Big Airlines Join ‘Mini Fare War,’ Cut Ticket Prices : Travel: Tiny Midway Airlines of Chicago fired the first volley in an apparent effort to fill seats during a slow period. United, TWA, Delta and Northwest have followed suit.

Many major airlines Wednesday cut their fares for the first part of the year in what some observers say is the start of a mini fare war designed to fill empty seats during the traditionally slow winter season.

The reductions are aimed at the leisure traveler who is able to make plans well in advance. Fares for cities in the Sun Belt--where travel is always busy in the winter--were excepted. They include Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.

Generally, the tickets must be purchased by Jan. 31 and travel must be completed by March 6. Tickets must be purchased 14 days in advance and 24 hours after reservations have been made. The fares are non-refundable and require a Saturday night stay. The reductions apply on a round-trip basis only.

The fare action apparently was triggered Tuesday by tiny Chicago-based Midway Airlines. It had announced one-way fares ranging from $19 to $99 on its 50-city system. Midway cut its Chicago-Los Angeles round-trip fare to $198 from $318. United Airlines, Trans World Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines all took similar action.

Trans World Airlines, for example, said late Wednesday that its fares would be reduced on about 80% of its 85 domestic destinations. The ticket prices will vary according to the mileage flown and the days on which travel takes place.

“We have initiated a sale similar to one which which we instituted last August and which was very successful,” said Don Morrison, a TWA spokesman.

TWA, for example, said the lowest round-trip fares for travel Tuesday through Friday will start at $178 for flights up to 1,000 miles, $238 for flights of up to 2,000 miles and $278 for flights over 2,000 miles.

Round-trip fares between New York City and Los Angeles would drop to $278 from $398. Tickets between Chicago and Los Angeles would be $238 from $338.

United said its new round-trip fares for flights of up to 1,000 miles would be $198 for peak periods and $178 for off-peak times. Peak times are Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. For flights of 1,000 to 2,000 miles, fares will range from $238 to $258. For flights longer than 2,000, the fares will be $278 and $318.

United said it was reducing its fares to compete with direct-mail promotions by other carriers, including coupons that can be redeemed for air travel at fares “well below prevailing levels.”

“The reductions are significant because they encompass a lot of East-West routes and that is a major portion of travel in the United States,” said Timothy Pettee, an airline analyst with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, a New York broker. “If not many people take advantage of the fares then the airlines will begin to drop their restrictions, and if the restrictions fall, there could be a damaging fare war.”

But John W. Mattis, airline analyst with Shearson Lehman Hutton, another New York brokerage, said he doesn’t think that the reductions are all that important.

“It is nothing more than a seasonal mini fare war which tends to occur every year at this time,” he said. “It is an effort to fill empty seats in a slow season. I also wonder how many seats they will devote to the lower fares and how they compare with similar reductions which were instituted last year at this time.”

Separately Wednesday, Trump Shuttle told travel agents that it was raising fares to $119 one way from $99 on weekdays and to $79 from $69 on weekends, agents said. Trump Shuttle officials couldn’t be reached for comment. But Pan Am Corp. spokeswoman Pamela Hanlon said that firm’s shuttle service, which competes with Trump’s, was matching the increase, effective Jan. 3. The shuttles link New York with Boston and Washington.