American Initiates Yet Another Fare Increase

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: The Trtl Pillow. It's easy to pack and comfortable, and makes it so I can actually sleep on flights.

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: Seeing the Aurora Borealis from the comfort of somewhere warm, like a glass igloo or hot spring.

Travel Motto: Curiosity is an amazing compass.

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: Aisle all the way.

Email Christine Sarkis at editor@smartertravel.com.

See recent posts by Christine Sarkis

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 5 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 6 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 92

Notice: Undefined offset: 4 in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 98

Notice: Undefined index: pass_through_args in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 158

Notice: Undefined index: wrapper in /nas/content/live/stagingstmllc/wp-content/plugins/smartertravel-shared/includes/ads/includes/api.php on line 159

Seven fare hikes so far in 2011, and we’re only in the third month of the year. That will be the tally if the rest of the airline industry adopts the fare increase initiated by American on Thursday morning.

American has raised fares by $10 round-trip on U.S. routes, according to The Arizona Republic. For a price jump like this to have staying power—and a major impact on travelers—other airlines have to match the fee on their own routes. Will it happen?

The Associated Press reports that Delta is “studying the move but had not matched American yet.” Meanwhile, “JetBlue Airways and AirTran Airways said they had not raised prices. United, Continental and Southwest did not immediately comment on their plans.”

Also of note is that American’s fare jump raises round-trip prices by up to $21 on Hawaii and Canada routes. As someone who has been meaning to book a flight to Canada, this is definitely the kick in the pants I needed to get buying. Especially after reading that Rick Seaney of FareCompare.com suggested that we could see “weekly hike attempts of at least $10 round-trip through the end of April as we did in 2008,” the last time oil prices rose this much.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments. In the meantime, is this changing your travel game plan for the coming months?

We hand-pick everything we recommend and select items through testing and reviews. Some products are sent to us free of charge with no incentive to offer a favorable review. We offer our unbiased opinions and do not accept compensation to review products. All items are in stock and prices are accurate at the time of publication. If you buy something through our links, we may earn a commission.