American, Northwest drop some fares 20% By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY An airfare slugfest between American and Northwest airlines is slashing=20 unrestricted coach and business-class fares by up to 20% on hundreds of=20 routes around the country. Although unrestricted fares are so high that few= =20 business travelers making last-minute trips buy them, experts say the=20 reductions could help revive the high-fare passenger segment for big=20 airlines. A sharp drop-off in those passengers beginning in early 2000 has= =20 caused losses for most of the big airlines. Some of those passengers are=20 buying far cheaper fares on discount carriers. Thom Nulty, president of=20 Navigant International, a big travel agency chain, says it's the broadest=20 reduction in business-oriented fares in about a decade. The fare war broke= =20 out Friday when Northwest matched 10% reductions that American had been=20 offering through some major corporate travel agencies. Further rounds=20 raised the discounts Tuesday to 20% on the unrestricted fares and 10% on=20 many three- and seven-day advance-purchase fares. Northwest, whose refusal= =20 to follow competitors' fare increases has forced rollbacks several times in= =20 the past year, again played the spoiler's role. This time, it forced=20 American to expand a discount to all travel agencies and customers. "American's approach looked like a surgical strike, and Northwest is trying= =20 to drop the atomic bomb," Nulty says. The airlines have cut fares on routes= =20 where they compete directly. The new unrestricted round-trip fare, before=20 taxes and fees, between Miami and Los Angeles was $1,896 Tuesday, down from= =20 $2,344 last week. Between Los Angeles and Greensboro, N.C., the round-trip= =20 fare became $1,704, down from $2,104. Other airlines were divided on how to= =20 respond. Delta and Continental say they are matching on selected routes.=20 United says it is monitoring the situation but had not matched the fares.=20 American spokesman Todd Burke says his airline occasionally offers special= =20 deals through selected travel agencies but that it felt compelled to match= =20 the fares through all channels after Northwest took its action. Business=20 fares were already under pressure. America West, American Trans Air and=20 National Airlines have dropped no-advance-purchase coach fares in recent=20 months, but most major airlines have resisted. The typical three-day or=20 unrestricted fare has been moving up since 1996. The American Express=20 airfare index showed the first drop in those fares =97 by more than a=20 percentage point =97 in March. "American's move was a step in the right=20 direction," says Andrew Winterton, vice president of American Express=20 Corporate Travel. "Anything that reduces these fares is good news for the=20 marketplace as a whole." The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TnT Medical Assn.) http://www.tntmedical.com/ (Trinidad & Tobago Medical Association) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************