MINNEAPOLIS – Delta Air Lines has been using AI to help set the price of some tickets. “A super analyst” working “24 hours a day, 7 days a week” to optimize airfares is how Delta president Glen Hauenstein described its AI initiative to investors. In late 2024, Delta was using AI on about 1 percent of fares; by the end of 2025 it’s aiming for 20 percent.

The most common reaction has been outrage. Democratic Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego—a potential 2028 presidential contender—encapsulated this view, calling it “predatory pricing” and vowing he “won’t let them get away with this.”

Dynamic airfare pricing isn’t new. It’s as old as the modern aviation industry. And though dynamic pricing super-powered by AI could introduce new confusion and complications, it could help lower flight costs further.

See related story: American Airlines’ CEO Just Said What Everyone Was Already Thinking About Delta’s AI Pricing Plan

The history of dynamic airfare pricing

Prior to the late 1970s, airfare had a mandated price: typically 6 cents per mile flown. But after deregulation, airlines were permitted to charge whatever they wanted, and flight prices plummeted. Today, airfare costs half of what it did in the 1970s, making travel a reality for much of society—over half of Americans now fly every year—rather than a hobby exclusively for the wealthy.

Fifty years ago, flight prices were one-size-fits-all. Thirty years ago, flight prices changed by the week. A decade ago, flight prices changed by the day. Today, airfare is near all-time lows, yet it’s the most volatile purchase that consumers regularly make. As airfare shifted from standardized to dynamic pricing, prices went down but confusion went up.

I remember watching a flight once from Atlanta to Amsterdam. When I searched on Monday, prices were $800 roundtrip. When I searched again on Tuesday, prices had dropped to $300 roundtrip. By Wednesday, prices were up to $1,300 roundtrip. This is for the exact same flight on the exact same travel dates. The idea of a standard “what it costs to fly” somewhere is a thing of the past.

Next time you’re on a flight, ask the person sitting next to you what they paid. You won’t be surprised to hear a very different price than you paid, even as the two of you are having the exact same travel experience. On a flight with 200 passengers, it wouldn’t be unusual for them to have paid 150 different prices.

Tensions turbocharged by AI

Do people like the confusion of dynamic flight prices? Of course not. Do people like cheap flights? Yes. And that is the inherent tension of airfare today—a tension that AI could turbocharge.

The remaining question is this: Will AI push Delta’s fares up or down?

The price of some flights are likely to go up as a result of AI. However, I am skeptical that this will be the case for all—or even most—fares. Airlines can’t just increase prices at their leisure for the same reason McDonald’s can’t charge $30 for a chicken sandwich; customers will flock to their competitors. If Delta’s charging $200 more than United for a flight to Chicago, who will book Delta?

Still, without transparency and regulation into its AI-powered pricing model, Delta holds the cards here and is incentivized to prioritize maximizing revenue. If AI wasn’t generating more revenue, Delta wouldn’t be using it. And as Hauenstein noted to investors, its AI foray has been producing “amazingly favorable” results.’

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