How many metros have you been on?

Now here's a first! Only at JetBlue.com, JetBlue is offering discounted tickets for flights in one direction on particular days. This offer is for truly footloose travelers. As AirfareWatchdog points out, "Fares are as low as $19 (Long Beach to Sacramento one way on September 16) and range up to $99 (Long Beach to Boston on October 20)." Your flight back home won't be on sale, though. We don't know for how long this sale will be offered. So if you're interested, visit the site now. And are you curious about JetBlue's new terminal at New York's JFK airport? Jaunted got a sneak peak of the terminal, which opens in October after a $700 million renovation. Here's the exhaustive first-hand report. And New York magazine's Grub Street blog has a review of its unusual food court. UPDATE Thursday, 10:41 a.m. We asked JetBlue how long this fare sale lasts.The answer: "All good things must come to an end, including our current fare sale. Luckily we've got a 'good things' tree in the back office." (JetBlue responded via its Twitter feed. Our own Bud Travel has a Twitter feed, too.)

Kudos to Continental! Travelers may now check in for their departing and return flights at the same time. Up until now, you had to either get access to a computer within 24 hours of your return flight to check in, or you had to arrive early at an airport kiosk. Now, you can request that your boarding pass be forwarded to you by email. Passes can also be made ready for printing at a terminal kiosk. Or, if you don't have a printer handy, you can have the pass forwarded by fax to your hotel for free. (Note: Some hotels may charge you for the receipt of a fax.) It is expected that the government will soon allow Continental to make the process even easier. Soon, you'll be able to have your pass stored on your Blackberry or iPhone and wave the image of the bar code to a scanner at the airport gate, skipping the kiosk entirely. Right now, this service is available at Boston (Logan), Newark, and D.C. (Reagan National), with testing in Austin. For details, see Continental.com. [UPDATE Aug. 26, 9:24 a.m.: My better half has fact-checked me, pointing out that Continental has been offering this service on its website throughout the summer. And a Continental spokesperson confirms that, too. What's more, the New York Times reported it last Friday. Sigh.]

About a year ago BT provided some tips for arranging visas for several countries, including Russia (“Veni, Visa, Vici”). I just went through the process of getting visas for myself and my wife for a trip to St. Petersburg and Moscow, and I got conflicting information from other sources. I also paid a fee that—I later learned—I didn't have to pay. I hope you’ll learn from my example. Save yourself time and money by asking yourself the following questions. 1. Are you going with a tour group or using a travel agent? In either case, consider letting the tour group or travel agent arrange your visa for you, even if it means paying a modest fee. 2. Are you arranging your own travel and staying at only one hotel? Then you should ask your hotel to send you a visa support letter (also called a tourist confirmation letter). Some hotels are authorized to give you this letter themselves, and some are not, according to Yelena Baranova of Russian National Group, a company that helps arrange visas by providing visa support letters. If your hotel says it isn’t authorized to provide a letter, then see the answer to question 4. 3. Are you arranging your own travel and staying at more than one hotel? Multiple visa support letters can be used in one application as long as all of your time in Russia is accounted for, according to a spokeswoman for the Russian consulate in New York (who, following official policy, would not give her name). Be aware that some private companies are claiming that any traveler staying at more than one hotel is forced by the application rules to hire them to get a single letter covering the entire stay. That's not true, says the official spokeswoman. In other words, If you are staying at several hotels and each gives you a visa support letter, you can arrange your visa yourself. Still unsure of what to do? The spokeswoman advised applicants to call their regional consulate with any questions. (For example, travelers in the Northeast should call the New York Consulate at 212/348-0629.) 4. But what if you are staying at a hotel that cannot give you a visa support letter? My wife and I are staying at a B&B; in St. Petersburg and a rental apartment in Moscow. Neither could give me a visa support letter, but both had “partners” who could provide the letter, for a fee. These are companies like Russian National Group, but I didn’t realize that at first. Here’s what happened: Thinking I needed a letter from each hotel, I asked both places to provide me with letters (and I agreed to pay for both). But the owner of the St. Petersburg B&B; put down the dates for our full dates of travel, including our time in Moscow. That meant that we did not need the letters from Moscow. Bad traveler! I haven’t even left for the trip yet and I’ve already wasted money. If your hotels provide visa support for a fee, have just one of them give you a letter covering your whole trip. All of this sounds complicated, and it is. 5. Did you learn any other helpful tips? Yes. The owner of our St. Petersburg B&B; gave me another piece of advice: Add a few days to the beginning and end of your stay when requesting a visa support letter. (In other words, if you will be in Russia from August 28 to September 6, request a letter for August 25 to September 9.) This is in case your travel plans change; if you stay in Russia a day longer than your visa (because of a canceled flight, for example), you’ll have to update your visa before you can leave. 6. How much does a visa cost? Here is an update since BT published its article: As of January 1, 2008, the State Department raised the fee for a U.S. visa to $131 from $100, so the Russians followed suit; a Russian visa now costs $131.