JetBlue has been accused in a lawsuit of collecting customers’ personal data without their consent and using it to set ticket prices.
Andrew Phillips, who lives in New York City, said in the complaint that he was “entirely unaware that he was being tracked for the purpose of setting pricing” when he booked a ticket in December on the Queens-based budget airline.
This alleged strategy enables JetBlue to offer different fares to different customers based on various factors like their internet history and other demographic information, according to the suit filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, better known as Brooklyn federal court.
“It allows defendant to manipulate prices in real time in order to make as much money as they can on fares for airline tickets, which are priced differently for consumers based on their private information, which they did not consent to surrender for this purpose,” the complaint states.
Phillips also said in the complaint that he was not informed by JetBlue that his private information was being monitored or sold to third parties.
He is looking to expand his lawsuit into a class-action suit and is seeking unspecified damages from JetBlue for allegedly violating New York consumer protection laws and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a federal anti-wiretapping law.
“Consumers should not have to have their privacy rights violated to participate in Defendant’s digital rat race for airline tickets, which should cost the same for each similarly seated passenger,” the lawsuit states.
JetBlue did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
But in a statement released earlier to CBS News, JetBlue denied it used customers’ personal data to set ticket prices.
“JetBlue does not use personal information or web browsing history to set individual pricing,” the carrier said in the statement. “Fares are determined by demand and seat availability, and all customers have access to the same fares on jetblue.com and our mobile app.”
Not true, Phillips said in the lawsuit. And he offered as proof that JetBlue allegedly admitted to using “cookie collected data” during an exchange on X between a customer using the handle “Nugg.”
“I love flying @JetBlue but a $230 increase on a ticket after one day is crazy,” the user wrote in an April 18 post on X. “I’m just trying to make it to a funeral.”
“Try clearing your cache and cookies or booking with an incognito window,” the airline responded. “We’re sorry for your loss.”
JetBlue ended up deleting that response, according to the suit.
And in its statement, the airline insisted its “social media reply was simply a mistake from an individual customer service crewmember.”
“The steps the crewmember suggested would not have changed the airfares available for purchase,” it said.
