting that the major carriers may be trying to make another move to raise fares.

American Airlines and United Airlines raised most domestic fares by as much as $20 for a round trip, the second increase in as many weeks, as they try to take advantage of peak U.S. summer travel season demand.

AMR Corp.’s American boosted prices by $10 to $20 on most U.S. routes yesterday, and UAL Corp.’s United matched the move, ticket-research firm FareCompare.com said in an e-mail. Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. led carriers in a $20 round trip increase in the second week of June.

Two successful fare increases in a month would support an International Air Transport Association report today that the slump in global airline travel may have reached a “floor” following a 9.3 percent decline in passenger traffic last month. Airlines have slashed prices to win customers in the recession.

“We may have hit bottom, but we are a long way from recovery,” IATA Chief Executive Officer Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement. “This crisis is the worst we have ever seen.”

The Clear registered traveler program, which promised to speed fliers through airport security lines, was shuttered last night.
Clear, which began about four years ago, had enrolled more than 250,000 travelers who paid nearly $200 a year and operated at 18 airports, including Atlanta, Denver, San Francisco and Washington Dulles. At Logan, the program was offered only through Delta Airlines in Terminal A.
Users of the Clear system received high-tech ID cards to verify their fingerprints or iris images at designated security kiosks. Clear faced criticism because TSA decided that registered travelers had to go through the same security screening as everyone else.
A statement on the website of Verified Identity Pass, which runs the Clear program, said that the firm "had been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations."
The note also said that the firm would keep member information secure until it was able to delete it and that "at the present time, because of its financial condition, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. cannot issue refunds.''
Clear was started by Court TV founder Steven Brill, who told USA Today that he had left the company in March to start Journalism Online LLC, a venture to help publications collect revenue for online content.

Bloomberg News photo

Southwest Airlines, which has largely refrained from engaging in the airline extra-fee feeding frenzy, has decided to add a levy for children flying alone, double charges for third checked bags, and allow pets in the cabin for $75 each way.
Southwest, which prides itself on its "no hidden fee'' policy, will add a $50 round-trip service charge for children ages 5 through 11 flying alone, according to a report by Bloomberg News. The levy will apply to fares bought after June 1 for flights starting June 17. Most of the major carriers, including Delta, American, and US Airways, charge $100 each way.
Southwest, which lets travelers check two bags for free, will raise the fee to $50 for a third checked bag and for luggage weighing 51 pounds to 70 pounds. The changes take effect June 17.
Among the major carriers only Southwest and JetBlue don’t charge for a first checked bag, and JetBlue charges for second and subsequent bags.

Good morning, travelers.
For the first time, American plans to let frequent fliers use their miles to book one-way flights for half the miles of a round-trip. The carrier will also let customers redeem miles for first-class seats one way and use fewer miles for a coach seat on the return, according to the Associated Press.

Officials at American, which developed the first frequent-flier program nearly three decades ago, plan to announce the changes Monday and put them into effect shortly.
They say American is the first major US airline to offer a one-way award ticket at half miles. It's hard to know how many people would use miles for a one-way trip -- parents driving a child to college and flying home might -- and American officials didn't offer any estimates.

From Logan, one-way, online prices start at $29 (Buffalo, Charlotte, New York, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, and Richmond, Va.) and rise to $59 (Oakland and SF), $69 (Bermuda, Chicago), $69 (Bermuda, Chicago), $79 (Long Beach), $89 (Austin, Denver) and $99 (Las Vegas, San Diego, and Seattle).
There is fine print: You must buy before midnight. Travel must take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and needs to be completed by June 10. And there are other restrictions and you can scan them all here.

To celebrate Sir Paul McCartney’s exclusive concert at the grand reopening of the Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the Liverpool Productions Beatles Fan Club has planned a getaway April 18-20. Participants will get group seating at ‘‘Love’’ by Cirque du Soleil celebrating the Beatles’ legacy at The Mirage, hotel for two nights, group seating at a concert by a Beatles tribute act, a visit to the Beatles Revolution Lounge,and — ta-da! — guaranteed tickets to McCartney in concert April 19.
Visit www.liverpooltours.com or call 866-LIVERPOOL (866-548-377665).
Posted by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe correspondent

The Society of American Travel Writers has polled its members for advice on how to save on the go.
Among the top suggestions: Travel in the off-season or on the edges of popular seasons; try bus or metro transportation during city stays; instead of eating every meal in restaurants, have a picnic; have your big meal at lunch, when prices are cheaper; make your first stop the visitors center and collect coupons, brochures, and free maps; stay in places that have free breakfast and a refrigerator to store snacks; visit less well-known destinations; try a home swap or home rental; in cities, stay at business hotels on weekends when there are often lower room rates and restaurant deals.
For details, go to www.satw.org.

Posted by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe correspondent

Trump Hotel Las Vegas is extending its Suite Escape package, priced from $89 a night, through June. Guests stay in a studio suite with floor-to-ceiling windows and marble bathrooms, and also get a $50 credit at the Spa at Trump, good toward any massage or facial, including the aptly named Vegas Recovery Massage. They also get a 4 p.m. checkout.
Visit www.trumplasvegashotel.com or call 866-939-8786 and mention the Suite Escape.

Posted by Richard P. Carpenter, Globe correspondent

It's becoming the latest in airline marketing.
Southwest just unveiled ''S.I. One," a plane graced with the image of Bar Refaeli, cover girl for this year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. The Southwest Boeing 737 will ferry the model on a cross-country promotional trip leaving from New York City.
According to the Chicago Tribune's website, the jet will continue to be used for a limited time on flights between New York and Las Vegas.
This is getting ridiculous. First you've got airlines like Ryanair and VivaAerobus (which happens to be partially financed by the family behind Ryanair) putting out swimsuit calendars to boost sales. And now this.
It seems so old school. But I guess it must work. Anybody remember those ads from decades ago in which some attractive young flight attendant offers to let us "fly'' her.

Planning to spend Super Bowl weekend in Las Vegas? Obviously, you’ll have the opportunity to lay down a legal bet on the NFL’s big game (the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently favored over the Arizona Cardinals by 7 points). And why settle for a lame square pool where you can’t even control which numbers you receive? In Vegas, you can make esoteric wagers such as whether the game’s longest field goal will be over or under 43½ yards, or whether there will be at least one scoreless quarter (the odds slightly favor scoring in every quarter). The Vegas oddsmakers had our Patriots, the Colts, and the Cowboys as preseason favorites to make Super Bowl XLIII, and well, that didn’t turn out so well for the teams or those who went with the chalk. If you’re going to be in Vegas, Walters Golf has a nice proposition for football fans who play golf. Tee it up at two of their three local courses in any combination over Super Bowl weekend (Jan. 30-Feb. 1), and you will be entered in a raffle to win one of two signed team helmets (one Steelers, one Cardinals). If you’re bringing your clubs anyway, play at Bali Hai Golf Club, Royal Links Golf Club (which features holes inspired by 11 British Open courses), and/or Desert Pines Golf Club, and you’ve got a shot at owning one of these two helmets (they’re valued at $3,500 apiece). And hey, if you’re a Patriots fan who isn’t particularly fond of either team, you can sell the helmet or just paint it over. Kidding, kidding.

In yet one more reflection of the soft leisure travel market (read good for those who can afford to travel), Alamo Rent A Car has announced a new airport promotion offering $10-per-day rates Thursday through Monday through Memorial Day weekend.
To take advantage of the deal and for all the details, customers should go to the website and click the $10 A Day Weekend Rentals button.
There is a four-day limit on rentals, which range from economy to premium-size cars. You can commence your rental as early as 9 a.m. on Thursdays and the terms of the discount require an overnight Saturday rental. Nonparticipating locations include, but are not limited to, Denver, Aspen, and the New York Metro area.

Here's the deal: Lastminutetravel.com has just launched its World for a Dollar promotion.
Starting in late January, visitors to the website will get a chance to book a room for up to seven consecutive nights for $1 per night at any of the 15,000 hotels in the site's worldwide inventory.
What kinds of hotels? To give you some idea, in Boston you could pick the Onyx Hotel, Nine Zero, or Boston Park Plaza, among many others.
The catch(es)?
Reservations can only be made during one 15-minute period each day, Monday - Friday, over 2 weeks. And they won't reveal in advance what day the promotion will begin or which 15-minute period in any given day. The only way to find out is to keep checking the site.
There are a few more conditions: You can only score a cheap room once during the campaign; the booking must be made online and must be completed within the 15-minute time frame.
Sound hard? You can register on the website for clues to help you out.
Why is Last Minute Travel doing this? The idea is to promote the site's transition to becoming an "opaque" one, like Hotwire, in which you make an offer for a hotel stay, car rental, air flights etc without knowing what specific hotel or company you are dealing with. Thus their interest in having you return to the site multiple times to check things out.
A hassle, yes. But a cool hotel room for $1? With a deal like that maybe you can afford a winter vacation, even in a lousy economy.

Need a getaway to ring in the New Year? If you've got your eye on Las Vegas as a destination any time between Jan. 13 and March 11, you might want to book airfare before the clock strikes midnight.

Southwest Airlines is offering 50 percent off all flights to Las Vegas in its two-day sale which ends today. A quick search for one weekend in January found a non-stop flight from Providence for as little as $75. A Sunday return flight, however, was a bit more difficult to find - at any price. If you're looking to hit the strip for Super Bowl weekend, however, you can secure a non-stop, roundtrip Thursday departure, Monday return for just $159.

Score.

Southwest put fares on sale for the second time in a week to boost business in the slow periods after the holidays.
The three-day sale begins today and ends Nov. 20 for travel from Dec. 9 through Feb. 28. Sale fares are available only on the website, with the cheapest days being Monday through Thursday. Sample deals from Providence: Baltimore-Washington Intl. $49 one way, LA $99, or Chicago Midway $89.
``It is pretty obvious that there are more than a few empty seats hanging out this winter, even with the substantial seat cutbacks,'' Rick Seaney, CEO of ticket-research firm Farecompare.com, told Bloomberg News.

For years, travelers have been screaming for setting limits on how long airlines can leave hapless passengers sitting on tarmacs during flight delays and even the US Department of Transportation's inspector general last fall recommended some kind of rule.
But the best a federal task force could do yesterday was to approve voluntary guidelines for airlines and airports. It failed to come up with any hard rules on how long airlines can keep you shut up in planes before being allowed to exit.
It's hard to find anyone who flies even semiregularly who doesn't have a story of being stranded on the tarmac for hours with no recourse.
(Full disclosure: I've been stuck twice. Both times were in California, once on an American flight and once with United, for three and nearly six hours, respectively, after the jets I was on appeared to be experiencing mechanical problems.)
Passenger rights advocates told the Associated Press that representatives of the airlines leaned on other task force members to reject time limits, saying they wanted the flexibility to design their own response plans.
Right. And what has kept them from doing so thus far on their own?
The DOT says it is working on rules to require airlines and airports to have contingency plans and include a time limit. But who knows when and if that will happen?
Well, you ask, what recommendations did the task force come up with?
They suggest the airlines update you on progress every 15 minutes; provide a secure room for passengers on overseas flight so they won't have to go back through security; provide refreshments and entertainment when practical; and try to keep the restroom clean.
The 36-member task force was created in December by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and was dominated by airline industry and airport representatives.
OK, Barack, I know you already have one or two other things on your plate but let's hope that you will be able to do a bit better by us. Yes, you can.

Lower-fare carrier AirTran joined the major legacy airlines in adding a $15 fee for a first checked piece of luggage on flights starting Dec 5.
Delta, American, United, and Continental all charge for first, and subsequent bags.
Discounters Southwest and JetBlue allow at least one free checked bag.
The move by AirTran reminds us that even the discounters, once thought to be a bit more insulated from the pressures plaguing the industry, haven't completely escaped the drag of the sagging economy and slowing travel demand.

Our friends at Priceline have released their annual holiday calendar of the most fiscally prudent days to travel, and there aren't any surprises: The cheapest days are Nov. 23, 24 and 27 for Thanksgiving, and Dec. 22, 23 and 24 for Christmas; the priciest are Nov. 21 and 26; Dec. 19, 20 and 28; and Jan. 3 and 4.

While those general guidelines are useful, they don't necessarily shed a whole lot of light on the key thing here: what you will need to pay.

But the travel website does offer a Best Days To Fly tool that I find more useful. This is the way it works: Go to the site and click on the Best Days To Fly box on the right hand side of the screen. A dialog box will pop up. Enter your departure and arrival cities. This will generate a calendar showing the lowest published ticket price found by Priceline customers for days around the holiday, and you can use this info to help you figure out when to fly and whether you're getting a good deal.

Brian Ek, a Priceline spokesman, says the site will continue updating the info.

Westjet, the Canadian discount airline that plans to partner with Southwest, sent out a questionnaire to consumers to gauge their willingness to pay for a menu of services -- or to save money forgoing them.

One of the questions, first reported by Chris Elliott on his blog, involved whether passengers would favor shelling out $10 to not sit next to a parent with a baby.

The Westjet queries are revealing, I think. They don’t necessarily reflect what kinds of fees all the airlines will go for, but they suggest what kinds of things they all must be at least considering (or are already trying).

Besides the baby question, the carrier also asked whether travelers would consider paying $10 for:

• Being among the first to get on or off planes
  
• Quicker baggage delivery
  
• Priority rebooking after flight cancellations
  
• Complimentary meals/hotel accommodations for substantially delayed or canceled flights
  
• In-flight Web access
  
• Guaranteed space in the overhead bin
  
• In-seat power
  
• Premium snacks/meals
  
• Freshly laundered pillow/blanket set that you may keep
  
• Amenity kits with earplugs, eyeshades, and toiletries
  
• Shorter waits to clear security checkpoints

The carrier also asked questions about which services travelers would be willing to give up in order to save $10 on flights of two to four hours. These included

Good morning, travelers. The sale deals by both discounters won't help you with Turkey Day -- in one case the day is blacked out and the other requires a 21-day advance. But if you can travel in the windows they offer there are some pretty good fares to be had. Here's the rundown:
For the first times in months, Southwest is offering systemwide discounts, with fares as low as $49 one way. Travel must take place between Dec. 2 and Feb. 11 and require a 21-day advance purchase. Lowest fares are available Monday through Thursday, and Saturday, and must be booked through the site.
JetBlue is offering 10 percent off a number of flights, but you have to book through this page on the site and enter the promotion code: 10offNov. This deal is good for travel between now and Feb. 10, with blackout dates of Nov. 25-Dec. 2, Dec. 16-Jan. 7, Jan. 15-19, and all Sundays.
Both offers are only good through Thursday and there may be other fees and restrictions. But what else is new?

Delta, the lone holdout among the legacy carriers, says it will start charging $15 for the service. The move will take effect for flights after Dec. 4. Checking a second bag will cost $25, half the current rate.
The airline also said it would trim its telephone reservation fee from $25 to $20, and, drop its $3 curbside check-in fee. And it plans to to eliminating a $25 to $100 fuel surcharge for SkyMiles and WorldPerks award-ticket holders in response to falling fuel prices.
Delta says it's making these changes as it moves to align its policies with those of its merger partner Northwest. Delta said last week it would adopt Northwest's policy of offering coach seats with more legroom, such as those in exit rows, for $5 to $25 extra.