First of all, Southwest Airlines needs to get with my schedule. I expect to see airfare sales on Tuesdays. When the airline launches them on Fridays, it gets me all frazzled. Routine, people.

But the sale Southwest announced today is anything but routine. It features airfares for holiday travel - from Dec. 13 to Jan. 5. And while there are blackout dates, there are not nearly as many as you might expect for a peak travel period.

Blackout dates are Dec. 23, Dec. 26, Dec. 30 and Jan. 2. See, that's not so bad.

One-way fares from Baltimore range from $49 to Boston  to $199  for a trip to San Francisco. The sale is only for this weekend - it ends Columbus Day at 11:59 p.m.

To top off the fun, AirTran has also lowered some of its fares to match the Southwest sale. And you can look for other airlines to follow.