Southwest announces a $49 fare sale as airline recovers from its holiday meltdown

Southwest is selling tickets for as little as $49 through Thursday for travel beginning later this month and into the spring. The deal comes in the wake of the airline's holiday travel meltdown, which saw thousands of flights canceled and passengers and bags left stranded for days. Southwest has promised to compensate passengers and take steps to prevent a similar operational catastrophe from happening again. Southwest's latest deals are available through 11:59 p.m. PST on Thursday. Fares as low as $49 one-way are available for flights between Jan. 31 and May 17. Blackout dates are Feb. 16 and 20, with international travel and flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, also excluded from March 9 through April 10 and travel from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii blacked out March 16 through April 10. The deals are available only on certain days for some routes, most of them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. <br/>