AI Travel Pricing Is Here: How Airlines and Hotels Could Quietly Raise Your Rates

Learn how AI may raise your travel prices and what to watch for before you book your next trip.

Before the Nerds delve into the surprising ways AI can affect your travel booking, hosts Tess Vigeland (covering news this week for host Meghan Coyle) and Sally French kick things off by covering the latest travel headlines, including pre-Thanksgiving travel deals from Hyatt, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Expedia. They also preview potentially record-setting Thanksgiving crowds, explain what the FAA’s terminated flight-reduction order means for your itinerary, unpack Apple’s new digital ID for TSA checkpoints at 250+ airports, and decode Hilton’s status shake-up.

Then, Meghan interviews Lindsay Owens, executive director of economic think tank and advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative, about AI-driven pricing in travel. They explore how dynamic versus personalized “surveillance” pricing could affect airfare and hotel rates, what your loyalty data might reveal, whether booking with points shields you from AI-based price changes, how rental car companies are using AI damage scans, and what policy shifts (and traveler tactics) could help you comparison shop without feeding the algorithm. They cover what questions to ask before you click “buy,” how to spot pricing games, and where consumer protections stand — plus a spicy hot take on whether public backlash could push airlines toward more transparent fares.

Card benefits, terms and fees can change. For the most up-to-date information about cards mentioned in this episode, read our reviews:

• World of Hyatt Card Review: Lavish Benefits, Reasonable Cost https://www.nerdwallet.com/credit-cards/reviews/world-of-hyatt 

Resources discussed in this episode:

• 50 Travel Deals for Black Friday and Travel Tuesday in 2025 https://www.nerdwallet.com/travel/news/2025-travel-deals-black-friday-travel-tuesday 

Want even more tips and tricks to get the most out of your travel dollars? Subscribe to TravelNerd, our free newsletter designed to help you crack the code on spending less on your travel.  

In this episode, the Nerds discuss: AI travel pricing, dynamic pricing airlines, personalized pricing, surveillance pricing, airline pricing algorithms, Delta AI pricing, loyalty program data privacy, travel price discrimination, points and miles dynamic pricing, rental car AI damage scan, Hertz damage photo scan, Hilton Diamond Reserve, Hilton Gold 25 nights, Hilton Diamond 50 nights, Hilton confirmable suite upgrade, Hilton late checkout 4 p.m., no resort fees on points Hilton, World of Hyatt sale, Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, Andaz Maui at Wailea, Alila Mayakoba, Norwegian Cruise Line Free at Sea, NCL 50% off, Expedia flash deals, Black Friday travel deals, Travel Tuesday deals, Thanksgiving travel crowds 2025, FAA flight reduction order ended, on-time arrivals 75%, Apple digital ID, Apple Wallet TSA, TSA 250 airports, alternate airports strategy, train vs flight backup, Venice Marco Polo Airport, San Antonio Hotel Emma

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