This is how Delta Airlines is using dynamic pricing with AI to fluctuate prices for customers
Dynamic pricing has become popular over recent times, with Delta Airlines the latest company to get involved.
In a move that aims to shake up the traditional approach to airline pricing, Delta Airlines is steering into new territory by using artificial intelligence to alter flight ticket prices for individual customers in real time.
The edge comes from a partnership with Israeli startup Fetcherr, which supplies a system acting as a nonstop “super‑analyst,” crunching massive amounts of data to determine the highest fare each traveler might be willing to pay.
In fact, the revolution has already been underway: It began quietly last year, when Delta deployed this AI-driven pricing for about 1 percent of its tickets. According to President Glen Hauenstein, after positive initial results, that scope has since tripled to 3 percent, with a goal of increasing the AI’s reach to 20 percent of domestic fares by the end of 2025.
What is AI dynamic pricing?
Simply put, the AI takes into account flight-specific variables like time, route, and competition, broad economic factors, and user‑specific behaviour (from browsing patterns to booking history). It then sets a unique price point in real time for that specific customer.
Delta insists that the system complies with pricing regulations, with strict controls to avoid discriminatory practices, with a spokesperson telling Futurism that “our fares are publicly filed and based solely on trip-related factors like advance purchase and cabin class, and we maintain strict safeguards to ensure compliance with federal law.” However, the article adds that “it remains unclear what exactly Delta is — or isn’t — doing to get an AI to determine the price of an airplane ticket," which has many raising red flags at the attempt to squeeze every penny out of customers.
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