News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on behalf of travelers. Parent comment

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by kjanus03 on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @06:09PM (#50460267)
Because while the $50 deal exists then everyone has the right to fight for it (I would even argue that it's rational!). I don’t see how that’s incompatible with wishing the $50 deal didn’t exist in the first place. Pricing that rewards whoever spends the most time searching is a bad system, and agents are a fair fix because they make that local price ooptima findable for everyone.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by srdjanr on Thursday November 12, 2026 @04:51AM (#50465103)
I think pricing that rewards searching is actually very fair and good. You give customers choice between money and effort - rich people will book the first flight and pay more, subsidized poorer people.

If agents make finding cheaper tickets trivial and the default, customers lose that choice.

[ Parent | on HN ]