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JetBlue is facing a lawsuit that accuses the airline of secretly tracking customers’ personal data and using it to set individualized ticket prices.

Getting into it: The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn federal court by New York resident Andrew Phillips, alleges that JetBlue tracked his browsing activity, personal details, and payment information without his consent while booking a flight, and that the airline shares that data with third parties whose algorithms are used to manipulate fares in real time. According to the filing, fares jump between the moment a shopper leaves the site and the moment they come back to buy. Two passengers in identical seats, the suit argues, can end up paying wildly different amounts depending on what JetBlue’s systems learned about them. The complaint seeks damages under federal wiretap law and a pair of New York consumer protection statutes.

The lawsuit was triggered in part by a social media exchange that went viral. On April 18, a user posted on X that a “$230 increase on a ticket after one day is crazy — I’m just trying to make it to a funeral.” JetBlue’s customer service account responded by suggesting the user try “clearing your cache and cookies or booking with an incognito window.” The airline later deleted the response, then claimed it was “simply a mistake from an individual customer service crewmember” and that the steps suggested “would not have changed the airfares available for purchase.”

The exchange caught the attention of Congress. Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Ruben Gallego sent a letter to JetBlue’s CEO demanding answers on how the airline defines personal data and whether it is used to inform pricing. “We are especially concerned that customers could be charged different prices for the same flight based on their need for travel, such as attending a funeral,” they wrote.

As of now, JetBlue denies using personal data or browsing history to set individual prices, saying fares are determined by demand and seat availability.

This all comes as surveillance pricing is now on the radar of lawmakers watching the airline industry, with Delta already having been pressed by Congress last year on its use of generative AI in fare-setting. Delta denied using it.