$40 Surcharge if You're Flying Home for Thanksgiving or Christmas

Delta, American, United, and US Airways have recently added $20 o/w surcharges for flights during peak holiday travel this year.

I have not bought my tickets to LAX yet for Christmas, so this is disappointing news. At the same time, airfare remains reasonable and sometimes downright cheap (look no further than the $105 r/t deal a few posts down). I also realize airlines cannot sustain rock-bottom Economy Class prices when so many travelers have stopped purchasing Business and First Class fares. I don’t know what is in store for U.S. airlines next year, but it seems to me that discounted Economy fares are going to have to keep rising if airlines are going to survive.

But while Coach fares may go up, it seems to me that Premium fares should do down. Yes, some have no trouble dropping $25K for a First Class r/t from LAX to Sydney on United, but might they sell all 12 seats if the fare was only $8K r/t? Or what about $1,000 for a non-refundable First Class domestic transcon r/t rather than $3,000? Better than me upgrading on $200 L-fare, no? I don’t purport to be an expert in pricing and inventory management, but it seems to me airlines like United or Delta might make more money by lowering the price of their premium fares while gradually raising Economy fares.

Article here.