AC

Bill Catlette has a new rule of thumb for his business trips. If the destination is 500 miles away or less, he'll hop behind the wheel instead of fly. Recently, Catlette, a business consultant, drove even farther, when he found out a round-trip flight from Memphis to Jacksonville would cost $900 for a seat in coach. "They're totally putting the squeeze on us," Catlette, who regularly flies out of Memphis, says of Delta, the city's dominant airline. "It's not that I like driving that much, but at some point, it's nuts. At least I don't have to take my shoes off."' Fares were up this year, from facilities such as Memphis International Airport to Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson to Boston's Logan. Don't expect them to drop any time soon. The volatile price of jet fuel, multiple airline mergers that have winnowed competition and a determination by carriers to not offer more seats than there are passengers to fill them have let airlines boost prices and their bottom lines. "While nobody...