L.A. for $99 O/W; Bay for $254 R/T

By Clara Bosonetto Maerz

For ajc.com

If you have plans to head to California through mid-September 2010, jump on a pair of money-saving airfare deals to reach either Los Angeles or the San Francisco Bay area.

The deal to Los Angeles is hard to beat. American Airlines offers this route (via its Dallas-Fort Worth hub) at $99 one-way ($120.20 including all extra fees) without worry of blackout dates when you give a two-week advance notice of travel. Trips at this rate are not permitted on Fridays or Sundays.

The next best deal to the west coast is a round-trip rate of $254 to Oakland from either Delta/Northwest or United Airlines ($296.40 including all extra fees). With a 21-day advance notice of travel, this rate does not have any blackout dates or minimum stay requirements (one month maximum stay).

Most major airlines allow for flight reservations to be made 331 days in advance, or in today's case through Sept. 16, 2010. The above offers are valid for bookings for trips on or before this date.

Neither of the above offers have ticket-by dates, so book as soon as possible.

To ensure that this special rate is still valid when you get around to buying tickets, first visit Kayak.com and enter your city pairs.

Next, start to fill in your travel dates. You should instantly see a calendar pop-up on the right side of your monitor with this sale price indicated on specific dates.

If you don't see the special rate, try changing your dates/month of travel using the pull-down months shown just above the calendar. If you still don't see this rate, it is highly likely that the rate no longer exists.