Cheap Cruises

Want to get away this summer but still haven't bought a plane ticket?

You're in luck: There are plenty of cheap airfares from Denver, especially if you're willing to fly during the middle of the week.

In fact, fares to large cities such as Chicago, San Francisco and New York City can be found for $200 or less during the busy Cheap Cruises months of July and August.

And there's more good news. While ticket prices typically hit peak levels during the summer and are higher nationally than a year ago, fares in Denver are about 5 percent lower compared with 2006, experts say.

"This summer, I believe Denver is getting a pretty good break," said Tom Parsons, who runs travel site Bestfares.com in Texas. "You're one of the lucky cities because you've been getting some pretty good deals with all the competition there."

That's not to say that fares are cheaper Cheap Cruises across the board. Travelers can expect to shell out $300 or more to many destinations for weekend travel, and last-minute flights will be even higher.

Fares to some cities such as Atlantic City, N.J., Santa Fe, and Bangor, Maine, are going for well over $400. With one or two exceptions, airfares to Europe are higher than a year ago, as are flights to some other popular international destinations.

Passengers also will have to deal with long airport lines, packed planes and tight parking. Denver International Airport Cheap Cruises has seen its passenger numbers rise by an average of 4.7 percent through March of this year. If that holds, the airport will handle more than 600,000 additional passengers from June through August.