Founded in 1973, ATA celebrates it's 32nd birthday this year. They operate from a hub in Chicago (Midway Airport) and became a major carrier in 2000. ATA provides worldwide capacity to more than 400 destinations for a variety of customers, including leading tour operators, the U.S. military, government agencies, incentive customers and corporate clients. ATA is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and is currently going through restructuring -- here's hoping that they can pull it together.

The ata.com site seems to be a totally homegrown effort. When you start an airline search you are presented with a fairly large matrix of flight options that you can choose from. The site presents each leg of a trip as a one way fare, so remember to add both options together to get an idea of total cost. The site does this for you of course, on the Itinerary and Summary page. It's a fairly standard site and users should be able to move through the transaction path well.

ATA has a TravelAwards frequent flier program so that customers can earn miles when they fly -- just like the bigger airlines that you're used to. Currently, ATA serves the following destinations: Aruba, Aruba • Boston, MA • Cancun, Mexico • Chicago-Midway, IL • Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX • Denver, CO • Ft. Lauderdale, FL • Ft. Myers, FL • Guadalajara, Mexico • Honolulu, HI • Indianapolis, IN • Ixtapa, Mexico • Kona, HI • Las Vegas, NV • Lihue, Kauai, HI • Los Angeles, CA • Maui, HI • Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN • New York, NY (LGA) • Newark, NJ • Orlando, FL • Philadelphia, PA • Phoenix, AZ • Puerto Vallarta, Mexico • San Francisco, CA • San Juan, Puerto Rico • Sarasota/Bradenton, FL • Seattle, WA • St. Petersburg, FL • Washington, Reagan, DC (DCA). In addition, ATA serves some additional cities via a relationship with Southwest Airlines.

Should you fly ATA? If you're flying to one of the cities above, you should give them a look. Because they fly into smaller airports and have pretty low prices, you should at least give them a look if you can be flexible with your travel times. Because they are a bit smaller, they don't have as many daily flights as some of the other carriers. But the ones they do fly might just fit your budget.