United Airlines is blocking third-party AI agents and automated assistants from booking flights, citing security risks, regulatory compliance, and account protection.
The policy highlights ongoing industry challenges around automated interactions with user data and ticketing systems.
The company says that while AI tools are evolving, it wants to ensure that proper safeguards are in place before allowing third-party assistants to directly connect to accounts and reservations. Specifically, it fears that sharing sensitive information and granting booking privileges could lead to unauthorized changes to tickets, account settings and passenger loyalty programs.
Possible rule violations and restrictions
Additionally, United noted that the use of artificial intelligence in online check-in may violate regulations. As it explained, relevant authorities require passengers themselves to personally confirm that their luggage does not contain prohibited substances, such as explosives.
The block applies to both individual customers and travel agencies or aggregator platforms. The move also comes just weeks after the US Federal Trade Commission launched an investigation into whether companies are pricing tickets based on data from loyalty programs and algorithms.
The attitude of competing companies
In contrast, competitors are taking a different path. American Airlines and Delta have said that some AI tools will be allowed to complete bookings on their platforms, while Southwest Airlines recently created a dedicated chat service plugin to support the gradual transition to AI-powered bookings.
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