Sky Talk

AA pilots: Fuel price not the issue

The Allied Pilots Association recently came across a 1932 ad for a "coast-to-coast" airline ticket on American Airways, the predecessor to American Airlines. The price: $155 each way.

The union said it found a fare for the same trip on Travelocity for $146 this week. And that, they said in an email to pilots, demonstrates that "the problem (with the airlines) isn’t fuel costs, or labor costs, or any other cost -- it’s the continuing devaluation of ticket prices as the price of everything else increases."

In fact, they said, adjusting for inflation, that 1932 ticket would cost $2,475 at today's prices.

The union says it reinforces their position that there is plenty of opportunity to increase fares to offset higher fuel prices as well as increased wages and benefits for pilots.

That argument has largely been rejected by airline management, who counter that despite steady fare increases over the past two years, revenues are still outstripped by the rising fuel costs. And low-cost rivals like Southwest (which is partially shielded from high fuel prices thanks to hedging contracts) make it impossible to raise fares enough to compensate, they say.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue, the ad itself is fascinating.

- Trebor Banstetter

Parsons: Fares to Europe up 53 percent

Travel maharishi Tom Parsons of BestFares.com says this afternoon that fall and winter fares to Europe are up an average of 53 percent, thanks primarily to fuel surcharges.

"This week, we saw Delta, American, Northwest and United raise their fuel surcharges to most cities in Europe, except in England and Germany, from $330 to $350 roundtrip," he said in an email. "The fuel surcharge to London from Midwest and East Coast cities is now $302 round trip, and cities west of Dallas are now a whopping $426 round trip."

Destinations in England, including London, saw fares jump 31 percent, he said.

From D/FW, he found these increases for fall fares:

• London, 39 percent
• Paris, 15 percent
• Rome, 13 percent
• Amsterdam, 16 percent
• Madrid, 19 percent

And here are some winter increases from D/FW:

• London, 51 percent
• Paris, 11 percent
• Rome, 23 percent
• Amsterdam, 34 percent
• Madrid, 23 percent

- Trebor Banstetter

Fares up in first quarter

In a not-too-surprising report issued this morning, the Bureau  of Transportation Statistics says that average fares were up 4.4 percent during the first quarter compared to a year earlier. The average domestic fare was $332, compared to $318 in the first quarter of 2007.

It's the highest average fare for the period since the first quarter of 2001, when ticket prices hit $348.

Dallas Love Field had the second-lowest fares in the nation, at $210. The most expensive market was Cincinnati, where fares averaged $535. The cheapest city was Atlantic City, N.J., which had an average ticket price of $109.

Dallas/Fort Worth Airport had an average fare of $383 during the quarter, which ranked 23rd in the nation.

Interestingly, several smaller Texas airports - including Love - have seen the steepest increases in average first-quarter prices since the BTS began collecting the data in 1995. Love saw fares jump from $73 in 1995 to $210 today. Lubbock, Houston Hobby and El Paso all saw big increases. The only non-Texas airport in the top five was Las Vegas.

- Trebor Banstetter

All aboard latest fare hike

US Airways was the final major carrier to match the 21st attempted fare increase of 2008, says FareCompare.com, and as of this morning the hike appears to be holding steady.

Keep reading for the full report from Rick Seaney of FareCompare.

- Trebor Banstetter

Fare hike "successful" - unless you're a consumer

Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com has officially declared the 20th fare increase of 2008 a success, with all six of the largest carriers having raised round-trip prices $40 on at least two-thirds of their routes.

He added that the term "success," of course, only applies if you're an airline. For travelers, these fare hikes have been adding up fast.

"I dare say consumers don’t like the term 'success' when it comes to airfare hikes, but reality for many travelers is starting to set in," he says via email. "In one short year the entire aviation industry has been turned upside down and consumers have entered into a brave new world of both shopping for and consuming air travel."

"Legacy airlines have thrown caution to the wind in the face of rising fuel costs and have implemented what can only be described as a grand experiment, hiking airfares, cutting back flights, increasing current fees, instituting new fees, delaying new international routes and watering down loyalty programs," he continued. "The big question is 'Will the experiment work?'"

- Trebor Banstetter

More fare hikes

American and Continental have joined in the latest round of fare increases, according to FareCompare.com, both adding $20 to $40 round-trip. U.S. Airways and Northwest are still on the fence.

- Trebor Banstetter

Airlines roll out 20th fare increase of 2008

Airlines raised fares for the 20th time this year Thursday, and it was a rare move in that it was led by Southwest Airlines. The discounter raised round-trip prices $10 to $20 based on the distance of the route, on trips starting Nov. 8, says FareCompare.com.

United and Delta also raised fares later in the day, with United hiking round-trip prices $20 to $40 and Delta increasing fares $20 to $30.

"Savvy travelers should start shopping now for holiday travel and lock in prices," said Rick Seaney, FareCompare's CEO. "Airline ticket prices are not likely to come down much except for travel on off peak days of the week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday."

Seaney pointed out that Southwest's fare hike coincided with capacity cuts that have been announced by most major airlines. He suspects that the reduction will make the higher prices easier to sustain.

- Trebor Banstetter

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

The ultimate airline fee chart

The computer whizzes over at FareCompare.com spend all day poring over and analyzing airline fare data. Now they've also compiled what appears to be a pretty comprehensive breakdown of those fast-growing airline fees on everything from checked bags to sodas.

You can check it out here.

- Trebor Banstetter

D/FW fares up 48 percent

We had a story in Sunday's Star-Telegram looking at fares from D/FW. Not too surprisingly, they're up significantly over the past year.

Our online version of the story is here, or you can just keep reading this blog post for the full text.

- Trebor Banstetter