Airlines back down
on fare hike

United Airlines, American Airlines and Northwest Airlines reversed a $10 to $20 fare increase on round-trip U.S. flights started by United last week, halting a series of seven ticket price boosts this year.

United, the world's second-largest airline, cut its leisure fares yesterday after AMR Corp.'s American, the world's largest carrier, and Northwest reversed increases yesterday, according to Terry Trippler, who monitors fares for CheapSeats.com., a unit of RCG Cos.

Continental Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. also reversed the increase. Delta Air Lines Inc. still has the higher fares, Trippler said.

"Looks like this latest fare increase is not going to make it," Trippler said in a report yesterday.

Major U.S. airlines have been raising prices since January, saying that increases would help cover higher jet-fuel costs. In those instances, all the major airlines went along with the increases. When some carriers roll higher prices back, competitors usually follow suit to remain competitive. The five biggest U.S. airlines have posted more than $30 billion in losses since 2000, partly because of increased competition from discount airlines such as Southwest Airlines Co. The price changes come at a time when the Air Transport Association, the industry's trade group, expects U.S. summer passenger traffic to increase by 4.1 percent over last year.

The price increase varied depending on the length of the flight, Trippler said. Northwest had matched some of United's higher fares and implemented its own increase on others, then cut both back.