Sales on Air Fares Widen

U.S. airlines launched a short-term fare sale Thursday for leisure travelers only days after announcing discounts for business passengers, with both sales aimed at luring anxious consumers back to air travel.

Delta Air Lines Inc. sparked the latest sale by cutting advance-purchase coach fares up to 50% on some routes worldwide. The offer was matched by UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Northwest Airlines Corp., AMR Corp.’s American Airlines and others.

The offers are good for domestic travel until Dec. 15 and for international travel into early next year. But consumers will have to act fast because the special fares must be purchased no later than Monday. Certain dates around the Thanksgiving holiday are blacked out, and there are a variety of other restrictions.

For example, United said a one-way ticket from Los Angeles to either New York or Chicago will cost $149, and Delta said its flight from Los Angeles to Nagoya, Japan, will drop to $224. (All the sale fares require a round-trip purchase.) The airlines also are offering an extra 10% savings for reservations made on their Internet sites.

The carriers already have announced cuts of up to 50% from their unrestricted, or walk-up, tickets bought mostly by business travelers, who generate most of the airlines’ income.