For those of you who haven’t booked a flight lately, our local Big Honking Monopoly and Slightly Smaller Cheap-Ass Counterpart, known as Delta and AirTran, respectively, have both recently redesigned their websites.

What AirTran’s done I can’t really tell you, since they pulled a Staples (ie, put the new site up, found immediate “technical difficulties,” pulled it straight back down). One thing I did notice during a brief visit to the new site was that they broke out all fares available for a particular flight, by different “classes” — which is useful, because only certain classes are eligible for the $35 business-class upgrade. Also, you could buy a cheaper fare and then gloat about the poor slobs who came after you and were limited to the higher fares. AirTran is having a sale right now, by the way.

I’m not terribly impressed by Delta’s new site. Lots of tiny boxes, still, which was one of the chief faults of the old site. And . . . beach. Yay, beach. If I want beach, I’ll . . . drive to Tybee Island. It’s better than “Delta: We’re Not Bankrupt Yet!” but I end up wondering if the picture was taken from Ron Allen’s private villa.

(And of course, I write this whole post and then realize, it’s our birthday! Yay Atlanta Metroblog! Yay party at Manuel’s, tonight, starting at 7:30 pm!)