Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 7, 1993 TAG: 9312070098
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: by Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The sale, offering discounts up to 30 percent, was the second since October for the holiday period and signaled that some airlines still had plenty of empty seats despite earlier discounts.
Passengers have until Friday to take advantage of the discounts that apply to trips from Dec. 13 to Jan. 5. Tickets must be bought seven days in advance. Another sale, begun last week, offers discounts of up to 35 percent for trips from Jan. 6 through March 31 and gives customers until Friday to buy tickets.
"This should do a good job filling seats that are otherwise empty between extremely busy travel days," said William Berry, spokesman for Delta Air Lines.
Marty Heires of American Airlines said its holiday bookings had been strong, but the carrier would match the sale prices to remain competitive.
Airlines historically cut fares during winter when travel is typically slack and sometimes hold more than one sale for the holiday period.
The latest sale was begun by Northwest, which also initiated the holiday-travel discounting in late October. As has become an industry practice, the airline announced the sale when other airlines' executive offices were closed.
Northwest announced the sale Sunday and entered the new prices in its computerized ticketing-reservations system, while competitors couldn't get the discounts logged until Monday. The advantage is coveted by Northwest.
Some of the most popular Christmas and New Year's travel days - Dec. 22, 23 and Jan. 2 - aren't included. The biggest discounts are for Dec. 13-15, 19, 20, 24, 25 and 31.
Other airlines, including United and Delta, matched the fares on routes where they compete with Northwest. American applied the prices to its entire domestic system. USAir, Continental and TWA also cut fares to match Northwest.
by CNB