- Major airlines are racing to implement AI-driven 'surveillance pricing' that analyzes millions of personal data points to set individualized ticket prices.
- The system aims to find each customer's maximum willingness to pay, which critics say eliminates bargain fares and harms consumers.
- Airlines claim surveillance pricing can also reduce prices on low-demand routes, using AI to adjust fares in real time based on factors like competitor updates, search behavior, and weather.
- AI bots like Fetcherr replace human analysts and rigid fare tiers, enabling instant price adjustments to extract maximum revenue from every passenger.
- Concerns grow over privacy as AI could cross-reference loyalty data with external sources like income and spending habits, leading to regulatory scrutiny in the US.