US investigates use of AI to personalize airline ticket prices

Airfare personalization is when airlines or ticketing platforms use each customer's personal information and search behavior to offer different prices for the same flight.

On August 5, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the department is concerned about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to personalize airfares, and pledged to investigate if any airline is found to be doing this.

Airfare personalization is understood as the use of personal information and search behavior of each customer by airlines or ticketing platforms to offer different prices for the same flight.

The statement comes after US airline Delta Air Lines told lawmakers last week that it does not and will not use AI to set fares for individual passengers.

Mr. Duffy affirmed that he would investigate and take strong measures if any airline was found to be trying to personalize ticket prices based on income or personal information.

Late last month, several Democratic senators expressed concern that Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines would use AI to set individual fares, which they said could “result in increased fares that exceed individual customers’ tolerance levels.”

Previously, Delta Air Lines said it plans to deploy AI-based revenue management technology across 20% of its domestic network in the US by the end of 2025, in partnership with Fetcherr - a company specializing in developing AI pricing solutions.

On its website, Fetcherr claims its technology is “trusted by the world’s leading airlines,” including Westjet (Canada) and Virgin Atlantic (UK).

Recently, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom warned that using AI to set ticket prices could undermine consumer trust.

Meanwhile, two Democratic congressmen have proposed a bill that would ban companies from using AI to set prices for goods or wages based on Americans' personal data, specifically prohibiting the practice of increasing airline ticket prices.

For its part, Delta Air Lines argued that the airline industry has used dynamic pricing for more than 30 years, in which ticket prices change based on market demand, fuel costs and competition, not based on individual passenger information./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/my-dieu-tra-viec-su-dung-ai-de-ca-nhan-hoa-gia-ve-may-bay-post1054051.vnp