Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Management, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, AMR Corp (AMR), UAL Corp (UAUA), Oil, Delta Air Lines (DAL)

In reaction to surging fuel costs, several major airlines announced this day that they were raising their fares in order to recoup some of their rapidly increasing flying costs.

The increase this time around is $20 and effects passengers traveling on UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA), Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL), and AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR)’s American Airlines. The $20 jump in prices will be added to the airline’s fuel surcharges, and consequently, these charges are now running at $130 round trip on most flights that you will book through the airlines.

The current rate hike was first initiated by Delta, and marks the second time in just over a week that the airline has been forced to raise fares in order to combat record high fuel costs. Times are definitely tough for airlines, and they’re doing everything they can to combat fuel prices, but regardless of the rate increases most analysts are still anticipating to see huge losses this year from most, if not all, airline carriers.

The airlines are definitely in a tough situation right now. They’re being forced to raise their rates to cover their costs, but at some point you’ve to assume that passengers are going to cut back on flying in reaction to the rising costs, and this would really put a crunch on the carriers that are already struggling to keep their heads above water.

With oil prices continuing to trade at record high levels, do not be surprised if you see more rate hikes coming in the months to come. Definitely a tough year for travelers: whether you’re driving to your vacation spots or flying, the costs just keep on rising.

How do you think current fuel prices will impact your travel plans for the summer? Will you continue to take your vacations as normal, or scale things back a bit in reaction to the rising costs?

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the on the web investment advisory service Investor’s Observer.

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Filed under: Internet, Utilities, Productivity, Web services, web 2.0

That popular Unix and Linux text editor known as Vi is now the proud brother of an on the web clone that should run in most javascript enabled browsers. It’s called jsvi, and now you can write your own programs and HTML code from anywhere!

Such remote locations include but are not limited to:

• your local library
• the web cafe down the street from work
• your aunt’s home
• those weird McDonald’s locations with internet computers inside
• the boss’ laptop
• Russia

On a more serious note, the Vi simulator works with almost all the traditional keys and substitution commands, and you can copy/paste from the clipboard. It also includes a built-in spell checker for those long-night moments when you’ve stared a word for too long and can no longer remember how to spell it. Does that happen to other people, or is it just us?

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Filed under: Other issues, Products and services, Consumer experience, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Marketing and advertising

Yuck! If there’s one drink I really dislike it’s Dr. Pepper, and yet the company has managed to pick up market share against its largest rivals the past few years. Still, investors are concerned and shares of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (NYSE: DPS) received a lukewarm welcome when they began trading this day (Wednesday) on the New York Stock Exchange. The company was spun off from under former owner Cadbury Schweppes.

The company has many other brands other than Dr. Pepper and the splashy Snapple, including 7UP, Canada Dry, Schweppes, Mott’s, Sunkist and RC Cola. Last year the company’s sales totaled $5.7 billion.

No doubt, though, Dr. Pepper will now face the stiff competition from Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), both of which are much larger and have wider portfolios, all on its own. With rising commodity costs, competing against such larger rivals isn’t going to be a picnic.

To add to investors’ concerns, the company hasn’t issued any near-term earnings guidance, making many would-be buyers sit on the sidelines until the now-third-largest beverage company in the U.S. — with its 15% market share — has a quarter or two of financial results behind it. Despite giving longer term goals of increasing annual revenue by 3-5% and EPS by 7-9%, it seems that, with the current economic climate, investors want to see actual results before they dive in.

Also, it’s no secret that with consumers getting more and more health-conscious, U.S. sales of traditional carbonated soft drinks have fallen in the last few years. The company will to have to adjust and extend its portfolio appropriately if it wants to survive. That, combined with a softening economy and rising costs can only entice me to hold off on this particular stock… at least for now.

DPS shares completed the day up 45 cents, or 1.8%, to $25.50.

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