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United Announced A Chicago “Line In The Sand” Meant To Prevent New Flights — American Just Added Routes Anyway

by Gary Leff

Jan 22 2026

United’s CEO Scott Kirby went out of his way on the earnings call to “draw a line in the sand” in Chicago—promising United will add flights to match any American expansion at O’Hare. The point of saying it publicly wasn’t bravado. It was deterrence: to signal to American (and to analysts) that new Chicago capacity will be met in kind, making growth less attractive for both airlines.

American’s response came fast anyway, announcing new routes from O’Hare—turning Kirby’s game-theory warning into an immediate test of whether this becomes a real fare war or a negotiation by headline.

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American Airlines CEO: We Don’t Match Low Fares, Will Charge People More Who Must Travel

by Gary Leff

american plane
May 09 2020

This past week American Airlines CEO Doug Parker hosted a Crew News question and answer session with employees. He’s been doing town hall-style employee chats since he was CEO at America West and this was the first one done virtually. Instead of live questions, he had an executive who framed ‘frequently asked questions’ from pilots, and separately from flight attendants.

In the flight attendant session Parker laid out American’s philosophy on pricing which is that they will match low fares in the market, but they will not lead discounting. And he explained they won’t even always match fares anyway – because the people who have been traveling recently are the ones who need to regardless of the fare.

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FARE ALERT: Several Cities – Even West Coast – to Europe From $263 Roundtrip

by Gary Leff

cityscape near canal
May 22 2018

Right now there’s the lowest fare available that I’ve seen between the West Coast and Europe in awhile. You can fly San Francisco to London for as little as $263 roundtrip. And it’s not even a basic economy fare, it’s on Icelandair which gives you an advance seat assignment, a carry on bag at no extra charge.

But that’s not all, fares between the US and Europe are available from a variety of cities and on several airlines, each with a Google Flights link that’ll pull up a sample itinerary at the current lowest fare:

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FARE ALERT: Various US Cities to Hawaii From $296 Roundtrip, Cheapest in 3 Years

by Gary Leff

Dec 21 2017

There’s a fare war to Hawaii. For instance $296 roundtrip fares between Los Angeles and Honolulu are the cheapest West Coast – Hawaii tickets in almost three years.

Great deals are available across myriad US cities to Hawaii. At this point Virgin America and Alaska, which started this with the $296 tickets, have been joined in by American, Delta and Hawaiian.

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FARE ALERT: US-Europe from $442 Roundtrip ($70 Fares Each Way!)

by Gary Leff

Jun 25 2016

Here’s another phenomenal aifare sale: US – Europe from $442 roundtrip and available to several different cities!

Don’t be fooled, it’s not Brexit-related, it’s another in a continuation of incredible deals we’ve seen to Europe. Each one is short-lived, from a few hours to a few days, but these seem to keep on coming as airlines go after each other, as there’s too much capacity on European routes, and as we’ve seen low cost competition across the Atlantic from the likes of Norwegian.

Unlike the amazing $550 Asia fares which are being offered by United out of their own hubs, these are more traditional ‘fare war’-style offerings by Delta out of American Airlines hubs.

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