Airlines Hope You’ll Ring in New Year at 30,000 Feet : Travel: Fares are lowered for the second straight holiday weekend. Round trips are available for $99 and $139.

Several major airlines on Wednesday launched a New Year’s air fare sale with round trips of $99 and $139. The catch: The promotion applies to flights only on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The sale, which was launched by Delta Air Lines and matched by most other carriers, requires travelers to begin their trip anytime after 12:01 a.m. Friday and start their return flight before midnight Saturday. The promotion is limited to flights in the continental United States.

Passengers traveling up to 750 miles one way pay $99 round-trip; longer flights cost $139. The tickets are non-refundable, and the number of discounted seats is limited, meaning they may not be available on all flights.

So far, American, Continental, United and USAir have matched the sale.

“This presents an opportunity to ring in the New Year with friends or family in another city,” a Continental spokesman said.

Last week, Delta launched a similar sale that applied to round trips only on Christmas Day. Round-trip prices were also based on distance traveled and ranged from $79 to $129.

The short notice and limited duration of the New Year’s sale will attract relatively few passengers, travel agents said.

“It looks like some of the savings are significant,” said Jim M. Roberts, president of Uniglobe Regency Travel in Rancho Cucamonga. But “I think it’s mostly a publicity thing. I don’t think we’ll get (many calls) out of it.”