LOOK OUT BELOW!: The Atlantic has an interesting piece on just how much airline ticket prices have fallen the last few years. How much, you ask? This much:

The trend holds up when you look at it on a cost per mile basis:

Even with all the fees, flying is still a lot cheaper than it was a generation or two ago. Maybe that has something to do with all the airline bankruptcies?

MILLION MILE CHALLENGE UPDATE: Once upon a time, Larry Bird was so good as basketball that grew somewhat bored and decided to challenge himself by shooting left-handed for a game. Frequent Miler is in a similar situation, except instead of shooting left-handed he’s trying to earn a million points this month. It’s March 5 and he’s up to 525,000 points, which is almost 525,000 more points than we’ve earned so far in March.

HOW TO GET A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF FREE TRAVEL ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES: This deal has been out there on and off for a long time and has been covered quite a bit, but it’s a great deal for some people and therefore it’s worthwhile to bring it up every now and then. The Points Guy has a thorough rundown of all the details, but in a nutshell if you sign up for a couple of Southwest Airlines credit cards you’ll find yourself with $1,800 of free travel AND a companion pass with which to take along somebody else for free on that $1,800 worth of travel. If you’re in an area well-served by LUV Airlines and want to do a lot of domestic travel, it’s worth looking into.