Airline Ticket Prices On The Rise

[jeffrey]

A fare increase by several major U.S. airlines will stick this time around, after a host of failed attempts over the past year, according to an analyst at JP Morgan.

Trying to offet soaring fuel costs, American Airlines Thursday raised its fare by $5 on one-way tickets, excluding high-end walk-up fares, structured leisure fares, and fares competitive with Southwest Airlines.

Last week, American spearheaded a similar increase, boosting fares in North America by as much as $10 on round-trip flights, which was matched by most U.S. airlines. With the latest fare hike, most low-end fares have increased $20 per round-trip in just the past week.

"For those that have routinely bemoaned the apparent lack of industry pricing power, it would appear that we may have reached an inflection point where legacy carriers are slowly regaining their pricing traction," JP Morgan analyst Jaime Baker wrote in a research note... [read more at usatoday.com]