Latest news with #ticketprices
Reuters
16 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Delta plans to use AI in ticket pricing draws fire from US lawmakers
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - Three Democratic senators have pressed Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab CEO Ed Bastian to answer questions about the airline's planned use of artificial intelligence to set ticket prices, raising concerns about the impact on travelers. "Delta's current and planned individualized pricing practices not only present data privacy concerns, but will also likely mean fare price increases up to each individual consumer's personal 'pain point' at a time when American families are already struggling with rising costs," Senators Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner and Richard Blumenthal wrote in a letter dated Monday and made public on Tuesday. The senators cited recent comments from Delta that the airline plans to deploy AI-based revenue management technology across 20% of its domestic network by the end of 2025 in partnership with Fetcherr, an AI pricing company. They said a Delta executive had earlier told investors the technology is capable of setting fares based on a prediction of "the amount people are willing to pay for the premium products related to the base fares." The airline said in a statement: "There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise." Delta added that dynamic pricing has been used for more than three decades, in which pricing fluctuates based on a variety of factors like overall customer demand but not a specific consumer's personal information. Delta said AI technology for dynamic pricing is being tested to eliminate manual processes while accelerating analysis and adjustments and it emphasized all customers see the same exact fares and offers in all retail channels. Delta said it was testing AI for use in forecasting demand for specific routes and flights, adapting to market conditions in real-time, factoring thousands of variables simultaneously and learning from each pricing decision to improve future outcomes. In January, Blumenthal along with Senators Maggie Hassan and Josh Hawley asked Frontier Airlines (ULCC.O), opens new tab and Spirit Airlines to disclose whether they were manipulating seat fees by using customers' personal information to charge different fees to passengers on the same flight. The senators said the airlines were apparently "using customers' personal information to charge different seat fees to passengers on the same flight" despite having the same fare. Frontier and Spirit did not immediately respond to requests for comment on their current practices on Tuesday.
Reuters
17 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
US senators raise alarm about Delta plans to use AI to set ticket prices
WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - Three Democratic senators pressed Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab CEO Ed Bastian to answer questions about the airline's planned use of artificial intelligence to set ticket prices, raising concerns about the impact on travelers. "Delta's current and planned individualized pricing practices not only present data privacy concerns, but will also likely mean fare price increases up to each individual consumer's personal 'pain point' at a time when American families are already struggling with rising costs," Senators Ruben Gallego, Mark Warner and Richard Blumenthal wrote in a letter dated Monday and made public on Tuesday. The airline said in a statement, "There is no fare product Delta has ever used, is testing or plans to use that targets customers with individualized offers based on personal information or otherwise."
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
The price of flying: 'Everywhere you look, costs are increasing'
Costs are increasing for airlines from a variety of sources, with the burden largely passed on to their passengers. Photo: Mongkol Chuewong Regional aviation will become increasingly unsustainable and ticket prices will continue to rise until the government takes action on aviation system costs, say airlines. Sounds Air announced this week that it will be cutting its Blenheim to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wanaka routes due to spiralling costs. Sounds Air chief executive Andrew Crawfords has cited rising levies as a contributing factor to the cuts, even though there is still demand on those routes. "Where are we supposed to get that from? We've just got to pull that on the travelling public." More services will be lost if there is not a reset of the investment structure of our air industry, says the Board of Airline Representatives. Executive director Cath O'Brien told RNZ the news that Sounds was cutting operations was not surprising. "We have seen substantial increases in aviation costs in New Zealand over the last year or so and really there is nowhere else to go for airlines." O'Brien said the country needed to take a responsible look at all of the costs that were currently being levied on the aviation system. "Civil Aviation levies are up, Airways costs have risen by 21 percent potentially, Auckland Airport prices for regional airlines increased by 60 percent between 2023 and 2024 "So everywhere you look, costs are increasing for airlines." She said those costs were "absolutely" being passed on to customers. "So we need to have a look at airport charges, we need to have a look at the Civil Aviation levies, and say how much should these charges be allowed to increase altogether over time. "Because at the moment, all of these individual charges increase one by one all of the time, so every single one airport will increase its charges, the CAA will, Airways will, Customs will. So the effect of all that is that airlines will constantly increase prices over time." She said regional aviation was becoming commercially unsustainable and it was a real challenge for New Zealand as a whole. "The thing is with New Zealand is our aviation system is user pays, so all parts of the system are funded by airlines and their customers, so CAA levies, Customs, biosecurity, air traffic control, airport charges, all of that is funded by airlines. And in other countries that's not the case, but in this country that's where we are." In a statement, the Civil Aviation Authority said it was "acutely aware" of the financial pressures smaller operators are facing. It said the new safety levies came into effect on 1 July and were the first adjustment since 2017. "The domestic safety levy has gone from $1.60 per passenger, to $3.92 per passenger, excluding GST. "The CAA works to ensure the travelling public are safe when they fly, and like all government agencies, is also working to ensure that it delivers value for money to the travelling public and the sector to maximum extent practically possible." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
There will always be incidents of outrageous wrongdoing when it comes to All-Ireland tickets
When it comes to it, nobody complains about the price of an All-Ireland final ticket. There is a general flutter of rebuke and name-calling whenever a hike in ticket prices is announced, but that is always months before the final. It's like giving out to the referee: they never change their mind. This year, the price of a stand ticket remained unaltered at €100, but the price of a terrace ticket was increased to €60, a hike of €5. On the week of the game, nobody cares about that. In the frenzy of want the only issue is possession. Face value, no matter how barefaced, is a bargain. Here are some immutable truths about All-Ireland tickets: there are never enough tickets to satisfy everyone who feels entitled to one; there are never, ever enough tickets for people who decide they would like to go and can't understand why there is such a panic. Some people who don't deserve tickets will get them. There will be uproar. READ MORE Who deserves what and who doesn't is the annual flashpoint at the heart of all this. There will be people who didn't get a ticket for yesterday and won't get a ticket for next Sunday who will feel betrayed. [ Cork v Tipperary live updates: Tipperary win All-Ireland after amazing second half performance Opens in new window ] For clubs, entitlement is a minefield. Every member of a club executive will be allocated a pair of tickets, and nobody will argue. But after that there is a sliding scale of people who keep the wheels turning: who run teams and tend to pitches and raise money and go to meetings and close the gates and open the gates and respond to the latest call to arms. Many of those people will resent being in a draw for All-Ireland tickets with a whole load of others who just pay their membership at the start of the year and stand back. In that hierarchy of entitlement where do you draw the line? What about the person who gave 10 years' service, or 20 years, without flinching, but are not involved now and suddenly feel forgotten? How do you explain to them that they'll have to take their chances in the draw with people who never lifted a finger? It is an impossible equation. In every club, there are never enough tickets to clear the debt of gratitude or even meet interest repayments on the debt. Limerick v Cork All-Ireland hurling final 2021: Fans looking for tickets. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho Outside of that, there are GAA fans who support their intercounty team without being involved in a club. Not everybody is cut out to be a grass root. Many people are living away from home and have no desire to be involved with any other club. They feel entitled too. Or hard done by. Or forgotten. For these people, access to league matches is never a problem and for most championship games the same is true. Tickets are put on general sale. First come first served. For All-Ireland finals, though, it is a closed shop. In the build up to the hurling final the Cork county board received emails from people who had attached a screenshot of all their ticket stubs from all of Cork's games this year. What are their consumer rights? They have none. The counter argument is that some people are too busy with club activities on weekends to be swanning along to league games, or even the early rounds of the championship. There are only so many GAA hours in the week. Club first is the GAA's commandment, isn't it? How All-Ireland final tickets are doled out by Croke Park is always interesting. In the annual report to GAA congress the numbers are laid out in tantalising detail. Over the years, many of the categories have remained the same, but the numbers have changed. Former presidents and members of Ard-Chomhairle, for example, were allocated 1,455 tickets according to the report to annual congress 20 years ago; in the report to this year's congress that number had fallen to 800. Camogie's allocation was up 20 in 20 years to 140; Ladies football had dropped 40 to 100. In the continuing merger talks this will doubtless be teased out in the small print. The really interesting one, though, is the allocation to competing counties. According to the numbers released in 2005, each county was given just 12,014 tickets. For this year's finals, however, it is understood that each competing county was given about 20,000 tickets. The allocation to non-competing counties has dropped by nearly 7,000 in 20 years. Is that balance right yet? The GAA regards All-Ireland finals as a come-all-ye. A national celebration. Everybody knows somebody who goes to the All-Ireland final every year, regardless of who's playing. In that spirit, every club in a county that hasn't reached the final is entitled to at least a pair of tickets. What they do with them is their own business. At the end of last week, the Kilcar club in Donegal issued a statement on its Facebook page saying that 'while there was a large number of names taken by people interested in the All-Ireland hurling final, it would be more beneficial to the club and its members to swap these for football tickets.' Ticket exchanges between counties in the hurling and football finals has been common practice for decades. Unsold tickets in non-competing counties is another phenomenon that usually results in a secondary allocation for competing counties in the days before the game. Last year, that resulted in more than 3,000 extra tickets landing in Cork; this year the second wave of tickets was numbered in hundreds. The unusual element of this year's ticket scramble is that Cork, Tipperary, Kerry and Donegal all brought crowds to their semi-finals that vastly exceeded their allocation of tickets for the final. Cork were estimated to have brought 60,000 to their semi-final; Donegal brought in excess of 45,000; Tipperary brought close to 40,000 and Kerry brought greater crowds to their quarter-final and semi-final than at any time in recent memory. In Cork, the runaway support for the team caused an insoluble problem. In Donegal, it was reported locally that their allocation will cover every adult club member in a county with just 40 clubs. But that still leaves their partners and kids, and the remainder of the 45,000 who turned up the Meath game. There will always be hard cases and incidents of outrageous wrongdoing. Is there a better way of doing it? No. The atrocities will continue.
Fox News
5 days ago
- Sport
- Fox News
WNBA All-Star game ticket prices plummet amid Caitlin Clark's injury absence
Ticket prices for the WNBA All-Star Game steeply dropped after it was announced Caitlin Clark would miss the game with a groin injury. Clark was slated to be an All-Star team captain in just her second season and would lead Team Clark on her home floor at Gainbridge Field House in Indianapolis. The cheapest ticket prices on TickPick were as high as $126, with an average resale price of $262, the highest in league history. Front Office Sports reported the record prices on Wednesday, before Clark announced she would miss the game. At the time of publication, the cheapest tickets on TickPick were $65, a 48.4% decrease. Clark said Thursday she will not participate in the WNBA All-Star Game or its festivities after she appeared to aggravate a groin injury she sustained earlier in the season. "I'm so excited for Indy to host WNBA All-Star this weekend. I want to thank the Indianapolis Host Committee and all of the people that have put endless work in over the past year to put this event together," she said. "I know this will be the best All-Star yet. "I am incredibly sad and disappointed to say I can't participate in the 3-Point Contest or the All-Star Game. I have to rest my body. I will still be at Gainbridge Fieldhouse for all the action and I'm looking forward to helping Sandy (Brondello) coach our team to a win. "Can't wait to see you all out there." Clark sustained the injury in the waning moments of the Fever's win over the Connecticut Sun Tuesday night. She appeared to tweak her upper leg on a bounce pass to Kelsey Mitchell. Injuries have been the main storyline for Clark this season. She's missed nearly a dozen games because of injuries but still managed to lead fan voting for the All-Star Game. It's unclear how long Clark will be out. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
