VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Did you see the deal being offered by a major US airline yesterday?

Delta Airlines was offering $65 round-trip flights from Vancouver to Los Angeles, basically just charging taxes and fees for the flights.

They sold out within hours.

Claire Newell with Travel Best Bets says there are a couple of reasons why airlines would do this.

”One is marketing and the second is that they are having trouble with the route.”

She adds you can expect to see more bargains over the next while. “So the last three weeks of January are very quiet for the airlines and for them to do something like this and get people thinking about their airline and get people booking; it’s a smart business ploy.

Because of the low dollar, fewer Canadians are crossing the border and choosing to fly out of YVR instead, but she says airlines that fly into Bellingham International Airport are also offering major deals.

“They have been offering amazing deals out of Bellingham. The number of Canadians crossing the border has been dwindling and it’s going to continue to dwindle as the Canadian dollar drops.”

She says deals like this can remind people to sign up for notifications from airlines.

“Whether it be on their Facebook or their Twitter, or any kind of social media because they are going to be notified of deals like this. And it was the ones who knew ahead of time – or first – that got the deals right out of the gate.”

Newell expects other deals to be offered for hotels and packages, as well.

“Even companies that traditionally don’t go on sale, like Disney, are offering those types of deals.”