New flight pricing model ‘personalises’ airfares based on your wealth

A NEW method of flight ticket pricing is raising eyebrows. And it’s actually a bit creepy.

AIRLINES already vary the prices of their flights based on when you book and how many searches you have done.

But companies could soon tailor their flight prices depending on how much money you have — called “dynamic pricing”.

It’s easy to glean a lot of information about a person online — using things like internet cookies and customer account details.

According to The Sun, this personal information gives airlines clues on how much a potential customer earns, how old they are, and whether they are likely to be taking a business trip.

They could then give a higher personalised fare to passengers they think are richer, while those earning less may be given special offers to entice them to book.

Dynamic prices personalises airfares based on the passengers’ assumed level of wealth. Picture: iStock

John McBride, director of product management for PROS — a software provider for airlines like Emirates and Lufthansa — said a number of airlines are now using these systems.

“A handful of large carriers [will] move toward dynamic pricing [in 2018],” he told Travel Weekly.

It is not clear whether any Australian airlines are using the systems.

The UK’s Telegraph reports the Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) is used by airlines like British Airways and KLM as a guide to price their fares.

ATPCO wrote a report on the future of dynamic pricing in 2015 where they predicted that prices would soon be decided on “who is asking”.

For example, a search engine might offer someone it thinks has a high-paying job a more expensive fare — while someone much younger could get a cheaper deal.

A passenger on a flight that may be considered business travel could be charged more, for example.

It’s not a dead certainty though: questions are being raised about whether dynamic pricing is even legal, or if it is actually discrimination.

Richard Taylor from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority told the Telegraph: “If a passenger believes this pricing model is discriminatory in some way, or breaches EU law, they would need to challenge it in a court of law.

“A legal ruling would then ensue and be the basis for any follow-up enforcement action.

“Passengers need to be made fully aware of what they are getting for their money.”

Lufthansa told Sun Online Travel: “The Lufthansa Group takes data protection very seriously. Our fares are not calculated based on personal customer data.”

Sun Online Travel has contacted Delta, British Airways and KLM for comment.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.