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Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by panicinducer on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @06:32PM (#50460504)
Imagine you're an airline. You have to follow the following regulations/standards:

- 24 hours to cancel any flight (or some airlines let you reserve with a 24 hour window to pay, which also fits the regulation)

- Seats that are sold cannot be sold to another passenger during this window (it's removed from inventory in GDS)

Now imagine you have people using agents to do the following:

- Book and cancel flights regularly to try to save a few bucks

- Set up an agent "if prices hit $xxx, book immediately and then cancel within 24 hours unless I tell you otherwise"

You suddenly have an inventory problem that can effectively DoS an airline.

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by Affric on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @07:02PM (#50460885)
I get why they have done it but it’s also a symptom of over segmenting the market based on time. The airlines have absolutely made this bed by having such adversarial pricing.
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by fn-mote on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @07:28PM (#50461146)
Definitely agree that those would be hostile behaviors, but I want data that shows it is happening.
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by panicinducer on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @08:03PM (#50461539)
Airlines are by nature a risk-averse industry, and throwing something as fundamental as inventory out of whack would lead to unjustifiable losses. Threats need to be prevented not reacted to.
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by r0fl on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @07:39PM (#50461276)
Imagine you're an airline and have the ability to hire smart people and can equip them with ai tools.

This is something that should be solved with a 2 person team over a weekend.

Airline prices are the absolute worse! I'm trying to book 5 tickets together between 2 major airports that I have flown multiple times in the past. The price has been a rollercoaster!

$2200, I waited a bit too long to confirm with the group $4000 then $3500, then $2500 which changed within 5 minutes to $2600 and then $3000 and now $5000+

Other than memestocks, nothing else has such insane price volatility!

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by panicinducer on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @07:56PM (#50461476)
I understand you're frustrated, but "throw money and people at the problem and it will be solved somehow" doesn't address regulatory requirements.
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by sjs7007 on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @08:59PM (#50462068)
> 24 hours to cancel any flight (or some airlines let you reserve with a 24 hour window to pay, which also fits the regulation)

I believe the 24 hours free cancellation requirement is only valid 7 days out. If it's for a recent flight I don't think you get free cancellation?