toning machine

ARLINGTON, Texas, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines raised its leisure fares by $10 roundtrip Thursday afternoon, says Tom Parsons, CEO of Bestfares.com, a discount travel website. The Delta fare hike gave the green light for American Airlines, United Airlines and Continental Airlines to quickly match the leisure fare hike overnight, says Parsons. None of the carriers raised business walk-up fares in this latest fare hike. As of 10 a.m. Eastern today, Northwest Airlines also matched the fare hike. Last week United Airlines, now exiting bankruptcy after three years, raised both leisure and business walk-up airfares $10 roundtrip system wide. Delta, American, Continental and Northwest Airlines quickly matched the fare hike. The only major airline not to follow Uniteds increase last weekend was the newly merged American West/U.S. Airways. This prompted American to be the first major airline to back down from the $10 airfare increase on Sunday, Jan. 15, notes Parsons. As of this morning, last weeks fare hike spoiler, U.S. Airways, had yet to match the latest leisure airfare hike initiated by Delta. "Last year we saw at least 12 successful airfare increases by the major airlines," says Parsons. "In 2004 we saw a dozen fare hike attempts, and they all failed because Northwest Airlines refused to match. "This year, the first fare hike attempt failed because the new U.S. Airways elected not to match. The question becomes, has the torch of the fare hike spoiler been passed to U.S. Airways?" asks Parsons. "If U.S. Airways fails to match this Delta $10 fare increase by Sunday, there will be a 90 percent chance that the other major airlines will be forced to back down again and roll back their fare hikes," says Parsons. Bestfares.coms Tom Parsons, one of the most sought-after travel industry experts in the United States, has been chasing down hidden travel bargains and bringing them to the traveling public for 20 years. Parsons regularly appears on NBCs Today Show, ABCs Good Morning America, CBSs The Early Show, CNN, Fox and MSNBC. To schedule an interview with Parsons about airfare news, contact the Media Relations department at 800-576-8255, or by e-mail at media@bestfares.com .