June 4, 2008

DALLAS (AP) -- If you're taking a nonstop flight to summer vacation, better pony up a lot more money or start unpacking.

In many cases, major carriers have more than doubled or even tripled their cheapest U.S. fares from last summer's fares. That's on top of the new fees for checking luggage and other services.

Tom Parsons, chief executive of the discount travel site Bestfares.com, looked at the lowest fares for nonstop travel in July -- the kind of tickets that usually must be bought long in advance and therefore appeal mostly to vacationers, not business travelers.

Parsons said where major carriers offer nonstop flights and low-fare competitors offer only one-stop service, fares are up to 365 percent higher than a year ago.

Parsons said Delta's lowest Atlanta-Tampa nonstop round trip starts at $392 for the week of July 22nd, compared with $148 last year.

Parsons said low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines Company offer only one-stop or slower service.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)