Jaunted

Until the government gets its act together, the AP reports this little tax loophole can save you as much as $40 on a ticket that would cost around $400. The federal excise tax of 7.5% is now missing, as is the $16.30 international departure fee, along with the good ol’ $3.50 segment fee, and the $8.20 departure tax for flights heading to the mainland from Alaska and Hawaii. Sure this isn’t going to allow you to upgrade to the oceanfront suite, but it might just get you a couple more souvenir t-shirts or at least one of those new in-flight beers on Frontier.

Some analysts are thinking that this is going to cost the government around $200 million a week until Congress figures out their latest mess, and that airlines raising prices to get the cash for themselves might make a cool $25 million per day. That’s definitely some serious cash for airlines that are hard up for money, but it’s a bummer for the little guys that could use a little break for our travel budget.

Again, try to hustle with this one, so if you’ve got something you were thinking about booking sooner than later make sure you do it sooner if you want to save some cash.

[Photo: Tracy O]