Last night, Delta (along with Northwest) initiated a domestic airfare hike of $10 roundtrip, across the bulk of its U.S. routes – the third attempt at a hike in the past six weeks – and, remember, the last two hikes were successful.

We’ll know for sure if this one is by Monday, but other carriers are jumping on this bandwagon.

Here is the latest:

• Delta, Southwest, Alaska, Midwest, Frontier have joined in the $10 roundtrip increase across the bulk of their route systems
• US Airways is doing selective matching
• United Airlines is dabbling in some limited matching
• American and Continental remain on the sidelines for now

Keep reading – there’s actually a glimmer of good news, coming up.

These latest hikes do not include international airfare, so if you were planning a trip to Europe, there’s still time to save. Plus, the new hikes will not affect the recent late summer/fall sale initiated by Southwest (and widely copied).

And please note: The Southwest increase of $5 one-way was on mid- to long-haul routes, with an increase of $2 one-way on short haul routes.

I suspect this hike has a very good chance of surviving, and here’s why: I have never seen an airfare hike fail in the past four years when Southwest Airlines was in the mix.