Three airlines raise domestic fares

Three major airlines raised U.S. domestic fares to offset soaring fuel costs, increasing the price of round-trip tickets by $10.

Continental Airlines Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines increased most fare types on most routes in the continental U.S., the airlines said.

The fare hike, which was initiated by Continental, marked the sixth increase since the Labor Day weekend, which typically represents the end of the busy summer travel season.

“This number of increases in such a short time period shows that the legacy airlines are feeling pretty good about having the proper mix of domestic supply and demand as the holiday buying season winds down and do not want fuel prices to derail their recent financial successes,” said Rick Seaney, chief executive of fare tracker website FareCompare.com.

The recent spate of fare increases has been largely successful as rival carriers have broadly matched the moves.

U.S. crude oil futures roared to record highs Friday, climbing above $92 a barrel, on the weak dollar and supply concerns.