Airlines on Verge of New Fare War : Travel: Several carriers revised rates and are offering savings to match Northwest’s recent companion discounts.

Flirting with another costly fare war, several airlines rolled out new discounts and revised old fares Wednesday in a series of moves that spread confusion among travel agents and consumers.

“It is by far the most unusual time I have ever seen,” said Thomas Nulty, president of Santa Ana-based Associated Travel Management. “It’s confusing, and I feel sorry for the customer trying to understand.”

Among the many changes in fares announced Wednesday:

* Delta Air Lines reduced its lowest discount fares in response to a Northwest Airlines promotion that cut prices for two or more people traveling together. Unlike Northwest, Delta’s discounts of up to 40% are available to all travelers. But the lower fares are available only on routes where Delta competes with Northwest and carry various other restrictions. Travel must also be completed by April 30 to qualify for the discount.

American Airlines--the nation’s largest carrier--said it would match the Delta discount.

* USAir reduced discount fares by 20% on all its routes, except to and from Florida, and cut prices for children traveling with adults. The child discount varies depending on the distance flown and the day of the week travel takes place.

“It’s a fare program with two separate sub-programs,” a USAir spokeswoman said.

* Northwest restricted the number of destinations available under its Take Along fares--which offer two or more people traveling together discounts of up to 40%--and actually raised some prices on some routes. The Minneapolis-based carrier appeared to be taking steps to prevent a widespread fare war, such as the one last summer that cost the industry millions in lost revenue.

“It was not our intent to start a fire sale,” said Northwest spokesman Jim Faulkner. But, “it is beginning to take on the dimensions of a fire sale. None of us can afford to see this happen.”

Faulkner said Northwest has not yet decided to extend its discounts to all travelers as Delta had done.

The complex set of discounts and the potential for a fire sale found travel agents wondering how to advise customers. At Uniglobe Regency Travel in Rancho Cucamonga, travel agents have told some customers to wait for fares to stabilize and some restrictions to drop.

“You could call each of the airlines’ reservation departments and they wouldn’t know what the heck is going on,” said Jim M. Roberts, president of Uniglobe. “It just makes our job harder.”