United Airlines launches second fare hike in less than a month

United Airlines has initiated its second fare hike in less than a month, and several other carriers are beginning to match the increase.

United began to increase the price of domestic round-trip flights by $10 Tuesday, according to Rick Seaney, who keeps track of fare hikes through his travel website Farecompare.com.

By Thursday, he said, Delta, US Airways and American Airlines began increasing fares by the same amount on most of their domestic routes.

But so far, the biggest domestic carrier in the nation, Southwest Airlines, has yet to match the increase. In the past, major carriers that initiated fare hikes have revoked the increases if Southwest did not match them.

The latest fare hike is the eighth attempt in 2012. So far, four of those hikes have been matched by the nation’s largest carriers. The last hike was initiated by United on July 20 and was matched by all of the largest carriers, including Southwest.

ALSO:

Lower airfares expected soon

Airfares grow by 4.8% in first three months of 2012, report shows

United Airlines error sells Hong Kong flights cheap -- very cheap