Northwest Airlines has raised
its prices by about 3 percent on most everyday leisure airfares, says Tom
Parsons, CEO of Bestfares.com, a discount travel Web site. This move by
Northwest gave the green light for the other major airlines to match this
fare hike quickly. Yesterday, Continental Airlines attempted to raise fuel surcharges on
domestic travel by $10 per roundtrip. This action was quickly matched by
both American and Delta. This was the sixth attempt since December 2003 to
raise airfares with a fuel surcharge.

In the previous six attempted hikes, Northwest, the No. 4 ranked US
airline had been the spoiler, electing not to go with any of the past
airfare or fuel surcharge increases. That forced Continental, Delta,
American, United and US Airways to roll back their hikes to remain
competitive with Northwest

US Airways, Delta and United have now matched this new 3 percent fare
hike, says Parsons. At the same time, Delta also rolled back its $5 fuel
surcharge increase. American and Continental should also match these new
fares by tomorrow.

“The major airlines should be dancing in the streets,” says Parsons. This
is the first fare hike that they have been able to push through since
February 2003. On many routes, airfares will increase much more than the
$10 fuel surcharge they had wished for. The airlines are happy. Consumers
will pay more.”

Bestfares.com’s Tom Parsons, one of the most sought-after travel industry
experts in the United States, has been chasing down hidden travel bargains
and bringing them to the traveling public for 20 years. Parsons regularly
appears on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’s The Early
Show, CNN, Fox and MSNBC.
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