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Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by Gareth321 on Thursday November 12, 2026 @01:37AM (#50463794)
I agree with the principle but where I think price discrimination goes too far is, for example, Uber charging people more by age or statistically imputed income. Or PlayStation charging more for a game by the time of day.
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by AnthonyMouse on Thursday November 12, 2026 @03:07AM (#50464353)
Notice the difference. One is charging people more because they're actually costing you something by imposing an inconvenience, the other is charging people more because you've X-rayed their wallet and set the price to be the amount that cleans them out.
Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by Gareth321 on Thursday November 12, 2026 @04:29AM (#50464967)
> Notice also the thing the customers should be doing in response to the second one: Sharing the prices they're shown for everything with the other customers so they can arbitrage by having the person offered the lowest price be the one to order it.

Ah, but this is worst in industries where resale is not possible. For example, flights, digital games, and rideshare. Of course one has the option to just not fly, buy games, or use Uber, but this limits a lot of convenience and function in a modern society. This is why I think targeted regulation is not such a bad thing - provided, as you explain, that the reason for the price discrimination is not because the customer actually costs the business more.

Re:United Airlines bans AI agents from booking flights on be... by BrenBarn on Thursday November 12, 2026 @04:32AM (#50464994)
It's not practical to have customers coordinating purchases in that manner. What should happen is the customers report to a regulatory agency "this seller is engaging in illegal price discrimination" and that agency brings the hammer down.