Reports: Delta cutting fares up to 60%

Kristen Wyatt

Monday, Jan. 3, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.

ATLANTA -- Delta Air Lines Inc. will slash fares by as much as 60 percent in a bid by the struggling carrier to lure back fliers, according to published reports. Its shares were up about 2 percent in midday trading today.

Delta wouldn't confirm or refute a report in Time magazine that it plans to replicate nationwide its fare-cutting plan that it began testing last August in Cincinnati when domestic flight fares were capped at $499 for economy seats and $599 for first-class seats.

The magazine and The Wall Street Journal, both citing unnamed sources, said the nation's third-biggest airline would roll out a new, simpler pricing structure and eliminate some unpopular requirements, such as Saturday-stay rules. The airline also plans to cut ticket-change fees from $100 to $50, Time said. International flights will reportedly be unaffected.

Asked about the reports, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Delta, Benet Wilson, said today, "We have not announced any changes in the fare structure and we do not make public statements about fare structures before they are made public."

But at least one travel agent noticed a change early today. Jean Pickard, owner of Explorations Travel in Atlanta, booked a business flight from Atlanta to Richmond, Va., for a client who regularly pays $607 for the flight because she doesn't want to stay over Saturday night. Monday the same flight cost $270.

"I said, 'I don't know what they're doing.' She said, 'I don't either, but I like it!' " Pickard said.

Pickard said Delta needed to do something to woo customers -- "There's a lot of people they'd frankly ticked off in the past few years" -- and thought the changes would cascade down to all legacy carriers.

"I think everyone's going to have to match it," she said.