AirTran Airways sees more opportunity to increase revenue from add-on fees it charges passengers.

AirTran Airways said Tuesday that it boosted the number of seats available on its flights in October by 7 percent, but passenger traffic only picked up 5.2 percent year-over-year.

Major U.S. airlines have launched a $10 round-trip domestic fare increase, marking the fifth industrywide fare hike in 2009 and possibly signaling new pricing power for airlines as they claw their way out of an economic downturn.

An airline consulting firm says U.S. air traffic will decline through next year before beginning a slow rebound.

Airlines shouldn't be too cheap when it comes to helping customers whose bags are lost.

Lengthy airline delays are twice as common now as in 1990 and will get worse as the economy recovers, according to a Brookings Institution report released Thursday.

The carriers offered fewer flights this summer than last, and they slashed prices to fill even that reduced supply of seats, according to August traffic reports released over the past week.

Airline passengers got to their destination on time a little more often in July. The Transportation Department said on Tuesday that 77.6 percent of airline flights arrived on time, up from 75.7 percent during the same month last year.

An industry trade group for U.S. Airlines forecast Monday that travel over the typically busy Labor Day holiday period will fall 3.5 percent this year compared with the same period in 2008.

Airline passengers will see fewer nonstop flights, less convenient travel options and possibly higher ticket prices and fees in the coming months as major carriers make big capacity cuts this fall season for the second year in a row.

Airline traffic fell again in June, providing another sign that most carriers are likely to report large financial losses for the second quarter.

As if charging $15 to check a bag weren't enough, two airlines are asking for $5 more beginning this summer if you pay at the check-in counter — a fee on top of a fee.

A rundown of baggage fees at major U.S. airlines:

More evidence Tuesday that a bad economy pushes passengers to the back of the plane, as a trade group reported that traffic in the high-end airline seats fell 22 percent in April.

Flights on U.S. airlines were on time more frequently in April than the month before and improved from a year earlier, according to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.