Second Airfare Hike Attempt of 2012 – Failure
UPDATE Jan. 19: The second attempted domestic airfare hike of 2012 is a failure. The attempt collapsed this morning as Delta Air Lines completely rolled back its $4-$10 increase.
It is unusual for a legacy airline not to have at least one other airline match a domestic hike attempt but none of Delta’s peers supported the increase, leaving the carrier out on a limb with uncompetitive pricing for two days.
Prediction: look for more domestic increase attempts in the coming days and weeks.
Jan. 17: A couple of hours ago, Delta Air Lines initiated the second domestic airfare hike attempt of the year with an increase of $4 to $10 roundtrip across the bulk of its U.S. route system.
See the First Airfare Hike of 2012
Back-to-Back Airfare Increase Attempts
This increase attempt follows a broadly successful hike initiated less than a week ago (Jan. 11) of up to $20 roundtrip which was also started by Delta.
Hear Rick Seaney and Anne McDermott talk about the airfare hike.
In addition to the hikes, we have seen significant domestic surcharge filing activity over the past few days as legacy airlines begin to layer on surcharges for peak travel days this spring and rolling into summer departures – and some of these surcharges are being filed at 10 percent of the base fare price for departures beginning late this summer.
The 22 Airfare Hikes of 2011 – And Who Started Them
Attention Airfare Shoppers
Further analysis will be forthcoming as we monitor some of the domestic airfare feed filings later today.
This should be a wake-up call for consumers who have yet to begin shopping for Spring Break trips. And, if last year is any indicator, this is likely to be one of several increase attempts in the coming months.
