Photo Credit: Delta Air Lines aims to use AI for up to 20% of its fares by the end of 2025, a plan that has raised concerns. Wikimedia Commons / formulanone
Delta says it’s not using AI to set fares for individual travelers, but the criticism hasn’t gone away.
Here are three of the most popular questions our answer engine Ask Skift 2.0 fielded recently.
Delta Air Lines said during its most recent earnings call that it plans to use AI to price up to 20% of domestic fares by the end of the year. The backlash was swift. The concern is that Delta could leverage personal information — everything from browsing history and income to a personal crisis — to charge one passenger more than another.
Senator Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, called Delta’s use of AI for airfares “predatory pricing.”
Former Federal Trade Commissioner Lina Khan said on a podcast that using AI to set airfares could lead airlines to exploit personal circumstances to maximize revenue. One hypot
The article discusses three top questions in the travel industry: the controversy surrounding Delta Air Lines’ proposed use of AI in airfare pricing and concerns over personalized and potentially predatory pricing, trends in loyalty programs such as the rise of subscription models and increased use of AI for personalization, and the global outlook for travel demand, with leisure travel expected to continue outpacing business travel through 2025—especially driven by growth in emerging markets like India and China—while business travel spending recovers but still lags behind pre-pandemic levels after adjusting for inflation.
Consider subscribing for access to our insights and breaking news. See the latest airline headlines.
Already a subscriber? Login
