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

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by left-struck on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @08:33PM (#50461840)

Hmm I definitely think having an ai agent find me a flight is something useful because it’s very difficult to compare flights, there’s intentionally a lot of friction. The way I’d use it is search for a flight myself and have it search independently. If I find a cheaper flight that suits my exact needs then ask it to beat it. Whoever finds the best flight, that’s the one I book. I’ll repeat that, that’s the one I book.

Unless you have money to throw away I can’t imagine not checking the details and comparing prices. Hell, even if you do have money to throw away you still want to double check everything just before the last purchase decision. Is it going to the right city? Is it at a reasonable hour? Is baggage included or purchased? Etc

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by teliskr on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @09:03PM (#50462107)

Good points.. I mostly use google flights to search, but often book on either the airline site or on expedia. I think I usually see the same published prices and book in the place that is easy to book.

The most useful feature for me is google's price/date grid. For personal travel, I'm flexible with dates, so I always use that to just find when flights are cheap. For work, I try to find the best price, but I'm not super picky since the company is paying for it.

I feel like the travel site UIs do a good job of summarizing all the info and putting it in front of you.

Do you want the agent to book it for you? Or just find it?

[ Parent | on HN ]