Continental, other airlines cancel planned fare increase HOUSTON (AP) =97 After announcing they were raising fares by $20 per round= =20 trip to offset higher fuel prices, Continental Airlines and other carriers= =20 have backed off. Houston's Continental, the No. 5 U.S. carrier, began the=20 price hike Friday on all routes, but Northwest Airlines only matched the=20 hike on certain routes Saturday, and by Monday all the majors had abandoned= =20 the increase. Executives had said Continental spends more than $1 billion a= =20 year on fuel and the cost has been rising rapidly because of the run-up in= =20 crude oil prices. They are at their highest levels since October 2000.=20 After Continental's initial move, Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines= =20 followed along with Delta, United, US Airways, American Trans Air, Midwest= =20 Express and America West airlines. But Continental pulled back on the=20 increase because of the highly competitive air travel environment. The=20 airlines collectively have lost almost $15 billion during the past two=20 years. The latest rate hike attempt was major airlines' third during the=20 last 60 days, said Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares.com. Parsons=20 said a fare increase may only come when Northwest initiates it. He noted=20 that the airlines have never experienced such challenges, including their=20 current financial situations plus the combination of a potential war and=20 the sluggish economy. "I don't think any of the major airlines have faced=20 this many dilemmas in a single year," Parsons told the Houston Chronicle in= =20 Tuesday's editions. "They might be able to combat one, maybe two, but this= =20 has got to be a nightmare for the pricing people and yield management=20 people, and management itself." *************************************************** 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.trotters.net TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************