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

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by fooker on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @05:16PM (#50459488)

Hotels pull this schtick too.

Almost always, if you walk up to the front desk and ask for a room, the price is 15-20% more than what you see online at that very moment.

This is baffling, and has to be coming from some convoluted agreement.

The hotel makes a lower amount if I book through priceline or expedia or whatever.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by anonzzzies on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @05:24PM (#50459607)

Maybe for larger chains this applies; for small hotels, they always give me the difference compared to Expedia or Booking.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by octoberfranklin on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @05:26PM (#50459633)

Yeah but you get shitty rooms when you book through expedia.

The hotels hate expedia but they can't opt out of it so they just degrade the product that is offered at expedia's discount rate -- and they degrade it in a way that expedia can't force them to stop (room assignment is always done at checkin).

[ Parent | on HN ]