A new travel site called GetGoing offers a unique way of trying to snag airfare bargains. Via the NYTimes:

Instead of bidding, you choose two places you would like to visit (say, Miami and Los Angeles), select your travel dates and flights, then enter your credit card details. GetGoing randomly chooses one of the two trips and books your ticket, which you can’t change or cancel.

The company aims to help airlines fill empty seats, which are scarce on some routes but still average nearly 20 percent of the tickets a carrier could sell. GetGoing promises savings of up to 40 percent off published airfares, but the coin flip reassures the airlines that they are giving these discounts to leisure travelers, not business travelers who would pay a higher price because they have to fly.

It's amazing with the level of deep price discrimination in travel that most airlines still can't turn a profit. Not having reliable cost control is brutal.

Since my sisters live in Chicago and my brothers in New York, I may have to give GetGoing a whirl sometime. I wonder if they'll consider it a bonus or penalty if the coin flip lands their way.