Airline ticket prices slashed

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — People waiting to fly on the cheap got their chance Thursday as airlines began deeply discounting tickets to help rebuild passenger loads that have been down sharply since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Delta Air Lines, the nation’s third largest carrier, kicked off the global fare sale. No. 4 Northwest Airlines quickly matched, as did No. 1 United Airlines and No. 2 American Airlines.

Terry Trippler, airline expert with OneTravel.com, said it appeared all of the major airlines had matched the fares by afternoon.

"This is the clearance sale. There are some people who will never travel at any price, and there are some people who have a price at which they will travel. For many people, not all of them, this is the price that will get them to travel," Trippler said.

Northwest, for example, was offering round trips between New York and Los Angeles for $279, Minneapolis-Boston for $251 and Detroit-Dallas for $251. Delta’s round-trip prices included New York-Mexico City for $200, Atlanta-Zurich for $342 and Chicago-Honolulu for $398.

The new sales came as Northwest said the number of passengers flying on its planes dropped nearly 34 percent in September from a year ago as a result of the hijackings.

The biggest drop was in domestic service. For the month, less than 59 percent of Northwest seats were filled on planes flying between U.S. cities, but that included about two weeks when Northwest had reduced its flight schedule by 20 percent. In September 2000, flying a full schedule, Northwest’s planes on U.S. routes were nearly 71 percent full.

Northwest’s traffic decline was in line with what other major carriers have reported in the wake of the attacks, which have forced more than 100,000 job cuts at the airlines and in related industries.

Spokesman Bill Mellon said he did not know how full planes need to be before Northwest begins adding back flights and recalling employees who have been laid off since Sept. 11. Northwest announced plans to cut nearly 10,000 jobs after the attacks.

Meanwhile, for the fare sale announced Thursday, tickets must be purchased by Monday for domestic travel through Dec. 15. International fares are good for travel through March 15 on Northwest. On Delta, the end date for international travel ranges from March 14 to May 13, depending on the destination. Holiday blackouts apply.

Customers who book online save an extra 10 percent.

For members of its frequent-flier program, Northwest also is giving double miles for all flights designated as Northwest flights, including those operated by its airline partners, and has reduced by 25 percent to 15,000 the number of miles needed for a free roundtrip ticket within the 48 contiguous states and Canada.

One travel professional questioned the wisdom of slashing prices in a down economy.

"We think the danger of the price war is, how does that help airlines become financially solvent?" said Doug Cody, spokesman for Carlson Cos., which counts travel agencies, hotels, resorts, restaurants and cruise ships among its operations.