Although London is the best for good fare deals, most major European cities have fairly competitive deals via the Middle East.

The fare deals have been popular with locals and tourists alike.

"This is the end of the fare deal, and the beginning of Rudolph Giuliani's raw deal for transit riders," he said.

All the new fare deals will come in on April 1 and last until June 15.

Austrian Airlines, British Airways and Qantas all have some good fare deals.

One is that such new fare deals are attracting more riders and higher revenue than had been expected.

He said it was "certainly possible" that the 1986 fare deal would need to be voided, given the $70 million deficit the Transit Authority was then anticipating.

Will Ken Livingstone's 'fare deal' pledge change?

In the Netherlands, My Travel (1900 10 20 300; www.mytravel.nl) has good fare deals, and Wereldcontact(0343-53 05 30; www.wereldcontact.nl) has flight/accommodation packages.

Priceline's on-line auction, though, is only one of the most recent additions to the Internet's fare deals.