Susan Campbell [6/23/25]

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PHOENIX (AZFamily) — How much are you actually willing to spend on your next flight? Delta Air Lines is testing artificial intelligence to set ticket prices, but some lawmakers are questioning how the technology is being used.

“Every business around the world, really, is trying to figure out how it can use AI to make their business better, more efficient, more cost effective, and airlines are no exception to all of that,” said Going’s Katy Nastro, a travel industry insider.

According to Delta, AI pricing technology is being tested on about 3% of domestic flights, with a goal of being utilized by 20% of the network by the end of the year. The technology is analyzing things like purchasing behavior, competitive offers, alternative services and customer demand.

“We’re in heavy testing phase. We like what we see. We like it a lot, and we’re continuing to roll it out,” Delta President Glen William Hauenstein said on a recent company earnings call. “But we’re going to take our time and make sure that the rollout is successful, as opposed to trying to rush it and risk that there are unwanted answers in there. So, the more data it has and the more cases we give it, the more it learns. And we’re really excited about it, and we’re really excited about partnering with Fetcherr.”

Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego is skeptical. In a letter to Delta CEO Ed Bastian this week, Sen. Gallego said he has concerns about potential privacy issues and more expensive airfare.

“Consumers have no way of knowing what data and personal information your company and Fetcherr plan to collect or how the AI algorithm will be trained. Prices could be dictated not by supply and demand, but by individual need,” wrote Gallego, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Sen. Mark Warner, also Democrats. The lawmakers demanded answers to a series of questions by Aug. 4.

According to Delta, all customers see the exact same fares. In a statement to On Your Side, Delta said “There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise. A variety of market forces drive the dynamic pricing model that’s been used in the global industry for decades, with new tech simply streamlining this process. Delta always complies with regulations around pricing and disclosures.”

Nastro says rising prices are certainly a possibility, but she says the flip side is also possible.

“It’s only going to go up if you are willing to pay or are hitting purchase,” she said. “If you’re not willing to hit purchase and you walk away from that specific carrier, well, if so many people walk away, that means that that carrier is going to have to respond to the market.”

It’s unclear how other airlines are leveraging AI technology in pricing.

“Domestic carriers haven’t come out and stated that they are using AI to the extent that Delta is so proudly forecasting,” Nastro said. “However, we have heard of international carriers, Lufthansa, Air France, Emirates, that have tried similar tactics. We don’t know for sure behind the curtain what’s going on, but we do know that airlines have played with AI pricing, and we do know domestic carriers are looking at ways to implement AI basically any way they can.”