Alaska, Frontier cut fares By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY Putting United Airlines under renewed airfare pressure in the West, two=20 airlines have dramatically slashed and simplified unrestricted fares to try= =20 to stimulate business travel. =B7 Alaska Airlines announced Thursday that it's slashing its highest= =20 fares =97 both the unrestricted walk-up and three-day advance-purchase=20 tickets favored by business travelers =97 by up to 50%. A three-day=20 advance-purchase fare between Boston and Seattle that used to be $1,678=20 round trip is now $998. Anchorage-Chicago was $2,146 round trip and is now= =20 $1,148. Alaska and its regional airline subsidiary, Horizon, serve 84= cities. =B7 Frontier Airlines said Wednesday that it will cut unrestricted=20 fares to no more than $998 round trip to any of the 37 domestic cities it=20 serves from its Denver hub. The new fares cut the highest business fares up= =20 to 45%. An unrestricted Denver-to-Los Angeles fare previously ranged from $716 to=20 $1,390 round trip. Now, the fare will be from $238 to $998 round=20 trip. Frontier now will have six fare types, down from as many as=20 15. "It's a response to the prolonged economic downturn," says Frontier=20 Vice President Elise Eberwein. "It's worth trying to do some things that=20 are creative and different." Eberwein says the fare moves are unrelated to business fare cuts last month= =20 by United, which has Denver as one of its hubs. Likewise, Alaska officials= =20 say their fare cuts were not a response to United or Frontier. "With the=20 big drop in business travel, we're trying to bring some of them back," says= =20 Alaska spokesman Jack Walsh. United, which is in bankruptcy reorganization,= =20 cut unrestricted, fully refundable business fares by up to 40% last month=20 on many routes out of Denver and Chicago O'Hare. United spokesman Chris Brathwaite says the new fares have been "extremely=20 successful" but won't comment on Alaska's and Frontier's moves. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribscape.com/tamnakthai/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************