United Airlines said on Wednesday that it is banning artificial intelligence agents from making flight reservations on behalf of travelers, citing security risks and the possibility that such actions could violate federal rules.
Many consumers are turning to AI agents such as Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s dots to complete tasks ranging from researching products and tracking down deals to making purchases.
To make an airline booking, an AI agent requires access to a customer’s personal information, including credentials like payment information. United has a problem with that, saying that “sharing account credentials with personal, third-party, AI assistants can expose sensitive information, and actions taken by these tools may result in unintended purchases, account changes, or use of MileagePlus miles.”
The carrier also said that using an AI agent to, for example, check in for a flight could violate federal regulations, including rules requiring travelers to verify in person that their luggage does not contain banned substances.
“As a result, United is taking steps to restrict access — directly within our digital platforms and indirectly via travel agencies and aggregators — to prohibit use by unauthorized, third-party personal AI agents or assistants,” said the airline, which is updating its booking and ticketing policies to reflect the new rule.
United’s new policy suggests the company wants to retain control over the customer booking process, said Henry Harteveldt, an aviation analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.
“United is saying they don’t want to add yet another, and potentially even more powerful, intermediary than they already face in terms of Google search, price-comparison metasearch sites and online travel agencies,” he told CBS News. “Flight searches cost airlines money, and undoubtedly United wants to avoid the expense associated with the surge of AI bot flight searches.”
Other airlines are taking a different tack to the emergence of AI agents. For example, Southwest has made its flight inventory viewable to ChatGPT users, who can access the airline’s website through the AI app.
United fares will continue to be bookable through flight aggregators such as Kayak, Hopper and Google Flights, Harteveldt said, adding that “consumers shouldn’t find it any more difficult to find good fares on the airline.”
“But by blocking the AI bots, United won’t make it any easier to find its fares, either,” he said.
