Late Friday evening and over the weekend the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted significant system wide activity related to the United Airlines attempted increase late last Thursday evening. During increase attempts airfare price activity is very volatile as airlines settle in on the “right mix” of airline ticket increases for their particular competitive situation:

This weekend was no exception as legacy airlines finished up matching the increase and then began some minor rollback activity. None of the rollback activity drastically changed the “stickiness” of the increase - the increase remains in place as of late Sunday evening.

A quick rundown of airlines comparing Thursday evening (start of the increase by United) and Sunday evening (the last airfare distribution) shows the following:

• American Airlines pulled back slightly over the weekend with the $10 & $20 roundtrip increase remaining on the bulk of their route system
• Alaska Airlines has significantly matched only the $10 roundtrip increase
• Continental Airlines matched the increase on the bulk of its route system for both $10 & $20 roundtrip
• Delta Air Lines pulled back slightly over the weekend with the $10 & $20 roundtrip increase remaining on the bulk of their route system
• AirTran Airways continues to hold with a $10 roundtrip increase only
• Northwest Airlines matched both the $10 & $20 roundtrip increase on the bulk of their route system
• United Airlines pulled back slightly over the weekend with the $10 & $20 roundtrip increase remaining on the bulk of their route system
• US Airways continued to match both the $10 & $20 roundtrip increase which is now in place on the bulk of their route system
• Midwest Airlines now has a $20 roundtrip increase on most of it’s route system as of late Thursday

Airlines continue to have off-peak sales (mostly for travel on Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday) — while increasing airfares for business travelers and those who travel at the most “convenient” times.

A strategy of lower closely yielded off-peak pricing and legacy airline capacity reductions coupled with increases on the bulk of travelers who travel at more “convenient” times looks to be leaving some headroom for continued increases in the first quarter. I would not be surprised to see a few more increases in the coming weeks if fuel prices stay at their current level.