gemac

Ahhh, that's a tiny detail that the OP omitted. It does make a difference. I am in OGG today, not STL, so can't check the ad that pkerr referred to, but I'm sure it's the same one that's in your paper.

But now it seems odd that AA would advertise $79 one-way, and the same day put up $41 one-way fares. Makes it seem like the advertising department is working with a longer fuse than the fare-setting department, or else they don't talk to each other. The former seems more likely, and so it looks to me like the trigger for the $41 rate was a schedule full of mostly empty planes, and the decision was made pretty recently, like yesterday.