Who can figure airline pricing methods?
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The Associated Press reports today that Delta is adding a $10 to $40 round trip fuel surcharge. Northwest and US Airways say they are studying Delta's move. Last Friday, Northwest was the last of the big carriers to agree to a 3-to-5 percent price increase first announced by United.
Every few days, it seems, there's another story of an airline increase so if you haven't looked at a while, perhaps you're steeling yourself for sticker shock.
But it doesn't always work out that way.
A month ago, I wrote that fares were expected to go up when ATA announced it was ending its Minneapolis to Chicago (Midway) run. The Northwest fare to Midway almost doubled -- from $114 roundtrip to $210 roundtrip -- once the ATA competition disappeared.
However, at the time, Northwest was charging $384 for a roundtrip flight to O'Hare. Today, even after all the news reports of price increases, a roundtrip ticket to O'Hare is half of what it was a month ago ($193).
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