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Southwest Hikes Fares

Air fares are up again, and in some cases, a lot. KERA’s Bill Zeeble has some details.

Last week United tried raising fares, but they fell again after most competitors failed to boost prices.

Over the weekend, Southwest raised some ticket prices, and this time, competitors matched them. The Dallas based airline boosted fares up to $10 per round trip, according to FairCompare.com.

But Tom Parsons, with BestFares.com, says Southwest raised some fares much more, especially compared to several months ago. He says Dallas to Midland tickets are up at least 70 percent.

Parsons: When Southwest raises an airfare, the airlines match those by Southwest and Airtran with supersonic speed. They probably also dance in the streets because when Southwest takes it up 30-40 percent year over year, the airlines are not going to allow that NOT to be matched and they will raise those airfares.

Parsons calls some of these new ticket prices “dramatically” higher.

Parsons: We’ve not seen these kind of increases from Southwest probably ever when you look at the short haul markets.

Competitors are matching the price hikes.

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.