My inbox just announced an AA sale fare to Europe:

"Immerse yourself in European culture. Enjoy low fares to exciting destinations like Frankfurt, London and Paris. Discount fares are valid for travel now through April 27, 2010.

Hurry, these sale fares must be purchased by December 3, 2009!"

Boy, was i happy because I have to book one or two TATLs for February and March. So, I ditched vacuuming the carpet and went straight to AA.com to check some of the itineraries I had been looking at over the past week or 10 days. Guess what: Nothing new here. Same pricing as before--none of it what we have been seeing in the past few years this time of the year.

Disappointed, I went to the sales tab on AA.com and checked what sale prices are available to European destinations from LBB (none), DFW (none), and ORD (none).

So what's up with that? Why does AA call them "sale fares" when even AA does not recognize these fares as a sale?