The current crisis has led to some extraordinary discounting on the web - not just on airline sites, but on package holidays too. Here are some tips for those about to book and a selection of autumn deals to sunnier parts of the world, all under £300.
1 Are you about to pay a credit card fee? If so, can you avoid it by using a debit card instead? Go, for example, charges £3 for credit card bookings; Ryanair charges £4.
2 Is there a phone number you can ring in case you have an urgent query or your email confirmation never turns up? If not, you need to be confident that the company will answer your emails or letters.
3 If you save an itinerary - for instance, on Expedia's site -or "hold" a seat until midnight the next day, you may well find that the price goes up in the meantime. Agents say this is completely beyond their control, but it happens surprisingly often.
4 Some sites will try to add travel insurance automatically to your bill. This might be the insurance you'd buy if you had the choice. But it's unlikely.
5 If you're booking a hotel, try typing the name and location into a search engine -Google (google.com) will do. Other agents (or the hotel's own site) may have a cheaper deal or better pictures of the rooms and surroundings.
6 Budget sites don't always have the cheapest flights, especially if you can't be flexible about days and times. If you're flying to Geneva, British Airways can be less expensive than easyJet or Buzz.
A 'dance cocktail' weekend in Lisbon, Portugal - £299
Unmissable's holidays are not cheap, but they are hard to find elsewhere. This one includes tuition in tap dancing and salsa and evenings at local clubs.
A week in Orlando, Florida - £299
A ridiculously cheap holiday, considering that BA flights to Florida usually cost substantially more than £300. Tickets to Walt Disney World (four miles away) are not included.
Three nights in Barcelona - £245
The pink advertising may have dwindled, but Lastminute is still alive and trying to turn a profit. Their listings are also of a higher quality than some of their rivals, with flights on scheduled airlines and useful details -- weather forecasts, for instance, and the exact location of the hotel. The catch here is that the Iberia flight leaves Heathrow at 6.25am. With the current lengthy check-in times and the difficulty in finding an early train, you could end up spending most of the night at the airport.
Two nights in Gibraltar - £269
The Rock may not be the most exciting of European cities, but it was around 25C in Gibraltar this week; and the hotel has a pool.
• Other offers available at the time of writing were a week in Majorca (£95) at bargain holidays.com; Puerto Rico (£249) at thomascook.co.uk; Languedoc-Roussillon, flights excluded (£181) at latesaversfrance.co.uk; Malta (£99) at teletextholidays.co.uk; Goa (£249) at expedia.co.uk; Paphos, Cyprus (£209) at travelocity.co.uk; and Mykonos (£99) at ebookers.com.
