United Continental has initiated a roundtrip domestic airfare hike of $10 across the bulk of its U.S. route systems, according to the airfare monitoring site FareCompare.com. It is unusual to see a domestic airfare hike initiated on Monday morning as historically the early part of the week has been reserved for domestic sales and the latter for price hikes (where typically weekend matching activity sets the tone for a hike’s success).

This increase attempt comes after a partial respite last week which followed on the heels of an unsuccessful attempt by American Airlines the week before to raise prices by a similar amount (March 9). It was a partial respite because legacy airlines successfully raised prices on trans-Canadian routes by $20 roundtrip last week. Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare, said that by his count this is the eighth attempted domestic hike of 2011 and if successful would be the seventh to succeed.

For consumers there was a bit of a bright spot last week during the partial lull as domestic airlines began slowly releasing some limited "cheaper" seat inventory for early summer departures. Compared to the last few years however, eager summer travelers will likely be searching for a "better bad deal" as cheap seats will be fewer and farther between. For more information, visit www.farecompare.com.