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I have been closely analyzing airfares for over 5 years and 2007 was by far the most active year for airline system wide airfare increase attempts in this time frame. 2006 had previously held the record with approximately a dozen attempted airfare increases — which for the most part were “successful” (assuming you are an airline and not a a passenger …). The highest airline ticket prices FareCompare.com has tracked in our 42+ months of daily price history occurred previously in the summer of 2006. The end of 2007 saw airline ticket prices crest slightly over those summer 2006 highs and 2007 saw a whopping 23 attempted airfare increases (including 11 in the last 4 months of 2007) … |
Of these 23 attempted airfare increases in 2007, 17 were “successful” - meaning that after an attempted airfare increase by a particular airline, all the legacy airlines matched the increase in subsequent days and substantially maintained the airfare increase for over a week.
The time line for the increases is shown below including the date of attempted increase, the initiating airline, amount of attempted increase and whether or not the increase was “successful”:
11-Jan-07- United Airlines, - $10rt - Not Successful19-Jan-07- United Airlines, - $10rt - Not Successful01-Feb-07- Delta Air Lines, - $10rt - Not Successful10-Feb-07- Southwest Airlines, - $10rt - Successful22-Mar-07- Delta Airlines, - $10rt - Successful03-May-07- Continental Airlines, - $10rt - Not Successful10-May-07- Delta Air Lines, - $10rt - Successful14-May-07- Continental Airlines, - $10rt - Successful04-Jun-07- AirTran Airways, - $10rt & $20rt - Successful21-Jun-07- Delta Air Lines, - $10rt - Successful29-Jun-07- United Airlines, - $10rt - Successful05-Jul-07- Southwest Airlines, - $6rt, $10rt & 20rt - Successful31-Aug-07- Southwest Airlines, - $6rt, $10rt & 20rt - Successful06-Sep-07- Delta Air Lines, - $10rt - Successful14-Sep-07- United Airlines, - $6rt - Successful12-Oct-07- American Airlines, - $10rt - Successful17-Oct-07- United Airlines, - $10rt & $20rt - Successful26-Oct-07- Continental Airlines, - $10rt - Successful31-Oct-07- American Airlines, - $20rt - Successful08-Nov-07- United Airlines, - $10rt - Successful20-Nov-07- US Airways, - $10rt - Not Successful26-Nov-07- Delta Air Lines, - $20rt - Not Successful20-Dec-07- United Airlines, - $10rt - Successful
With oil slipping over the $100/barrel mark today and legacy airlines continuing to drastically reduce capacity — consumers should brace themselves for continued airfare hikes in 2008.
For those of us who love to fly on the cheap — the “art of finding a deal” is going to be even more important for 2008 as air travel deals will be fewer and farther between…
Do you know where I can find information on the total fare increase in the past year? I want to include all of the taxes, fees and surcharges that are raising the total price? For example I was just looking at an airfare of $600 USD but with all of their taxes and fees it was now almost $1200 - almost double. Thank you.
Comment by Coleen Komo — May 13, 2008 @ 1:47 am