Airlines have in general been slashing flights to Las Vegas. Before the end of 2008, Southwest held a two-day sale of half-off their Wanna Get Away rates (sorry, we were too busy stuffing our faces with holiday turkey to post that one in time).

Now a new airline expected to launch later this month embraces an innovative business model of pay-as-you-fly -- essentially, a pay-per-minute fee.

Like cellphone minutes, Airtime Airlines uses what's called iFLY airtime, where passengers purchase minutes in advance, then book flights based on how long those flights are expected to take. You have one year to fly, and any unused minutes then get deposited into the cellphone carrier of your choice.

Flight times are set, so longer or shorter flights won't affect passengers' minutes.

And though it will only cover South Africa (for now), if it proves popular, a domestic version may not be far behind.

We'd like to see a pay-per-minute buffet, because sometimes we just want to grab a sandwich and not have to graze through a smorgasbord of every meat group.