Yes, Virginia, holiday travel bargains are out there

You’ll have to dig to find bargains for travel over the holidays. Here are some tips for uncovering that uncommon deal.

LOOK NOW, don’t wait. Any discounted fares are going like hotcakes.

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Phil Skinner

Packing light gives you an edge during holiday air travel. It’ll also save you money.

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BE FLEXIBLE on the days you fly. Travelocity, Orbitz and Cheaptickets all have good flexible-date search functions. Kayak.com offers only three days on departure and return, and that’s not a big enough time to capture all good options, professional fare finder George Hobica said.

CHECK Southwest Airlines separately. The carrier doesn’t allow computer searches by fare sites. George Hobica’s airfarewatchdog.com has Southwest fares because it checks the airline’s schedule manually.

SEARCH individual sites of economy airlines such as JetBlue, Allegiant Air and Air Canada that post their lowest fares only on their own sites.

WEEKENDS may be a good time to check fares. If fares go down, some airlines will refund the difference in the form of a voucher for future travel, even on “nonrefundable” fares. But remember, there’s a change fee. On Continental Airlines, it’s $150.

DEALS offered at the last minute often pop up on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when airlines often post new fares.

HOLIDAYS: Travel on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day to save money. The priciest days are Dec. 26 to 28 and Jan. 2 to 4.

PLAN your family Thanksgiving gathering a couple of weeks early. There are some dynamite deals out there for October and the first part of November.

LOCATION: Head somewhere besides a “sun and fun” spot. Those have “skyway robbery” airfares, “highway robbery” car rental costs and hotel rates that hold you hostage, said Tom Parsons of Bestfares.com.

OVERSEAS: Consider a holiday abroad. Some of the capacity taken out of the domestic market has shifted to international flights. Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com pointed to a recent $570 round trip from Copenhagen to Dallas. Minus a fuel surcharge that now averages $345 on trans-Atlantic flights, and an average international ticket tax of $130, the base price of the Danish roundtrip was $95.

BEWARE LUGGAGE FEES

When you start adding up your travel costs, don’t forget those pesky bag fees.

Take this scenario:

A man flies from Cleveland to Chicago midweek and returns midweek. That ticket right now costs $167 on United Airlines.

But our sample guy has two bags that weigh 60 pounds each, both of which will be slapped with $125 overweight bag charges — per bag, per flight. All of a sudden, that $167 ticket for a man who weighs maybe 190 pounds costs $500 more for his 120 pounds of luggage.

“Put your bags on the bathroom scale and try to get them under the 50-pound mark,” said Tom Parsons, publisher of Bestfares.com.

Of course, our Cleveland-to-Chicago traveler might be stuffing a hefty carry-on into the plane’s overhead bin, too.

The basic rule for carry-ons is nothing bigger than 22 inches by 14 inches by 9 inches or heavier than 40 pounds. With baggage fees the way they are, look for passengers trying to push the envelope.

That could make for a long conga line waiting to clear security.

So pack light and bring a book to read. And be cheery to the staff.