Delta Hit with Charges of Airfare Manipulation

The Business Travel Coalition (BTC) and Consumer Travel Alliance (CTA) have joined forces to denounce Delta Air Lines' alleged practice of charging frequent-flier members higher airfares on its website than consumers who did not identify themselves as members.

The two groups called for increased U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) vigilance of airlines' potential unfair and deceptive marketing practices and of airline compliance with their published customer service commitments. The BTC and CTA did not accept Delta's explanation of a computer error.

According to Kevin Mitchell, BTC chairman, "this development shows that there must be a system that empowers consumers to compare and purchase all airfare offerings and ancillary fees across multiple airlines. We must guard against unfair policies and practices that short-circuit the free market and deceive both business and leisure travelers by showing the traveler only those offerings an airline wants the passenger to see."

It was only by inadvertently making side-by-side reservations that two business travelers learned about the differences in airfares displayed for frequent fliers compared with airfares displayed for consumers who signed into Delta.com without a frequent flier number, the groups said.

A consumer being forced to shift between reservation records on separate computers to replicate the price differences would not discover these price differences because of the dynamic nature of airfares. It is only when all pricing alternatives are shown on a single screen, or on side-by-side screens, that pricing manipulations like this can be discovered, CTA said.

BTC and CTA both urged a DOT review of apparently deceptive airline price-display practices not only for airfares, but also for the growing numbers of ancillary fees, especially baggage and seat-reservation fees.

Delta Air Lines said it may have charged some frequent fliers higher fares than other customers for almost three weeks because of a computer glitch, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Delta acknowledged that frequent fliers who logged into its website to search for fares saw different prices than people who searched anonymously. Delta spokesman said frequent fliers sometimes saw higher fares, sometimes lower, the AP reports.

A Delta spokesman said the problem has been fixed and apologized to travelers, the AP says, but didn't know how many people had been affected.