Some feel pinch of American fares from St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- Charles Montgomery recently priced a last-minute round trip to Chicago. American Airline's fare was $250 from St. Louis; at the Southwest Airlines counter, the walk-up fare was $80.

He said Southwest's seating was tighter for passengers. "But I'll grin and bear it instead of flying American."

Passengers, travel agents and industry watchers said some St. Louis travelers were paying more to fly American Airlines since Nov. 1, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in a Sunday story.

That's when American, after gradually cutting back in the city over the last two years, began a major reduction in jobs and flights as part of an effort to reduce annual costs by $4 billion.

The airline began flying to 68 destinations instead of 95 from St. Louis. Three-fourths of American flights from Lambert are now AmericanConnections, which will use smaller regional jets. Travelers are seeing more layovers after nonstop service to 27 cities was cut.

Kevin Kelley used to fly American Airlines round trip from Indianapolis to St. Louis with a ticket as low as $99. These days, he says the same walk-up fare on the airline is as high as $650.

Up by $200

Some of American's cheapest fares from St. Louis to New York, Boston and Washington have increased by $200.

"Get used to it," said fares expert Terry Trippler of Cheapseats.com. "The glory days of that huge hub in St. Louis are over. You're going to be changing planes more often, have fewer choices and higher fares."

American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said the airline has made an adjustment to its pricing, but that doesn't necessarily mean a price increase.

American eliminated its lowest fares to nine of the 68 cities where the airline or its regional affiliates have St. Louis connections. The company didn't identify all the cities.

Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., American Airlines' parent company, is working to make St. Louis flights profitable.

But some travelers are feeling the changes. Before Nov. 1, the lowest 14-day advance fare from St. Louis to Boston not requiring a Saturday stay was $260.

Last week, American's lowest comparable fare was $474.

"We didn't raise the fare," Fagan said. "We just took away the lowest fare.

"We made an adjustment to our pricing, I'm not denying that. But it's not a price increase."

Travel agents say many of American's posted fares are unchanged. But that doesn't mean the fares passengers pay will be unchanged.

Industry experts said more telling than posted fares are the average fares that people have actually paid. That information would aid consumers because there are literally thousands of different fares. Passengers sitting next to each other on the same flight can have tickets with prices that vary by hundreds of dollars.

American won't disclose the average fares customers pay on routes. Fagan said that information is proprietary.