American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said on the airline's July 2025 earnings call that using AI to manipulate ticket prices would be "a bridge too far." He was answering a question about Delta, which was running an AI pricing tool from the vendor Fetcherr on part of its domestic network.
What Isom Said
On the call, held July 24, 2025, a reporter asked how he felt about a rival experimenting with AI-informed pricing and whether American planned to do the same. Isom said some of what he'd heard was "just not good." He said American will use AI for operations, customer experience and help during disruptions, and that "consumers need to know that they can trust American. This is not about bait and switch."
What Delta Is Doing
In July 2025, Delta president Glen Hauenstein said Fetcherr's AI was setting prices for about 3% of Delta's domestic network, and that Delta planned to reach about 20% by the end of 2025. We haven't confirmed whether Delta hit that target.
Three senators, Mark Warner, Ruben Gallego and Richard Blumenthal, wrote to Delta that month and accused it of "individualized" pricing. Delta answered that the tool is a "decision-support tool" that forecasts demand and recommends fares from factors such as booking patterns, route competition and fuel prices, and that it doesn't target customers with individualized prices based on personal data.
What It Means for Your Points
This is a cash fare story. The reporting is about how tickets are priced, so the practical effect is on the price you compare an award against. If fares move more often, that comparison can change between the day you search and the day you book.
- Check the cash fare and the award price on the same day before you move any points. Transfers are one way, as our guide to points transfers being irreversible explains.
- Keep points in a flexible currency until you've found the seat. Our look at transferable points versus airline miles covers why, and our piece on what transferable points are worth covers how to judge a redemption.
- Set a fare alert on Google Flights so you see the cash price move.
- If cash fares are high and you're short on miles, our guide to when buying airline miles is a good idea shows how to run the numbers.
Your Next Step
You don't have to pick a side in the pricing debate to book well. Compare cash and award on the same day, transfer only once the seat is confirmed, and keep a backup plan in case a flight is canceled, which our guide to fixing a canceled award flight walks through.
Updated October 17, 2026: AI pricing details.
