*Isabella DiDonato
- Introduction
When purchasing an airline ticket, consumers likely assume that the cost reflects the base fare, baggage fees, and perhaps their seat selection.[1] Recently, however, consumers have begun to question whether airlines consider more than just these factors when calculating airfare.[2] Specifically, consumers are asking whether airlines have been using their personal data to determine the price that each passenger pays for a ticket.[3] This practice, known as surveillance pricing, has raised serious concerns about fairness and transparency—particularly in the airline industry.[4]
- What Is Surveillance Pricing and How Is It Harmful?
Surveillance pricing occurs when companies use personal data and consumer behavior to set individualized prices for potential buyers.[5] Surveillance pricing differs from dynamic pricing because it relies on personal information about the individual consumer.[6] While dynamic pricing adjusts fares based on broader factors like demand, timing, and market competition, surveillance pricing goes a step further.[7] First, companies use personal data—such as browsing history, location, purchasing history, device type, or even income—to estimate the maximum amount that a particular consumer is willing to pay.[8] Then, based on the data, a price is set specifically for that individual.[9] Using surveillance pricing, companies can manipulate buyers into paying the highest price possible, which undermines consumers’ ability to assess whether a price is fair.[10] This personalized pricing practice gives corporations an advantage over consumers and allows them to exploit buyers’ personal data to maximize profits.[11]
- How Airlines May Use Surveillance Pricing and Why Consumers Are Concerned
Airlines have access to vast amounts of personal data, which is used to improve flight schedules, plan maintenance, enhance security, and provide customer service.[12] Although airlines claim that this data helps them “offer tailored experiences” to fliers, it may also be used as a way to boost profits.[13] Concerns about this practice intensified after Andrew Phillips sued JetBlue Airways, accusing the airline of using consumer information to determine airfares.[14] This lawsuit, along with another filed days later, stemmed from a social media interaction in which the airline advised a consumer to “clear their browser data” or use “incognito” browsing to avoid higher fares.[15]
Beyond the JetBlue allegations, consumers continue to suspect that airlines use surveillance pricing, citing reports of travelers receiving drastically different prices for the same flight when searching at the same time.[16] Advancements in technology and airlines’ growing ability to analyze consumer behavior have further heightened these concerns.[17] There is still no concrete evidence proving that airlines set ticket prices according to individual consumers’ willingness to pay.[18] However, the possibility raises significant concerns about fairness and transparency in the market.[19]
- Legislative Responses to Surveillance Pricing amid Airline Pricing Allegations
In January 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released preliminary findings from its ongoing study of surveillance pricing.[20] The FTC found that personal information, including an individual’s precise location, demographics, and browsing history, is frequently used to target specific consumers with different prices for identical goods and services.[21] In response, lawmakers across the United States have drafted bills to “restore fairness to the marketplace” by limiting the use of individualized pricing practices.[22]
States have taken various approaches to regulating surveillance pricing.[23] North Carolina has proposed prohibiting the practice for essential goods, while Maryland has enacted a prohibition covering food retailers and third-party delivery service providers.[24] Other states, like New York, have pursued legislation that would completely prohibit corporations from using surveillance pricing.[25]
In June 2026, New York passed the One Fair Price Act (the Act), becoming the first in the nation to pass legislation of this kind.[26] If enacted, the Act will amend New York’s Algorithmic Pricing Disclosure Act, which merely requires the disclosure of surveillance pricing practices.[27] At the federal level, similar legislation was introduced in Congress by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand last year.[28] Since then, the FTC has continued to study surveillance pricing, informing Congress in April 2026 that it was considering whether companies should be required to disclose when they use the practice.[29]
- Conclusion
As airlines become better able to analyze consumer data, suspicions about airline pricing practices are prompting legislatures across the country to respond.[30] New York, North Carolina, and Maryland, for example, have provided models for other states seeking to prohibit surveillance pricing.[31] As more states continue to push back, it remains to be seen whether the federal government will pass legislation addressing this concerning use of personal data.[32]
*Isabella DiDonato is a second-year student at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a Staff Editor of the University of Baltimore Law Review. She serves as a Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Lawyering Skills, Secretary of the Business & Tax Law Association, and Publications Chair of the Women’s Bar Association. She is also a member of the Royal Graham Shannonhouse III Honor Society. Before attending law school, Isabella earned her bachelor’s degree in financial management from Clemson University. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, boating, and watching college football.
[1] Emma Lewis, Airline Surveillance Pricing: Should You Be Worried?, Aerospace Glob. News (July 12, 2026), https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/airline-surveillance-pricing-worried.
[2] See id.
[3] Id.; Jake Hardiman, JetBlue Faces Federal Lawsuit over Alleged ‘Surveillance Pricing’ with Customer Data, Simple Flying (Apr. 24, 2026, at 9:07 EDT), https://simpleflying.com/jetblue-lawsuit-surveillance-pricing/.
[4] Natalie Campisi, Are Airlines Spying on You? The Hidden Costs of Surveillance Pricing and How to Avoid Them, Forbes (Dec. 9, 2024, at 8:09 EST), https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2024/12/09/are-airlines-spying-on-you-the-hidden-costs-of-surveillance-pricing-and-how-to-avoid-them/.
[5] Lewis, supra note 1; Tay Belgeri, What Is Surveillance Pricing? Here’s How Airlines Try to Overcharge for Tickets, Travel Awaits (Apr. 28, 2026), https://www.travelawaits.com/3024835/what-is-surveillance-pricing-from-airlines-and-how-does-it-work/.
[6] Lewis, supra note 1.
[7] Campisi, supra note 4.
[8] Id.; Finya Swai, Top Commerce Committee Democrat Presses Airlines over AI ‘Surveillance Pricing’, The Hill (Aug. 13, 2026, at 18:24 ET), https://thehill.com/homenews/house/6028921-house-commerce-committee-democrat-investigates-airlines/; Shannon Harwood, Surveillance Pricing Probe Targets Eight Airlines with August 25 Deadline, msn (Aug. 15, 2026), https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/surveillance-pricing-probe-targets-eight-airlines-with-august-25-deadline/ar-AA2abW3o.
[9] See sources cited supra note 8.
[10] Prohibiting Surveillance Prices and Wages, towards just. 9 (Feb. 2025), https://towardsjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Real-Surveillance-Prices-and-Wages-Report.pdf.
[11] Id.
[12] Lewis, supra note 1.
[13] Campisi, supra note 4.
[14] Hardiman, supra note 3.
[15] Id.; see Patricia Graham, JetBlue Surveillance Pricing Lawsuit: New Jersey Bans Practice This Week, Travelers Today (July 4, 2026, at 18:11 EDT), https://www.travelerstoday.com/articles/60335/20260704/jetblue-surveillance-pricing-lawsuit-new-jersey-bans-practice-this-week.htm (explaining that there are two simultaneous class action lawsuits that have been filed against JetBlue).
[16] U/moltenclocks, Reddit (r/delta), My sister and I are traveling together in December. The same flight/time/day was $200 more on my app then it was on hers. And I fly less. It’s absolutely deplorable that DA gets away with such predatory practices. (Oct. 1, 2026, at 14:14 ET), https://www.reddit.com/r/delta/comments/1wv22ah/comment/pd97b1s/ [https://perma.cc/8328-BMSV].
[17] Lewis, supra note 1.
[18] Id.
[19] Campisi, supra note 4.
[20] FTC Surveillance Pricing Study Finds Personal Data Is Used to Set Individualized Consumer Prices and Generate Higher Profits for Companies, McCarter & English (Feb. 2, 2025), https://www.mccarter.com/insights/ftc-surveillance-pricing-study-finds-personal-data-is-used-to-set-individualized-consumer-prices-and-generate-higher-profits-for-companies/.
[21] FTC Surveillance Pricing Study Indicates Wide Range of Personal Data Used to Set Individualized Consumer Prices, Fed. Trade Comm’n (Jan. 17, 2025), https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-surveillance-pricing-study-indicates-wide-range-personal-data-used-set-individualized-consumer.
[22] Christopher Elliott, Your Airline Might Be Spying on You – and It Should Be Illegal, Elliott Rep. (Feb. 22, 2026), https://www.elliott.org/blog/your-airline-might-be-spying-on-you-and-it-should-be-illegal/; see Surveillance Pricing Laws by State, AI L. by State, https://www.ailawsbystate.com/tools/surveillance-pricing-tracker (last visited Aug. 26, 2026) (“40+ bills [were] introduced across 24 states in 2026.”).
[23] See Surveillance Pricing Laws by State, supra note 22.
[24] Id.
[25] See Elliot, supra note 22; Troutman Pepper Locke State Attorneys General Team, New York Passes One Fair Price Act Banning Surveillance Pricing, Regul. OVERSIGHT (June 17, 2026), https://www.regulatoryoversight.com/2026/06/new-york-passes-one-fair-price-act-banning-surveillance-pricing/; see also Robbie Sequeira, States Begin Banning ‘Surveillance Pricing’ That Uses Personal Data to Charge More, Stateline (Aug. 4, 2026, at 14:44 ET), https://stateline.org/2026/08/04/states-begin-banning-surveillance-pricing-that-uses-personal-data-to-charge-more/ (describing different approaches that Maryland, New Jersey, and Connecticut have taken in banning surveillance pricing).
[26] Gillibrand Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Surveillance Pricing, Gillibrand (Dec. 12, 2025), https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/news/press/release/gillibrand-introduces-bill-to-crack-down-on-surveillance-pricing/; Troutman Pepper Locke State Attorneys General Team, supra note 25.
[27] New York Moves to Ban Surveillance Pricing with the One Fair Price Act, Ashurst Perkins Coie (July 21, 2026), https://www.ashurstperkinscoie.com/en/insights/new-york-moves-to-ban-surveillance-pricing-with-the-one-fair-price-act/; see Surveillance Pricing Laws by State, supra note 22.
[28] Gillibrand Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Surveillance Pricing, supra note 26.
[29] Sunil Raj Kumar, Surveillance Pricing: Should Passengers Be Worried?, Travel Radar (July 18, 2026, at 09:31 ET), https://travelradar.aero/surveillance-pricing-should-passengers-be-worried/.
[30] See Lewis, supra note 1.
[31] See Elliot, supra note 22.
[32] See Gillibrand Introduces Bill to Crack Down on Surveillance Pricing, supra note 26.
