Airlines Delay Pulling Plug on ‘Junk Fares’

Major U.S. airlines have put off for another week the elimination of a popular category of discount air fares, the so-called “junk fares” used by major business travelers.

The industrywide cuts had been scheduled to take place today. But officials of at least two airlines, United and American, said today they and others decided to extend the deadline to Nov. 22.

“Other carriers made that move and we simply matched it,” said Al Becker, a spokesman for Dallas-based American.

The fare changes involve the discontinuation of most three- to seven-day advance-purchase fares, a move that was initiated by Continental Airlines on Friday. Besides having the relatively short advance-purchase requirements, the so-called junk fares often did not require a traveler to stay at the destination on a Saturday night. They also were between 10% to 35% below full coach fare.