All of the major airlines offer last-minute weekend airfares that are often hundreds of dollars cheaper than even advance purchase restricted fares. The fares often go fast though, so the key to getting in on the deal you want is to get the info before everyone else then act fast. The only way to do this is to get on the email lists for each airline or to visit the web site of each airline as soon as possible after they release fares. There are web pages that consolidate the weekend fares and offer you a one-stop place to view fares from any of several airlines. (See Smarter Living's Deal Alert section for the latest travel deals and weekend airfares.). These pages might be convenient, but I find them mostly useful for window-shopping.

There are two reasons why I think you need to subscribe directly to each list if you really want to travel:

1) Snooze and loose: The consolidated pages don't go online until Wednesday. Some airlines release their fares Monday night, or through the course of the day Tuesday. If you use the consolidated pages, people like me knew about the fare a day or more earlier and already snapped up the choice seats, so you're left with the crumbs (if anything).

2) Limited choice: The consolidated web pages (flyaow in particular) have historically not listed some of the deals. I've noticed this with regard to foreign destinations, smaller airlines, and foreign flag carriers. By subscribing directly, I can see ALL of the available destinations that an airline offers that week and I'm empowered by more complete info. In fairness, it looks like smarterliving.com is fairly complete -- they even included rates for AirTran. More info is better.