Well it was bound to happen sooner or later and somebody had to be the first one to make the move. Lil' Ol Southwest Airlines triggered a massive air fare war on Friday (January 23, 2009) by announcing super-cheap seats to almost everywhere it flies for travel before March 11, 2009. As the Associated Press points out, its competitors swiftly followed suit, with American Airlines, Continental, JetBlue, and Delta slashing their own prices to match Southwest's fares, which start at $49 to $99 each way. Even U.S. Airways, the company that leads the pack and normally wouldn't budge on prices, jumped into the bargain blitz as well. We're thinking that the airline executives who lowered their prices did so reluctantly, and are probably a little miffed at Southwest for forcing their hands to do so. Nonetheless, with both business and leisure travel declining along with the economy, they must have figured out it will take some serious savings to keep people flying through this recession. Hopefully this will work out. Of course, pain for the airlines equals opportunities for everyone else, so we're definitely going to scan the schedules to see if we can afford to fly someplace warm for a little late-winter get-away to recharge our batteries.