Rock-Bottom Air Fares for the Ultra-Flexible

Today we’re addressing lovers of the last-minute deal, those intrepid nomads who don’t mind learning their flight’s availability as late as a day before its departure.

In short, we’re writing about the clients of ultra-flexible Air-Tech (and Airhitch, see below).

Air-Tech is not an airline, but it can get you, at the peak of the summer season, to 12 European destinations for just $169 each way if you leave from the northern East Coast ($30 to $60 more from other parts of the United States). If you’re from the West Coast, Air-Tech can get you a flight to Hawaii for just $129. But there’s a catch in that neither Air-Tech nor Airhitch guarantees you the exact date or destination you’ve requested.

Here’s how it works: The company seeks to book you on any flight within a four-day period that you’ve specified. You designate those four consecutive days, and Air-Tech lets you know what’s available the Wednesday before your departure. That’s the day most airlines release their unsold seat inventory.

Air-Tech tries to provide the departure and arrival cities that you’ve requested. If it finds flights to reasonably nearby cities, you can accept the offer or wait until your preferred city becomes available. It claims a matchup success rate of 94% (but that might be slightly lower during popular travel times, such as August).

For the return trip, you go through a similar process. Before leaving home, you will be asked for another four-day availability window for your return flight. The Wednesday before that window, while you’re abroad, call the company’s local branch--Airhitch’s European offices are in England, and Air-Tech’s are in Paris--to learn which homeward flights are offered.

You might not be offered a seat back to the same U.S. city from which you departed, but to the same general region. For instance, if you left from Boston, you might be required to return to New York and make your way back from there. Or you can elect to wait in Europe until a seat becomes available to your home port. (There are exceptions: For some flights to Mexico and the Caribbean, your return will be nailed down before you leave home.)

What about accommodations when you reach your destination? How can you possibly make hotel reservations if you don’t know which day you’ll be arriving and when you’ll be leaving? Here I’m not nearly as impressed with Air-Tech’s solution, but I pass it on anyway.

Air-Tech has developed a “DreamPass” for last-minute travelers in European hotels that works much the same way as its uncertain air arrangements. The pass costs as little as $37.50 per person per night, including breakfast. It is valid for hotels and inns all over Europe, not just in your destination city, which is especially useful if Air-Tech can’t get you to your preferred city immediately. But it carries no guarantee that you will actually secure a room.

Customers go directly to a participating hotel to use the pass, without reservations; remember, Air-Tech doesn’t make hotel reservations. Air-Tech claims that the sheer number of hotels in Europe that accept the pass, 400 to 500, makes finding accommodations likely in any given city. If you’re nervous about finding a room, the Air-Tech Web site lists a sampling of hotels that you can call in advance to make last-minute reservations.

The pass is available at five prices, but it is wise to purchase the cheapest one because you can always upgrade your pass at the hotel reception desk. The $37.50 rate will secure you a centrally located three-star hotel in the city of your choice.

Unfortunately, the hotel service is available only in Europe and not in the Caribbean or Hawaii.

Air-Tech’s direct competitor is Airhitch, which offers last-minute flights at (usually) identical rates. The one difference? Airhitch does not offer hotel services.

To get in touch with Air-Tech, telephone (800) 575-8324 or (212) 219-7000, or find it on the Internet at https://www.airtech.com. Airhitch can be reached at (888) AIRHITCH, or on the Internet at https://www.4cheapair.com.