U.S. airline United Airlines announced changes to its ticketing policies aimed at restricting AI agents and preventing them from booking flights through its website, third-party travel agencies, and flight aggregation platforms. The company thus joins a growing list of major corporations, such as JPMorgan Chase and Amazon, that are banning these automated tools to avoid associated security and privacy issues.
United Airlines explained that providing sensitive information such as payment details or login data to an AI agent could compromise user data and lead to "unintended purchases, account changes, or unjustified use of MileagePlus loyalty program miles." Furthermore, allowing an AI agent to complete the booking process may conflict with regulations enforced by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). For example, the company emphasizes that regulations require a human person exclusively to acknowledge that their luggage does not contain explosives during the check-in process.
Agent-Driven Commerce Concerns
United seeks to distance itself from any failures related to automated agents, citing past incidents such as Meta's "Muse" tool leaking a user's IP address. Like other companies, United wants to maintain its direct relationship with customers without new digital intermediaries. In this context, The Wall Street Journal quoted company CEO Scott Kirby, confirming the company's hesitation to drift toward what is known as agentic commerce. He noted at a recent event that he does not want to create an additional intermediary between the company and customers, despite the differing approach of other airlines such as Southwest, which developed extensions allowing bookings via the ChatGPT bot.
What is Changing Practically?
Practically speaking, users will no longer be able to rely on AI agents or automated assistants to complete payments and book tickets directly through United Airlines channels. Despite the widespread proliferation of AI applications, initial data from other companies like Uber indicates that agentic commerce has not yet achieved widespread public acceptance in booking complex services. The use of automated agents has been limited to extremely small numbers compared to total recorded trips and orders, reflecting that reliance on artificial intelligence in financial shopping and flight booking still lacks the necessary smoothness and reliability on a wide scale.