If you're thinking Phoenix is just a little too much of a stretch for your travel budget this year, you're selling yourself short. Airlines have sales every day of the year to destinations where load factors are low or where another airline is treading on their turf.

The answer? A sporadic fare war that could be over shortly after it has begun. And that means within hours.

I remember when my wife and I flew from Atlanta to Albuquerque for a rock bottom $68 roundtrip. Three months ago I flew from Atlanta to Seattle for $150 roundtrip. How? By positioning myself to be ready for a sale and when it was announced, I pounced. As the saying goes, if you snooze you lose.

If you want to go to Phoenix, get permission today from your supervisor and then be ready to purchase that ticket. If you wait for the sale to get your permission, the sale will most likely be gone before you get approval. Today the fare between Atlanta and Phoenix is $325; last week for one afternoon it was $199. If I don't want to pay $325 but plan to get a rental car for the trip anyway, the site even tells me that I can fly into Tucson 127 miles south and get the fare for $154 and have a beautiful drive for free.

All cities do not have similar sales, but thats where the power of the Internet comes into play. To be sure you get the lowest fare, go to a site such as Travelocity and sign up for the free FareWatcher service. It's incredibly simple; just list the city pair you are interested in, the price point you would like to pay -- make it reasonable -- and once it hits that point (no guarantee) you will be notified by e.mail. Then you can either purchase the ticket from that or go to the airline's own web site and nail down the fare before it evaporates. There is no obligation on your part to do anything.

Try it. And I'll see you in Phoenix, April 16-20!