This morning in the 10:00am and 12:30pm EST domestic U.S. airfare distributions the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant system wide increase matching activity by several airlines. At 10:00am EST the following matching activity occurred:

• Delta Air Lines - full match of the increase
• American Airlines - partial match (15%) the $5 one-way increase ($10 roundtrip)
• Continental Airlines - partial match (10%) the $5 one-way increase ($10 roundtrip) for leisure airfares only (those with advance purchase of 14 days or more)

At 12:30 EST the following matching activity occurred:

• American Airlines - full match of the increase
• Northwest Airlines - partial match (15% and $5 each-way only)
• US Airways - partial match (15%)

The next airfare distribution occurs at 8:00pm EST this weekend there are airfare distributions at 5:00pm EST each day.

Based on past experience — I expect full matches from the legacy airlines by the end of the weekend, even though Continental, Northwest and US Airways have only slightly matched at this point.

Airfares are a bit schizophrenic at the moment with a variety of winter airfare sales going on (especially on the off peak travel days Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday) and the continuation of 2007 relentless system wide price increases related to the rise in fuel costs, reduced seat supply and stable demand.

I would not be surprised to see a few more increases this quarter as the airlines test out new highs in airline ticket prices (our active tracking began 40+ months ago) previous highs occurred in the summer of 2006.

In 2007 FareCompare.com documented a record 17 successful out of 23 attempted system wide airfare increases (full detail at this link).

Background and supporting information is posted for a rather gloomy 2008 airfare forecast and a chart showing jet fuel price history for the past 8 years .