Sky Talk

Airlines begin to ratchet up fall fares

Airlines have been raising their fall travel prices over the last few weeks, with United Airlines bumping up fares on its cheapest routes over the weekend for flights after Oct. 6, Rick Seaney of farecompare.com notes. United also announced it's requiring minimum stays on those cheap routes.

"While technically this is not a system-wide increase across all airfares and routes, it highlights some pricing behavior of legacy airlines that is worth noting," Seaney said in an email message today.

In raising fall prices, airlines have been:

• "Firming up their cheapest price points to match their announced capacity cuts."
• "Preventing savvy business travellers from using cheaper leisure airfares for business trips, with changes to minimum stay requirements."
• "Charging a heavy premium for travellers who book departures after Oct. 30," which is the last available date in discounter Southwest Airlines' current schedule.

Check out Seaney's blog for more info.

-- Scott Nishimura

AA $20 fare increase dead; demand faltering?

American Airlines just informed us that it pulled its $20 fare hike that it implemented on Friday. Graeme Wallace of FareCompare.com says that Delta and United also rolled back fares, following Continental's lead.

Wallace wonders whether the pullback is a sign that demand is softening. It's the first failed increase since March, he said, could be an indicator that the airlines are seeing slower bookings along with the softening economy.

American spokesman Tim Wagner said that fares were reset for competitive reasons.

"Airline customers are very price sensitive," he said. "We could not afford to be at a price disadvantage to other airlines that had not raised fares."

- Trebor Banstetter

Making sense of United's flight cuts...

Rick Seaney of farecompare.com has done some data-crunching on United Airlines' flight cuts, trying to get a handle on how they'll affect various routes.

"It is important to note that retiring these aircraft doesn't imply that the cities and routes listed will lose service," Seaney say in an email. "Rather, the question is what will replace these outgoing aircraft. Options include less flights, moving current aircraft from other routes, or brining in smaller aircraft (possibly via regional airline partners."

Here's a look at his report.

-- Scott Nishimura

Continental, US Airways, match United's fare hike

Continental Airlines and US Airways matched United's airfare hike of up to $60 "across the bulk of their respective route systems" late Friday, Rick Seaney of farecompare.com reports.

That leaves Northwest Airlines has the only one of the six major "legacy" carriers -- American, United, Delta, Continental, US Airways, and Northwest -- that isn't yet on board the fare increase.

"Northwest typically has matched on Saturday nights in several of the weekend increase attempts this year," Seaney said in an email message. "I expect them to match similiarly this weekend."

Alaska Airlines also joined its major competitors Friday night, increasing airfares between $30 and $60, Seaney said.

United's is the airline industry's 16th attempt thus far this year to raise fares. Only four have failed.

-- Scott Nishimura

Airlines continue to match Delta's fare hike

Continental Airlines, Northwest and US Airways have matched the airline industry's latest attempts to hike fares, this one a $10-$40 roundtrip raise initiated by Delta Air Lines, Rick Seaney of farecompare.com reports this morning.

But at the same time, Delta has now trimmed back its $10 fare hike on about 4,000 city pairs, leaving the $40 increase on 10,000 pairs, Seaney said.

"A quick check of this partial rollback shows that it doesn't seem to overlay low-cost airlines nor is it mileage-based," Seaney said. "This mini rollback does not represent enough city pairs to make a significant overall difference."

-- Scott Nishimura

Major carriers match United's airfare hike

The major airlines have all matched -- to varying degrees -- United's airfare hike of up to $20 roundtrip, Rick Seaney of farecompare.com reports.

US Airways, Continental, and American matched only at the $20 level. Delta Air Lines matched at the $10 and $20 levels. Northwest matched just after lunch, but Seaney didn't have an immediate report on to what extent.

"All matching was across their respective route systems, while continuing to tip-toe around low-cost airline routes and the very cheapest promotional leisure airfares flown by the fewest passengers," Seaney said in an email.

-- Scott Nishimura

Majors move to match United fare hike; whither AA?

Delta Air Lines, Continental, and US Airways have matched the $4-$30 roundtrip airfare increase launched by United Airlines Wednesday night, Rick Seaney of farecompare.com reports this morning.

That leaves American and Northwest Airlines as the only legacy carriers that haven't matched, although Northwest had a "smattering of what appears to be automated competitive matching," Seaney said.

Alaska Airlines ($12 on certain city pairs), Frontier Airlines ($8-$12 increase), and Midwest Airlines ($20 roundtrip increase) also matched to varying degrees.

"Northwest has been last to match in several of the increases this year so it is not surprising they have not made a move yet," Seaney said. "It will be interesting to see what American decides to do in the wake of this weeks PR nightmare."

He also noted, "again, I cannot stress enough that air travel consumers who have been on the fence about summer travel purchases lock in their tickets as soon as possible. If passengers buy now on American or Northwest they will likely save 5-15 percent on their purchase."

-- Scott Nishimura

Delta rolls back $10 fuel surcharge

Delta Air Lines rolled back its $10 roundtrip fuel surcharge this weekend, Rick Seaney, of farecompare.com reports today.

Only United Airlines, which successrfully launched a roundtrip fare increase of up to $50 a week before, matched Delta's $10 hike. So Delta rolled it back Friday and Saturday night, Seaney said.

"It is likely that sometime today, United will also roll back the ($10) fuel surcharge increase to remain competitive," Seaney said. "For the moment, I am going to call this Delta-initiated increase unsuccessful."

The airlines have thus far attempted nine airfare increases this year, and six have been successful, Seaney said.

-- Scott Nishimura