pinniped

Airlines are unfortunately showing some discipline on supply. High fuel costs have probably forced their hand...in previous post-recessionary periods, they'd rapidly add seats and compete aggressively for share of market. This time, everybody's being a little more conservative. So as the economy grows and overall demand grows, the leisure travelers are gradually squeezed off the plane. The airlines don't need to sell those $99 transcons to fill seats anymore.

In the domestic U.S. market, I think the shift in Southwest's corporate strategy has affected all other airlines as well. Following the past two U.S. recessions, WN was in hardcore growth mode - adding cities, adding flights, aggressively competing on price. Their rate of growth coming out of the '08-'09 recession was far slower, plus they'd established themselves as a national player with pricing power of their own. (Check their fares these days...they frequently command a premium over the legacies.)

Anyway, I don't notice higher fares specifically on US. Across the board, the cheap leisure fares are mostly gone. The walk-up fares are up sharply because WN has risen their Anytime fares so much, allowing legacies to follow them in a ton of markets. The midrange fares I tend to use for business travel actually haven't been too bad...maybe I've been lucky.