Airlines, including Delta Air Lines, are testing artificial intelligence in pricing, sparking concerns among travelers. A startup called Fetcherr, which works with several carriers, has created a complex pricing program that uses machine learning to adjust prices on the fly.
The program, described in a white paper, takes a relatively simple pricing structure and adds more fare classes with rapidly changing prices. This makes it difficult for travelers to plan ahead or compare prices over time. According to Fetcherr’s CEO, Uri Yerushalmi, the complex pricing structures are so advanced that they “go beyond human cognitive limits.”
The move has raised concerns among consumer rights advocates and frequent flyers who already struggle with the current opaque pricing system. As one startup executive notes, this could be the “exploitation phase” of AI in travel pricing, where airlines take advantage of travelers’ limited understanding of complex pricing structures to charge more.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-04/how-ai-can-raise-airline-ticket-prices