First fare hike of summer from American, Delta


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J

Jessica Labrencis

    Some airlines may be fighting back against

    reports

    of lower domestic fares for summer travel.

    Delta

    and

    American

    each raised fares for most domestic routes by $5 each way on Friday. So far, other airlines have not matched, though

    Northwest

    and

    United

    have said they are studying Delta's increase before announcing higher fares of their own.

    Fare hikes are often rolled back if other airlines fail to match them, but a

    Reuters

    report suggests increasing fuel costs will make this one different. In the report, JPMorgan analyst Jamie Baker

    says, "Given the continued rise in jet kero prices, we ascribe a greater-than-usual probability of competitive matching."

    If the $5 increase sticks, it won't apply to

    all

    domestic routes, particularly ones where Delta and American face competition from low-fare carriers such as

    Southwest

    . Low-fare airlines generally prefer to initiate their own fare increases rather than match those from other airlines.

    Whether this fare hike sticks or not remains to be seen, but you can bet airlines will try raising fares many more times this summer.