This evening (Wednesday), in the 8pm EDT domestic airfare distribution, both Delta/Northwest and Continental simultaneously increased airfares on the bulk of their respective route systems by $10 roundtrip.

A quick check of both airlines’ hubs shows significant price structure changes with Continental deviating slightly with increases of $10 roundtrip on most routes and a smattering of hikes at the $6 and $4 roundtrip level.

If this hike sticks, it would be the 5th broad based airfare increase this year and the second in two weeks. Historically, the low cost airlines have not matched airfare hikes in back-to-back weeks, but we will keep an eye on them for possible matching activity - and note that both AirTran and Southwest have sales that were filed Monday and are set to expire tomorrow (Thursday).

At Wednesday’s Southwest Airlines media event, CEO Gary Kelly noted that Southwest will have a record load factor in October and that bookings were looking good for November and December - though he did voice concerns about oil prices cresting the $80 per barrel mark this week.

As for this latest airfare hike attempt - it should serve as a wakeup call for holiday procrastinators: the pendulum is swinging away from the consumer-friendly price points of the past year, and all who plan to fly during the holidays should be shopping now and buying holiday tickets promptly.

We will provide updates on any significant matching activity (or rollback activity) in the coming days.

Yesterday our proprietary airfare processing system detected an unusually large number of domestic U.S. city pairs with an increase of up to $16 roundtrip, a hike, initiated by American Airlines.

Continental and Southwest started matching late last night and hours ago Delta/Northwest, United and US Airways began matching — rounding out the legacy airlines

Most airfare hike attempts occur late in the week and either “stick” or “fizzle” over the weekend as carriers decide whether or not to match — it is unusual to see an airfare hike early in the week which is typically reserved for discounting and sales.

We contacted American Airlines about the airfare hike attempt and they confirmed the mileage based domestic airfare increase at the following levels:

• 0-450 miles - $3ow/$6rt
• 451-750 miles - $5ow/$10rt
• 751+ miles - $8ow/$16r

A spokesperson for Southwest Airlines further notes they have matched with at a lower level than the legacy airlines (with no increase on their cheapest “fun fares”): “Our advertised Fun Fares will not be increased. These
are modest increases varying by length of flight to help offset higher
fuel and other operating cost pressures. This is not a seasonal or
holiday fare increase, and we are not planning an increase for just
certain days of travel.” Here are how the Southwest increases break down:

• 0-450 miles - $2ow/$4rt
• 451-750 miles - $3ow/$6rt
• 751+ miles - $5ow/$10rt

This hike is layered on top a targeted peak holiday surcharge of $10 each way over the past two weeks and appears to be well on its way to “sticking” as the 4th increase of 2009 - all 4 occurring since June (compared to 15 total in 2008 and 17 in 2007).

Flying on peak travel dates (especially around the holidays) has been historically pricey. This year is no exception as airlines have recently showed us exactly which days they consider to be “special”.

FareCompare.com alerted consumers on September 24 that American Airlines initiated (with all legacy airlines matching in the following days) a “Peak Travel Surcharge” ($10 each-way) to a majority of routes for departures on three very specific days: Sunday after Thanksgiving (November 29) and for January 2 and 3.

Over the past few days the FareCompare.com proprietary airfare processing system noted several rule changes which show an additional ten days have been added with a $10 each way surcharge (13 total) as follows:

Peak Travel Surcharge Dates

• November 29 - November 30, 2009
• December 19, 2009
• December 26 - December 27, 2009
• January 2 - January 3, 2010
• March 14, 2010
• March 20 - March 21, 2010
• March 28, 2010
• April 11, 2010
• May 28, 2010

According to American Airlines, the carrier filed the surcharge on the initial three dates in late September, US Airways followed suit by filing the surcharge for six more dates, and then American added four additional departure dates, bringing the total to 13.

Most carriers have matched the Peak Travel Surcharge, so many travelers can expect to pay extra when flying for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and Memorial Day (see dates above).

FareCompare.com published its Holiday Travel 2009 Guide in mid September to help consumers find the cheapest days to travel around Thanksgiving and Christmas and continues to innovate with tools to ferret out the cheapest travel deals throughout the year on over 500 airlines worldwide.