A new video started circulating on the web, causing considerable public outrage and I would say that the initial outrage was entirely justified. The clip features the person booking a United Airlines flight and entering the birth date that makes the passenger a senior citizen and observing a price rise by almost $400. The system also displays a message indicating that the price rose due to the provided information about the traveler.

Needless to say, within just a few hours, social media started filling up with memes suggesting that the airline imposed additional taxes on seniors, charging them higher prices for tickets simply for being "old." It became yet another viral clip in this never-ending struggle of airlines against their customers, and United quickly found itself amid a storm of negative press coverage.

Understanding What Really Went On

When we watch the video, we see the customer searching for and finding a United flight itinerary on Google Flights with the price of $752.20 in first class. Then, the customer opens United's booking website and enters their date of birth as February 21, 1949 i.e., the passenger is 76 years old at the moment. As soon as that date is entered, the system reprices the itinerary to $1,156.20, showing a notification that the price increased based on the entered information. The price goes down again when the birth date is changed back.

At this point, it indeed seems that the video proves exactly what the caption is stating: the United Airlines system charged the senior passenger $400 more for booking the ticket. In an environment where concerns about personalized price discrimination and data exploitation abound, this is likely to spark considerable outrage among many travelers.

It Had Nothing To Do With the Traveler's Age

Upon reaching out to the airline and asking about this situation, it became clear that there was nothing about senior pricing involved here. According to United, the airline does not impose surcharges on older travelers and, generally, does not engage in any form of age-based pricing. What the video captures is a quirk related to the system's treatment of various cabin options in mixed itineraries.

To put it simply, the flight that the customer searched for initially was a mixed itinerary including one leg in first class and one in economy with a total cost below $1,000. However, when a customer enters a birth date for a senior citizen, the system automatically checks the fare, deciding that this person will most likely want to fly in first class on both legs.

The price increase isn't anything about the age it is a difference in pricing for a different kind of booking. In other words, the customer was initially charged for an economy class-leg itinerary, whereas now they were offered a first class-leg booking instead. The latter costs considerably more and is not considered a senior option in any way.

The Glitch Isn't New and Has Been Easily Fixed Before

As one can observe, it appears that the system glitch was known for several years already. There are several reports about passengers encountering the same problem when booking flights online via United's platform they had seen the price jump upon entering a senior's birth date, as shown in the viral video. Back then, though, the solution had been relatively simple.

As it turned out, all customers needed to do to book a flight at a lower price was to contact United's reservations line and request a booking at the originally displayed fare often waiving the fee for making such a booking online. Obviously, if the airline wanted to charge senior passengers differently, they would not allow the customer to book flights at lower prices.

The company's representatives admitted this themselves, promising to work with third-party flight itinerary websites, ensuring that the mixed cabin itineraries would always be clearly marked as such. This is obviously the right step to take in order to eliminate possible confusion among travelers.

Can Airlines Charge Seniors More?

Given that the issue is still being talked about widely, the logical question is whether United would be able to discriminate in pricing by charging seniors more even if they really wanted to.

What the law says about age-based pricing in air travel:

• Age discrimination is explicitly prohibited under Title II of the Civil Rights Act and yet, age isn't a protected basis.
• The Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies only to workers over 40, not to consumers.
• Any state consumer protection laws are preempted by the Airline Deregulation Act airlines can freely charge seniors whatever they want.
• Even United provides seniors between 18 and 23 years old a 5% discount on certain itineraries age-based discounts are allowed.

According to the existing legislation, airlines are free to use age-based surcharging or discounts in their pricing model. Since the late 1970s, the carriers have engaged in a variety of differential practices, including advance purchase rules, weekend stayover requirements, basic economy classes, last-minute pricing, and others all in order to maximize their profit from customers.

Underlying Issues Behind This Case

Why did the video spark so much outrage despite the explanation? The truth is that it touches upon a very sensitive topic and a very real one as well. Over the past several years, airlines had been experimenting more and more with personalized pricing based on extensive customer analysis.

Thus, the Delta Air Lines CEO was recently talking about his vision of an advanced AI-powered "offer management system" that would enable airlines to generate an offer for each customer based on their behavioral data and willingness to pay. Another major US carrier, JetBlue, currently faces federal claims in a privacy lawsuit related to the company using tracking technology to analyze customer behavior.

How To Prevent It From Happening

The simplest and the easiest way to avoid being trapped by the glitch is contacting United's reservations desk and explaining the situation. As it was already mentioned above, the airline's customer service agents have never objected to lowering the price of such bookings, sometimes even waiving the booking fee.

Apart from that, travelers should consider the following:

• Book the flight via a third-party website that clearly labels the type of cabin in each leg.
• Try searching the itinerary in a separate browser tab or an incognito mode.
• If the issue persists even after trying all that, switch from searching for the cheapest option to booking a certain cabin for both legs explicitly.

The Bottom Line

Obviously, the initial interpretation of the viral video was misleading but not entirely unjustified. United Airlines didn't overcharge customers for their tickets it just messed up their itinerary while showing a confusing notification about changing the prices based on the entered information.

In this situation, it becomes evident that the website glitch should be urgently corrected. Otherwise, United would continue scaring off travelers with this unexpected change in the price. Working with flight websites to ensure that all mixed cabin itineraries are clearly marked might help with that.