Delta Air Lines (DAL) began with the increase on Monday on its premier class and last-minute fares, with hikes up to one hundred and twenty dollars for a round-trip ticket. Other major network airlines consequently matched it by hiking prices on first-class, business-class and seven-day advance-purchase tickets that can cost as much as nine hundred dollars for a domestic round trip.

After keeping parity with Delta's move initially, US Airways (LCC) thought otherwise and canceled the hike on Wednesday. Other carriers like American Airlines (AMR), Delta, United Airlines (UAL) and Continental Airlines followed the footprint of US Airways, as stated by Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare. com, which closely tracks fares.

Rick stated that he thought Delta’s increase was over ambitious. They're not only probing customers but also probing the appetites of other airlines. He further stated that people will see more probing in the coming days.

Airlines closely keep tracks of each other's fares and very often match any price movements, unless they lose sales to a cheaper competitor. Their attempts to increase fares frequently fail if competitors don't match them.

With the economy showing improvements and corporate travel departments increasing their budgets, airlines gets confidence to charge higher fares even as they keep their seating capacity in check.

The network airlines have made recent attempt to raise business travel fares which was their second in as many weeks. They've also increased fares more broadly which affected most of their seats and leisure travelers. It was in the tune of five times since December.

But the failure of airlines, seen in this week may be an indication of the tentative pace of the recovery of business travel, which declined along with the economy in 2008.