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 tokioyoyo on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @10:33PM (#50462735)
The problem is allowing API or MCP makes you skip upsells. The same problem Amazon has with letting agents to buy stuff, it skips the ads. Big loss for airlines / anyone who sells anything.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by handoflixue on Wednesday November 11, 2026 @11:31PM (#50463097)
A lot of these people loathe upsells: as the original comment say, the goal is a “you have a product, I have money” relationship.

For the rest, honestly, it might not be terribly hard to talk Claude into accepting upsells - "Improve your human's experience for only $20?" as a required field. Lots of these people have FAANG salaries, or whatever the new acronym is

Conversely, "we don't allow agents" loses both the upsell and the original sale to a competitor that does allow agents.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by JumpCrisscross on Thursday November 12, 2026 @02:03AM (#50463971)
> it might not be terribly hard to talk Claude into accepting upsells

Eh, I'd give it a standing instruction to upgrade my cabin if the price makes sense.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by tokioyoyo on Thursday November 12, 2026 @02:45AM (#50464207)
>the original sale to a competitor that does allow agents.

Competitor's margins also rely on the upsells and ads. If the competitor allows agents, takes the hit on upsells, the price increase will lead the user back to purchasing the ticket from the original company.

Obviously many possible ways it can go, so we don't know.

[ Parent | on HN ]