An adversarial approach to Airline Revenue Management Proving Ground
Craig Lester
DEF CON 32 Creator Stage · Day 1 · Creator Stage
Craig Lester's DEF CON 32 talk, "An adversarial approach to Airline Revenue Management Proving Ground," aims to shed light on the intricate, often opaque, systems that airlines use to price tickets and manage their inventory. While the talk title suggests an exploration into vulnerabilities and adversarial techniques within these complex systems, the provided transcript primarily focuses on establishing a foundational understanding of the airline industry's unique economic and regulatory landscape, and the core principles of **revenue management**. Lester, a self-described "dude" with a background in Splunk, SEIM tools, and Cisco networking, emphasizes that his research is a "black box" exploration driven by personal interest, rather than formal academic training in airline economics. He explicitly states the talk is not about "clickbait travel articles" or leveraging credit card bonuses, but rather an ethical endeavor intended for airline professionals to better defend their systems.