Is U.S. Senator Slandering Delta Air Lines?
Slander–the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation–is a serious charge, but has a U.S. Senator crossed the line in his attacks against Delta Air Lines?
U.S. Senator Blumenthal Makes Serious Charge Against Delta Air Lines
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D – CT) is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Transportation Committee and has taken a keen interest in Delta’s admission that it is developing airfare pricing via artificial intelligence (AI). He posted a video essentially suggesting Delta is already using personalized information to offer you pricing at a point that can best squeeze you:
“Next time you’re traveling by air, look at the guy next to you. He may be paying half of what you are. And the reason is, quite simply, you’ve been charged a personalized fare. The airline, Delta, using AI and algorithms, collects information about your zip code, your web browsing activity, what kind of car you drive—all kinds of personal information showing what you can afford, up to your pain point. Not competition, not supply and demand, but what they can force you to pay. Now, this kind of practice not only endangers consumers with higher fares but also privacy, because they’re collecting all this information about you. And that’s why I’m demanding answers from the airlines. I will take whatever action I can, and I’ll demand that agencies like the FTC take action against discriminatory pricing.”
The video is two weeks old, but remains online despite clear and unequivocal assurances by Delta that it has no intention of offering the sort of individualized pricing that Blumenthal suggests.
“There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized prices based on personal data.”
So does Blumenthal’s statement cross the line, even with the “may” caveat? Probably not. Defamation laws are much more forgiving in the US than in other jurisdictions. Furthermore, Blumenthal had a reasonable basis upon which to make that assertion based on a (now deleted) blog post made from Fetcherr, the Israeli firm that is developing AI pricing for Delta, stating that its technology could take into account individual factors:
Individualized Pricing: Factors like customer lifetime value, past purchase behaviors, and the real-time context of each booking inquiry all contribute to creating a truly personalized offer.
I don’t mind Senator Blumnethal’s consumer protection streak. Like any politician, sometimes the theatrics can be off-putting, but he appears to mean well. And he’s right that there’s something troubling about allowing airlines to charge me more for the same seat at the same time because they know I am loyal to Delta when the guy next to me bought at the same time and paid less for the same seat because he is loyal to American and Delta wants to entice him.
An unregulated free market causes destruction and even while some consumers may come out ahead by AI pricing (like my imaginary seatmate above), I don’t like the precedent and believe that avoiding this particular type of price discrimination should be a bedrock of enjoying the privilege of doing business in the United States.
> Read More: Delta Denies Using AI For Personalized Ticket Pricing, Despite Executive’s Remarks
> Read More: Delta’s AI Partner Scrubs “Individualized Pricing” Blog Post