Travel expert: Post-holiday deals await

Bestfares.com CEO Tom Parsons

(CNN) -- Whether you are thinking about traveling to an exciting destination or simply heading home for the holidays, there are still bargains to be found. CNN's Leon Harris spoke to Tom Parsons, CEO of Bestfares.com, about where and when you might find the cheapest flights.

CNN: What I like about this is that there are finally some discounts to places that you actually want to go to, at a special time of year.

PARSONS: When it gets a little cool there in Atlanta or up in the Northeast, believe me, people are going to start picking up those phones and saying give me one of these warm destinations.

It's important now that you think right after the holidays. If you think it is going to stay in the '50s and '60s and '70s for the rest of the winter, we're all crazy.

You'd better pick up the phone now and think about calling these airlines, because once we get a major cold front on the East Coast, all the snowbirds are heading south.

CNN: Tell us how many seats are out there at these kind of prices for the holiday -- not for after the holiday?

PARSONS: I'll tell you where the bad spots are. If you are trying to go west of the Rockies, if you are trying to go to Florida, if you're trying to go to the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, Hawaii, I just don't think you are going to get there.

I priced a ticket across Boston to San Diego for December 27; it came out to over $800, but you can go after the holidays for probably $200.

CNN: So it's anyplace warm before the holidays -- a bad shot there.

PARSONS: Even, I think, the West Coast. If you are trying to fly from Minneapolis, down to Texas, over to Atlanta, up to the Northeast, I think you still have a good shot getting a decent airfare, probably in the $158-$178-$238 range. But anywhere else, to the West Coast and to Florida, I think it's going to be very tough.

CNN: So when you head north, the prices go down, and if you head south, the prices up. How about the difference between ... fares within the United States and travel outside. Big differences there?

PARSONS: I think we are seeing the fares to Asia, for example, to Tokyo, from the West Coast --$398 round trip. From Atlanta, Washington, D.C., New York, Boston -- probably $498 -- and that's good to May 19. That's probably half price.

I think Europe, New York to London -- $198 on most of the major airlines. That's dirt cheap.

CNN: That's pretty good.

PARSONS: We also look at the fact that this holiday season I priced a ticket, again, for across the U.S.A. It's about $800 if you are going to the West Coast.

If you look at markets served by Southwest, America West, AirTran, American Trans Air, we are seeing coast-to-coast fares right now probably about $198 round trip from Providence [Rhode Island] to San Diego, Seattle to Fort Lauderdale, but you're probably going to have to go after the holidays. And probably, through May 19, you'll get those cheap, cheap deals.