With fuel costs at some of the highest rates in years, Continental Airlines raised airfares to the highest levels in history today.

This fare hike puts an increase of up to $40 on both standard Leisure and Business walk-up fares. Fares on flights of up to 500 miles have been increased by $20 roundtrip. Flights that are 500 to 1,000 miles will cost most consumers $30 more roundtrip, and flights over 1,000 miles roundtrip will be raised $40 roundtrip. Plus, as an added thorn in cost-conscious travelers' sides, Continental is still maintaining its fuel surcharge of $20 roundtrip, which the carrier introduced in January.

Lately when one or a few of the carriers has tried to raise fares, the others have not been following, but with the increase in fuel costs, many might follow Continental's lead this time around.

So far this weekend, only American Airlines and United have matched Continental’s fare hike. Pretty hard to justify a $60 fare hike coast to coast when other airlines like Southwest have added only an $8 fare hike to compensate for the rising prices of fuel. The $60 charge is almost 8 times more!

There is a good chance that with only American and Continental matching the hike that this attempted increase will fail if not matched by Sunday. So be careful this weekend if you are planning to book an airline ticket online or through the airlines, since as of today American, United, and Continental have the highest fares.

Well, here's the latest...

Today TWA, Delta, US Airways, and America West matched Continental Airlines' up to $40 roundtrip fare hike on both the standard 14- and 21-day advance purchase Leisure and no-advance walk up Business fares. As of this morning, Northwest Airlines, the fourth largest airline in the U.S., has failed to follow the other seven major carriers who increased their prices. Northwest has been the spoiler in many past fare-hike attempts including the failed attempt to raise airfares up to $30 roundtrip during the weekend of February 19. One for Northwest!

With Northwest holding out, this might force the other major airlines to roll back this weekend's fare hike. Monday is the big day when many travel agents return to work, giving the public the low down on who has the cheapest fares. Many of the above airlines cannot afford to nor will they permit Northwest to have any competitive edge. You could see several of the major airlines jump ship before those agents return to work, which will put pressure on the remaining airlines to dump their fare increases.

Let's see what happens next.

As of 3 p.m. today, Continental, America West, Delta and US Airways have all rolled back the fare hike put into place over the weekend to stay in step with Northwest, the major holdout.

As of this afternoon, American, United and TWA continue to offer the traveling public the highest fares.