United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on behalf of travelers

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by nvme0n1p1 on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @05:14PM (#50459456)

Searching actually does cost them money. Most airlines don't even have the ability to sell you a ticket without getting a third-party company involved (the GDS: Amadeus/Sabre/Travelport). The GDS charges the airlines money for every search to send their own data back to them.

I'd argue that's the root of the problem here.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by fn-mote on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @07:36PM (#50461236)

That is not even close to the root of the problem.

Airlines could solve that problem themselves. And will the instant it’s actually worth it to them.

Airlines are being pressured to change the way they do their differential pricing, but the old system wasn’t some gold star land of virtue method either.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by mitxela on Thursday November 12, 2026 @02:15AM (#50464031)

Surely that cost is still not the expensive part of the search?

[ Parent | on HN ]