Tommy Obenchain
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Delta is Using AI To Price Your Ticket

Delta is Using AI To Price Your Ticket

That’s not the problem👇🏼

Tommy Obenchain
July 11, 2025

Friends,

On Delta’s most recent earnings call, there was a lot of major discussion during the Q&A. One point that caught my attention: AI is now determining the price of “many” of their fares. And by the end of the year, 1 in 5 tickets will be priced by machine.

In theory, that sounds efficient. In practice, it means this: if you’re shopping for a flight, Delta wants the price you see to be the maximum you’re willing to pay — not the lowest they can offer, and not what your neighbor just booked. Just the most they think you’ll still click “Buy.”

This isn’t new. Airlines have long used dynamic pricing, buckets, and predictive algorithms to fill seats and maximize yield. The difference now is the precision. The models are sharper. The inputs are richer. And the goal is the same: revenue.

To be clear, I don’t blame Delta. Or any airline. Running a global network profitably is incredibly hard, and this kind of tech gives them an edge. But as a traveler — I feel like we’re putting some of our smartest tools in service of making things worse for the passenger.

The reality is pricing in travel has long been exhausting. Fares that change by the hour. Seats that don’t come with seats. Basic economy that feels punitive. To many travelers, it feels like a game that constantly changes.

So when I hear about AI being used to squeeze out even more yield, my reaction isn’t outrage. It’s boredom. This is expected. This is table stakes. And this is not where the real innovation is.

What excites me is something simpler: using these same tools — LLMs, machine learning, AI — to make travel feel more human. Things like:

A rebooking assistant that materially helps when your flight gets canceled
Personalized recommendations that understand your preferences without upselling you to death
A travel interface that works for you instead of the airline

There’s a world where AI brings clarity instead of confusion. That reduces friction instead of creating it. And in that world, loyalty is earned not through manipulation, but through actual value.

Delta’s move makes sense. But I think the future is bigger — and simpler — than this.

Fly well.

TLDR:

Delta is using AI to set airfare — and by year-end, 20% of domestic tickets will be priced this way
Their AI isn’t designed to lower fares — it’s built to charge the most you’ll pay
This is all unsurprising — and I think it misses the bigger opportunity