If you think air travel is already a nightmare — just wait until this new scheme by the big airlines to play “Big Brother” takes off.
The major carriers are plotting to collect the personal data of every passenger and use it to set personalized prices that could mean big increases for some and discount coupons for others, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday.
The so called “micro-target pricing” would use information, such as how rich someone is and what web sites they frequent, to set airfares.
It’s a spy-and-fly plan that Schumer denounced as a major invasion of privacy.
“This is ‘Big Brother’ meets ‘Big Business’ and it is frightening combo for already-price badgered airline travelers,” the New York Democrat said.
Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, called for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate this new pricing platform, which he fears could spread to other industries.
“I am requesting that the FTC investigate whether the person-specific pricing platform being considered by the airlines and potentially others in the broader travel and hospitality industries, violates the privacy of deeply personal consumer data,” Schumer wrote in a letter to the Acting FTC Chairwoman Maureen Ohlhausen.
Schumer’s requests come in the wake of media reports about the plan, in which the price of seats based on personal information collected from a passenger’s browsing history on their computers and phones.
Schumer said the airline could begin tracking the IP address of each customer and compile a massive data base of their online buying and browsing history.
The compiled data could show how likely, from past behavior online, that any particular customer is e to accept a high price for a seat.
Airlines would then charge more money for seat to a person they think is richer and more of a spendthrift, while enticing someone they believe earns less with certain deals for a similar seat, according to published reports.
“Consumers and travelers should never have to worry that their private information is being used to increase their personal costs,” Schumer wrote.
“When it comes to finding ways to monetize every atom of the traveling experience, few industries are better than the airlines,” said Schumer said. “So, we must take the very real concern for the use of this latest version of traveler tracking straight to the FTC before it inches mainstream, and we must demand a deeper look.
The Senate Minority Leader has previously fought back against attempts by airlines to limit the size of carry-on baggage and charge more in luggage fees.