Now, he has a Web site.

Becker said members of his family have long enjoyed the benefits of his ability to locate cheap fares on the Internet and parlay them into trips around the world. Now, he's offering his expertise online. His Web site — www.airfaredig.com — was one of three on my radar screen this past week.

Becker's site is a model of simplicity and efficiency. He simply posts the lowest round-trip fare in a market and supplies a link to make the purchase. Sometimes, he'll direct readers straight to an airline site, such as those run by Allegiant Air and Southwest Airlines. Sometimes, the low fare is offered by an aggregator like CheapAir or Travelocity.

I thought about inviting the site creator out to Las Vegas to buy him a beer or something, but alas, Mark Becker is a high school senior.

"I like putting things together like this and I've always been interested in Web design," said Becker, who hopes to attend the University of North Dakota next year after he graduates from Fergus Falls High School in Minnesota.

"It's been a work in progress for about two years, but when I finally got everything together, it took me about three months to set up," he said.

Becker said he uses "a wild combination of things" to track fares and once he gets all the information he needs, he manually transfers that to the site — not an easy trick when airfares fluctuate wildly and change frequently.

He likes international travel the most, taking a trip to Europe last year and spending some time in Central America before that. He said his parents "thought it was pretty cool" when he was interviewed by Minneapolis media. Now his site is getting noticed nationally with a variety of links to airports and a list of destinations and fares. McCarran is among those on the list.

Also worth a look online is a new beta site by London-based Cheapflights Ltd. executive Hugo Burge, who is now offering www.hereorthere.com to Web surfers.

Burge's new site is blend of a travel forum and a social network, inviting participants to air their travel experiences in narrative form. Some of the most recent entries discuss swimming with great white sharks off Capetown, South Africa, hang-gliding over Rio de Janeiro and a tour of Salvador Dali's home in Figueras, Spain.

Each entry offers a Yahoo! map to pinpoint the location and subscribers are invited to comment in forums.

The site is in its infancy with only a handful of participants and, surprisingly, no entries yet on Las Vegas travel experiences. That should change as the site picks up steam.

Participants can submit as visitors or residents and can provide text, photos, audio or video.

A third new Web site is one that looked quite familiar to me — www.visitlasvegas.com.au.

The reason it looked familiar is that it's a site sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Australian media have ballyhooed the new site as a great place for Aussies to get information about our city.

Seeing the LVCVA site made me wonder about the prospects of a public service the LVCVA could provide.

I was among the unfortunate number of travelers trying to get to Las Vegas from central Utah by car last weekend. A lightning-caused fire went out of control near where Interstate 70 connects with Interstate 15, west of Richfield, Utah.

With I-15 closed and the air in Richfield filling with smoke, all traffic from Salt Lake City and Denver to Nevada was effectively cut off.

At a gasoline station in Richfield, a traveler asked to no one in particular, "Does anyone know an alternative route to Las Vegas?" Since I knew the way, I helped him out, and there could have been others around that knew some of Utah's back roads well enough to guide him.

But wouldn't it be great idea for someone to develop a Web site or a toll-free number to help tourists find their way to Las Vegas when the primary highways into town are closed?

It would take some money and the ability to move quickly in a crisis to do it, but highway closures due to fires, flooding, earthquakes or other disasters could help us avert taking an economic hit as a result of a calamity elsewhere.

In other tourism news:

Fare increase: Southwest Airlines, the busiest operator at McCarran International Airport, has raised some of its fares, citing higher fuel costs for the increase.

Last weekend, the Dallas-based discounter boosted ticket prices by $1 to $10 each way on some routes. Rival carriers matched the increases.

An airline spokeswoman confirmed that fares were increased by $1 on flights of less than 500 miles while the $10 increases occurred on walk-up ticket prices on flights of more than 1,250 miles.

US Airways cleared in New Mexico: The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared US Airways of any wrongdoing in a case involving a passenger who was served alcohol on a flight before driving a car that crashed, killing him and five members of a New Mexico family.

The incident ultimately led to New Mexico authorities preventing the airline from getting a liquor license which has kept it from offering alcoholic beverages on flights to and from Albuquerque. US Airways was issued a temporary license, but when it expired, New Mexico officials wouldn't renew it, pending an investigation.

The FAA did its own probe and said the airline didn't do anything wrong, but critics said the FAA didn't interview passengers on the flight as part of its investigation.

Meanwhile, customers still can't get drinks on flights to and from Albuquerque.

Airtran buys into seat fees: Tearing a page out of Allegiant Air's playbook, Florida-based AirTran has begun offering a choice of seats for an additional $5 per trip.

It costs even more for the emergency exit aisles, which go for an additional $15. Those aisles have considerably more leg room than other seats.

Las Vegas-based Allegiant was one of the first airlines to charge extra for specific seats, a practice that raises millions of dollars in extra revenue for the company each year. The practice was later duplicated by Northwest Airlines, which charges $15 more for aisle, window and emergency exit row seats. Many are expecting Southwest Airlines to do the same thing when it unveils plans for assigned seats next year.

Discounter AirTran has four round trips a day linking Las Vegas with Atlanta.

Las Vegas for the holidays: Gone are the days when December is the city's slow period, when maintenance schedules are bumped up and show rooms go dark. Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air is adding flights during the holiday season instead of scaling them back.

Additional flights are planned by the company from Nov. 14 through Feb. 10 to and from seven different destinations.

Allegiant cites special events like the National Finals Rodeo Dec. 6-15 and the city's huge New Year's celebration as reasons why more people will be coming to town and justifying additional flights.

The airline, which has vacation package relationships with more than a dozen Southern Nevada resorts, will add Monday service to and from Billings, Mont., Dec. 3-31; Thursday flights to and from Bismarck, N.D. Nov. 29 through Jan. 3; Wednesday service to and from Fargo, N.D., Nov. 14 through Feb. 6; Wednesday and Saturday flights to and from Fort Collins, Colo., Nov. 10 through Jan. 5; Friday service to and from Missoula, Mont., Nov. 16 through Jan. 4; Wednesday and Saturday service to and from Rapid City, S.D., Nov. 14 through Feb. 6; and Thursday and Sunday service Nov. 22 through Jan. 6 and Saturday flights Nov. 4 through Feb. 10 to and from Wichita, Kan.

Valuable appointment? Gov. Jim Gibbons last week announced that he has appointed Bill Brady of Las Vegas and Stan Wilmoth of Sparks to the Gaming Policy Committee, which is described as an advisory committee "for the purpose of discussing matters related to gaming policy and the performance of its duties and functions."

In a press release, Gibbons is even quoted, noting that "Both Bill and Stan will bring leadership to this committee and I am pleased that they have agreed to come on board. Sound gaming policy is critical for the continued success of Nevada's No. 1 industry."

The only problem is that the committee has not met since the Richard Bryan administration and Gibbons said he has no plans to call the committee to order. For those new to the state, Bryan was elected governor in 1982.

Perhaps congratulations are in order for Brady and Wilmoth for accepting these appointments. But my question is: Why hasn't this committee been decommissioned if it doesn't meet and the governor has no plans of having it meet?