Delta sparks airline fare hike

In the first domestic airfare hike of 2012, six major U.S. airlines increased round-trip fares by $20 on long-haul routes, in what industry analysts expect will be the first of several price hikes this year.

Airlines typically do not announce across-the-board price increases, but fare watchers monitor the changes. This round of price hikes was initiated by Delta Air Lines on Wednesday afternoon, said Rick Seaney, founder of the travel website Farecompare, whose software spotted the increase.

The increase was matched that evening by low-cost airlines Frontier and Southwest airlines and Southwest subsidiary AirTran Airways, he said. American, United and Continental airlines and US Airways matched the increase Thursday morning.

Seaney said airlines probably raised prices to offset higher fuel prices.

“They think prices should be higher,” he said. “Unfortunately for them, consumers push back.”

Delta confirmed that it raised prices on flights longer than 1,500 miles but declined to comment further.

Airline price hikes often fail when competing airlines refuse to match the increase, in order to win a pricing edge. An airline that initiates a price hike will typically rescind it if competitors don’t match it.

In 2011, Seaney said, airlines attempted 22 price hikes but only nine were matched by all the nation’s major network air carriers. “I think we can expect, every couple of weeks, for them to try to raise prices,” he said.

Earlier this month, several major U.S. airlines added $3 surcharges on flights between Europe and the U.S. in response to a European emissions plan that will tax airlines if their emissions exceed new limits.