It was shortly after September 11 that I saw the first true firesales of airline seats.

Three of us on the desk got flights from Ryanair for £1 that day, to destinations across Europe. We still had to pay the taxes and charges, but still the price came in comfortably below £20.

Scroll forward eight years.

Tactical sales are now common, particularly in the past 12 months as aviation has taken it's biggest hit since 2001. There will be an estimated 10m fewer visits abroad by Britons this year, down from 70m in 2008.

(We called 2009 the year of the travel bargain - I see that MSNTravel is already citing 2010 to be even worse).

Improved yeild management systems spot the weak periods in advance and the back office/website integration is a refined process.

Already today I have had tweets from Air France and KLM with latest deals, plus another from BA reminding followers that its sale ends tomorrow - and it was BA that only very recently introduced a facility to find the cheapest fares on its website.

Technology and sales are now so intertwined, and so easily marketed, that the extraordinary 'free' flight deals post-2001 are now likely to be lost in a welter of Twitter, email and direct mail communications.

It was an underwhelming moment when Ryanair sent an email three weeks ago flagging up one million flights for £5. Yet they did include taxes and charges, and I happened to be planning trips to Krakow and Palma - so jumped in.

The fares existed and, with no bags to check-in, no need for insurance or desire to book pre-boarding, they did cost £5 each-way (although I don't have a Visa Electron, so had to stump up the booking fee).

Since then I have noticed another batch of Ryanair flights for €5. And then last week, a further sale at £1. And this afternoon, the ultimate - one million seats for nothing, all-in, across the network if booked before midnight Wednesday (Sep 23) for travel in late October or November. The deals go live at midnight tonight.

I cannot remember a genuine giveaway in the history of flying (unless I have missed previous Ryanair promos). It is the ultimate in one-upmanship to the passenger in the next seat. "How much did you pay?" "Well. actually...."

But given Ryanair's ability to inspire admirers and despisers in equal measure, it is entirely likely that they won't be able to shift these seats.

And when we find offers so blase, even for nothing, then you know travel by air - or is it travel marketing by air - is really in trouble.

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