Hunting for whales that won't put up a fight on this, and catering to them specifically going further.
this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2026
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If I recall correctly something stupid high like 80% of their revenue from flights is from frequent travelers. These travelers are generally loyal to an airline because of the benefits from sticking with a network. I spent a year buying regular coach tickets and being upgraded to 1st class on all but 2 flights out of around 150 when I was traveling (I hit the top tier on the frequent traveler program)
The thing that this dumbass CEO is missing, is that these flyers are still on a budget and there is still some competition. The whales will swim away if you attempt to screw them over. This is why airlines have status matching programs for frequent travelers.
Delta has the worst customer service, at least in the Tampa airport. They were directly responsible for me missing an international flight and couldn't care less, even talked about me with other staff right in front of me. It was beyond offensive and I think they enjoyed it. I will never fly Delta ever again.
The only reason I'm not upset with this, is that I will game the algorithm to make my price almost free, if these MFers want any of my $, that is. Maybe a good use of 20c of AI to harrass their algorithm into giving me a nearly free seat.
You're getting downvoted, but you're right. This knife cuts both ways, and it far predates llms.
Any non trivial algorithm intended to rank is gameable.
This is the foundation of SEO. It's how the Donald invaded reddit. It's the fucking central pillar of modern propaganda dissemination.
They're going to spend a ton of money to lock themselves into an ongoing arms race.
And if one is morality opposed to this type of pricing practice, I think one becomes morality obligated to do exactly what you described.
And honestly, I think you don't even have to come out ahead for it to be worth it. If your LLM assessed price would be 1000, spending a full $200 on compute to game and $800 ticket is a wash. You SHOULD spend $300 to get an $800 ticket if that's where the floor is. Because fuck em.
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