Airlines Deploy AI to Eliminate Cheap Flight Seats
Source: The Next Web
Budget airline tickets aren't vanishing due to scarcity. Airlines are systematically removing them through AI pricing engines that optimize for maximum revenue rather than market-clearing. This recaptures the consumer surplus that bargain hunters once exploited—the same route now shows higher average fares with less variance. The shift consolidates pricing power into algorithm-driven yield management, eliminating the human negotiation and timing luck that made cheap seat hunting viable.