Delta Wants AI To Decide What You Personally Pay For Every Plane Ticket (fortune.com)
- Reference: 0178410190
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/18/1450246/delta-wants-ai-to-decide-what-you-personally-pay-for-every-plane-ticket
- Source link: https://fortune.com/2025/07/16/delta-moves-toward-eliminating-set-prices-in-favor-of-ai-that-determines-how-much-you-personally-will-pay-for-a-ticket/
The AI pricing pilot program, which has tripled in scope over nine months, has produced "amazingly favorable unit revenues," according to the airline.
You're not alone if you think the move is problematic. Consumer Watchdog analyst Justin Kloczko told Fortune that the airline is "basically hacking our brains," and Senator Ruben Gallego called Delta's practice "predatory pricing."
[1] https://fortune.com/2025/07/16/delta-moves-toward-eliminating-set-prices-in-favor-of-ai-that-determines-how-much-you-personally-will-pay-for-a-ticket/
Make whatever offer you want (Score:2)
Make whatever offer you want to, Delta; you're the ones who always remind me on the plane, "We know you have a choice." If this new pricing system isn't competitive, then it's not competitive.
Re: (Score:3)
That works until a third party is hired by all the airlines to give a pricing algorithm for a specific customer pool and routing so there is "your" price for flying, independent of which airline you try to use.
Might be good (Score:2)
I am actually optimistic about this. Airline predatory pricing has been around for quite some time, and this enormously greedy move looks like the straw that broke the camel's back if I've ever seen on. Avarice always ends up scouring itself in the end.
If this goes through I would expect a complete ban on "dynamic" pricing within two years, and possibly a ban on AI-determined pricing overall.
Go greed go!
Counterstrike (Score:2)
They say that airline is hacking our brains. But they are pretty much on the mercy of information we provide to them. So what happens if we feed them false information, pretending that we are not going to pay much.
Delta might want to (Score:3)
Delta might want to, but Delta can't decide what I pay for my plane ticket: I'm not flying Delta.
Finally!! (Score:1)
An actual and good use case for AI, if it actually works. About time!
Re: (Score:2)
You would hate that. Since forever business and first-class passengers have subsidized cheap airfare for the rest of us.
The ultimate goal, permanent willingness to pay (Score:2)
Willingness to pay is often a temporary artifact of a new product rollout at expensive prices early on, slowly lowering as time progresses and more units become available. Willingness to pay realized by when, how early, one chooses to buy.
Willingness to pay a permanent state? That's a friggin dream for businesses. It's like an auction with a base price for every sale. Every seat on the plane sort of an auction, except your bid is from their AI. Their AI somehow working out your willingness to pay. Totall
Just say no (Score:2)
It's pretty easy to beat this. Just stop buying from Delta. Unless you're ok with being charged more simply because their AI tracks your social media, analyzes your online buying habits and determines your a schmuck who's willing to pay more so they charge YOU more than the next person.
only in the USA (Score:4, Insightful)
this is illegal in most SANE parts of the world.
AI pricing (Score:2)
So the AI will figure out that I lost my job due to AI. Then the AI will offer me a lower price for a bad seat in the very back b/c it knows I can't afford anything more?
Re: (Score:1)
Haggagahahahahabbabahahaahahahahahahahg!
Airlines have used variable pricing for many years.