Letting AI book flights for you is out of the question, at least on United Airlines.
United Airlines announced Wednesday that it will restrict access to its services to unauthorized third-party AI agents or personal assistants. The scope includes its own website and App, as well as indirect access through travel agencies and aggregation platforms.
The AI agent can also check flights and prices and display them to users, but it cannot complete transactions for you on the United website.
The official reason is to protect the security of accounts, sensitive information and transactions, and to prevent compliance risks caused by automated operations. These reasons are all valid. When an AI agent logs in to a user account, fills in passport information, and swipes a credit card, every step has the potential for error and abuse.
But CEO Scott Kirby had something more genuine to say at an event in Chicago: "Quite frankly, I don't want to create another middleman."
It took airlines more than ten years to lure users back to their official websites from platforms such as Ctrip and Expedia, because direct sales have no commission and can also sell additional services such as seat upgrades and baggage allowance. Once the AI agent becomes the default entrance for booking tickets, users will no longer come to the official website, and the price comparison rights and user relationships will fall into the hands of the AI company.
This conflicts directly with the "intelligent agents do things for you" that ChatGPT, Gemini, and Muse are promoting. Industries such as airlines, hotels, and banks will most likely follow suit: they can show it to you, but they won’t let you do it for you.
The first real resistance in the era of intelligent agents may not be technology, but businesses that don’t want to be bypassed.