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Southwest (LUV) and AirTran (AAI) on Tuesday launched sales featuring fares as low as $25 one way for winter, when planes otherwise could be half-empty. Southwest is offering the lowest fares on some of its routes in 13 years. The one-way sale prices � good for travel Dec. 2-16 and again Jan. 5-Feb. 20 � are $25 on routes up to 375 miles, $50 on routes up to 549 miles, $75 on routes up to 999 miles and $100 on longer routes. The sale expires at midnight PT Thursday. AirTran's offer, which allows travel through Feb. 10, includes one-way prices as low as $39 on its shortest routes. Prices for longer routes range from $164 to $149 one way. The purchase deadline is Nov. 10. The fares carry typical restrictions, including limits on the number of seats available on each flight, especially during peak-demand periods over the holidays. In most cases, they're non-refundable. The rock-bottom fares from the two discount airlines demonstrate the extremes carriers will go to fill seats in recessionary times. They also force their conventional rivals to consider how low they're willing to cut fares to remain competitive at a time when most are losing money and oil prices are rising. And they highlight how passengers can pay more in extra fees than they can for an actual ticket. It can cost as much for a traveler to check two bags on many airlines as it does to fly for $25 on Southwest, which doesn't charge for checked bags. The cost can rise more if passengers choose certain coach seats early, rebook, take a pet along or even buy a ticket over the phone rather than online. Extra charges are one way that airlines are surviving the recession and can offer deep discounts in a gloomy travel climate. In the first six months of the year, U.S. carriers collected $3.8 billion in fees, according to the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That's up from $2.3 billion in the first half of 2008. Even Southwest is not immune to imposing fees. It charges an extra $10 to $15 for a spot at the front of the boarding line. Southwest and AirTran's sale prices � matched by JetBlue and Frontier on competitive routes and to varying degrees by other airlines as of late Tuesday � come as airfares have begun to inch up. Tom Parsons at BestFares.com says fares will continue to rise into next year because, "Airlines can't just keep on losing money forever." "But," he says, "I still expect there to be significant fare sales like these periodically, at least through next May."