Northwest fixes glitch in new effort to add $10 surcharge EAGAN, Minn. (AP) =97 Those who acted quickly saved $20 on their round-trip= =20 airline flights as Northwest Airlines experienced technical problems while= =20 trying to get its new fuel surcharge loaded into airline reservation=20 systems. Northwest spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said the surcharge was added to= =20 Sabre, the largest airline computer reservation system, on Thursday, but=20 the carrier wasn't able to get the surcharge added into other systems until= =20 shortly before 10:30 a.m. CT Friday. The Eagan-based carrier announced the= =20 $10 each-way fuel surcharge on all of its published discount fares=20 systemwide Thursday. Northwest, the No. 4 U.S. carrier, announced the=20 surcharge a few days after spoiling an effort by other major airlines to=20 raise fares by $20 per round trip to offset higher fuel prices. AMR Corp.,= =20 parent company of the world's biggest carrier, American Airlines, said late= =20 Thursday it would match the $10 charge. Continental, the No. 5 carrier,=20 said it had added a $10 fuel surcharge on flights beginning or ending at=20 one of its three hubs, Cleveland, Houston and Newark, N.J. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines said it would not match the increase.=20 Officials at Delta Air Lines, the third-largest carrier, did not return=20 calls seeking comment. Last Friday, Continental raised prices by $20 on all= =20 round-trip tickets, but Northwest matched that hike only on certain routes= =20 Saturday. By Monday all the major airlines had abandoned the increase.On=20 Tuesday, Northwest and most major airlines matched a $3 fuel fee imposed by= =20 American Trans Air on one-way tickets. The surcharge applies to Northwest's= =20 discounted business fares, including its BizFlex fares, and all of its=20 leisure fares, both domestic and international. The increase does not apply= =20 to its full coach, business and first class walk-up and domestic three-day= =20 advance purchase fares. The airlines collectively have lost almost $15 billion during the past two= =20 years and face even weaker demand this year because of the potential for=20 war in Iraq. The uncertainty over war has led to higher crude oil prices,=20 which have further crimped the carriers' feeble finances. *************************************************** 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.dbombo.net/muddyangels/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************