Airlines Hiking Holiday Airfares
FareCompare.com, an influential airfare monitoring service, reports an unusually large number of domestic U.S. city pairs with an increase of up to $16 roundtrip –a hike initiated by American Airlines. FareCompare.com says Continental and Southwest started matching AA, quickly followed by Delta/Northwest, United and US Airways.
FareCompare.com says American Airlines confirmed the mileage based domestic airfare increase at the following levels: zero to 450 miles - $3 one way/$6 roundtrip; 451 to 750 miles - $5 one way/$10 roundtrip; and 751+ miles - $8 one way/$16 roundtrip.
FareCompare.com alerted consumers on September 24 that American Airlines initiated (with all legacy airlines matching in the following days) a “Peak Travel Surcharge” ($10 each-way) to a majority of routes for departures on three very specific days: Sunday after Thanksgiving (November 29) and for January 2 and 3.
Over the past few days the FareCompare.com system noted several rule changes which show an additional ten days have been added with a $10 each way surcharge (13 total) for peak travel dates spanning from Nov. 29, 2009 to May 28, 2010.
Most carriers have matched the Peak Travel Surcharge, so many travelers can expect to pay extra when flying for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and Memorial Day (see dates above), FareCompare.com concluded.
