The airline, however, forecast that its profit would drop 43 percent, to 17 billion yen, this year because of rising fuel costs.

Agents say the airlines have dropped hints that they intend to cut commissions by as much as one-fourth.

Some airlines set fuel surcharges at the time but dropped them once the price fell again.

At many of those airports, the airlines have dropped dozens of flights.

An agent, for example, will issue a ticket to a client going to Florida, and the next day the airline drops the price.

Eliminating the Fare The other airlines have dropped the compassionate fare.

With losses running at $2.3 million a day in early October, the airline dropped one-quarter of its flights and idled some planes.

Other airlines that once had similar policies dropped them.

But he confirmed that it was a requirement that most airlines have been dropping with little fanfare.

At the same time, the airline is dropping first-class service systemwide; it had been dropped on trans-Atlantic routes two years ago.