Fare Flying Weather

Don’t expect it to last, but Californians can enjoy for now the air-fare war touched off recently when American Airlines instituted new discount prices of as low as $29 one way between Ontario airport and Northern California destinations. Other major lines have rushed to join the fare-cutting contest.

American also set the trend for a $98 seven-day advance purchase round-trip fare from Los Angeles International, Burbank and Orange County to San Francisco or San Jose. There also is a $118 price for a ticket bought the day before. Those who travel on the spur of the moment, however, still will face the regular unrestricted round-trip fare of $296. And there was no sign of any change in the $378 unrestricted round-trip fare between Los Angeles and Sacramento.

California frequent flyers who remember the years of fare wars between California-based lines, primarily Pacific Southwest and Air California, have groused for months about the fare escalations in the wake of mergers that absorbed all the home state carriers. Many businesses have responded by cutting back on travel between the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas or substituting telecommunications for face-to-face business dealings.

To some observers, the complaints and weakening demand touched off the fare reductions. But the real trigger may have been the decision of Southwest Airlines to enter the Southland-Bay Area sweepstakes with an introductory $49 unrestricted one-way fare and $29 one-way restricted fare between Ontario and Oakland.

The fare cuts probably will last just as long as the major lines determine how many new customers they have been able to attract and assess how much of a threat is posed by Southwest. For now, the Southwest addition is a welcome challenge to what had too quickly become a comfortable situation for the big lines and a costly one for travelers.