US Consumers Push Back Against Dynamic Pricing as Frustration With 'Surveillance Pricing' Grows

A growing wave of consumer frustration is fueling efforts to ban dynamic pricing and other hard-to-avoid fees across sectors ranging from airlines to grocery retail.

Delta Air Lines has confirmed it uses what it calls 'dynamic ticket prices' governed by 'clear rules that determine pricing based on objective details,' a description that has done little to quiet critics. Across 24 states, bipartisan lawmakers have introduced roughly 40 bills this year aimed at curbing surveillance pricing, the practice of using personal data to tailor prices to individual shoppers, and multiple lawsuits are now challenging the practice directly.

'The incredible exponential growth in efforts to contain dynamic pricing suggests we may be reaching a tipping point,' said Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic think tank.

The backlash reflects a broader tension in the pricing software industry: the same AI and real-time data capabilities that make dynamic pricing commercially powerful are increasingly viewed by consumers and regulators as opaque and potentially exploitative, particularly when applied to necessities like groceries and travel.