American Initiates Yet Another Fare Increase

Seven fare hikes so far in 2011, and we’re only in the third month of the year. That will be the tally if the rest of the airline industry adopts the fare increase initiated by American on Thursday morning.

American has raised fares by $10 round-trip on U.S. routes, according to The Arizona Republic. For a price jump like this to have staying power—and a major impact on travelers—other airlines have to match the fee on their own routes. Will it happen?

The Associated Press reports that Delta is “studying the move but had not matched American yet.” Meanwhile, “JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways said they had not raised prices. United, Continental and Southwest did not immediately comment on their plans.”

Also of note is that American’s fare jump raises round-trip prices by up to $21 on Hawaii and Canada routes. As someone who has been meaning to book a flight to Canada, this is definitely the kick in the pants I needed to get buying. Especially after reading that Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com suggested that we could see “weekly hike attempts of at least $10 round-trip through the end of April as we did in 2008,” the last time oil prices rose this much.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments. In the meantime, is this changing your travel game plan for the coming months?