Hi all,

Hope this is the right forum to post this in. I write the Frugal Traveler column for the New York Times <nytimes.com/frugaltraveler>, and I'm planning a series of single-day getaways (fly out in the morning, back at night) that are booked at the last minute—ideally, only a day or two before the trip.

I'm pretty decent at scanning things like AirfareWatchdog, etc., but you guys are way more expert than I am, and I was hoping you might have some wisdom about how to find and book these things without spending a lot of money. I don't think I can justify more than $200 on round-trip airfare from the NYC area.

Your thoughts?