Strange days: in the midst of some really good holiday airfare sales, comes the news of another significant airfare increase – the 8th airfare increase since Labor Day weekend. The latest price hike is from United, which upped its fares by $10-roundtrip.

This comes on the heels of sabre-rattling by the airline in response to skyrocketing fuel prices; earlier this week, United execs threatened to ground some of their fleet.

What does this 8th increase in a row mean for the average passenger? Well, many of them are now paying up to $60 or more roundtrip than they paid in early September.

Within a short 70-day time span this fall, we have seen more “sticky” increases than the whole of last year (2006). The timeline of the 8-increases is noted below (all increases were matched by all legacy airlines and sustained with more than 50% “stickiness”):

1. 31-Aug Southwest Initiates 10$ and 20$ (long haul) roundtrip increase over labor day weekend
2. 6-Sep Delta Initiates 10$ roundtrip increase
3. 14-Sep United Initiates a 6$ roundtrip increase
4. 12-Oct American initiates $10 roundtrip increase
5. 17-Oct United initiates $10 and 20$ (long haul) roundtrip increase
6. 26-Oct Continental initiates $10 roundtrip increase
7. 31-Oct American initiates $20 roundtrip increase (short and long haul)
8. 8-Nov United initiates $10 roundtrip increase