Beleaguered American Airlines, still coping with thousands of flight cancellations, said Friday that it would raise fares by as much as $30 on round-trip tickets to help offset rising fuel costs.
The move came the same day American canceled almost 600 more flights as it continued to inspect its MD-80 jetliners for compliance with federal safety rules. The airline hoped to wrap up the work today, ending a week of cancellations. The disruptions are expected to cost it more than $30 million.
Also on Friday, discount carrier Frontier Airlines filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Court protection after its credit card processor began withholding a larger chunk of receipts from ticket sales.
Frontier said it would keep flying, but its bankruptcy filing is another indication of the financial strain affecting the industry and its customers.
Three other U.S. airlines filed for bankruptcy in the last month and ceased operations.
Oil prices, safety concerns and a weakening economy have beset airlines for months. At the same time, passengers have been forced to cope with higher fares, more-crowded planes and unexpected chaos in the nation's airports.
"There's a lot of tension at the airports these days," said Dean Headley, a professor at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan., and co-author of the annual Airline Quality Rating. "You sense something between panic, terror and frustration."
American is the last major carrier to match fare hikes by rivals United Airlines and Southwest Airlines, meaning the price increases are likely to stick. Although it comes at a touchy time for American, which scrubbed more than 3,000 flights this week because of the safety inspections, one fare expert downplayed the effect on the embattled carrier's image with travelers.
"They've had so much bad press over the last 72 hours that this is just a pimple," said Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares.com. "They can deal with this."
Passengers at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday confirmed that view.
"I don't think it's a very good PR move," said Mercedes Arner, 42, a product analyst from Chicago.
But Arner, whose flight home on American was canceled Thursday morning, said she understood the move. "It's part of doing business," she said, adding that the increase wouldn't cause her to fly less. "I'm going to be on a flight Monday morning for work. On American, actually."
