United Airlines said Wednesday it’s blocking unauthorized third-party AI assistants from making reservations on travelers’ behalf, citing security risks and the possibility that such actions could violate federal rules. It’s the latest sign that companies are drawing lines around the AI agents consumers are starting to use for everything from deal-hunting to shopping.
The ban covers bookings made directly on United’s website and app, and also bookings that reach the airline through travel agencies and aggregators. United is updating its booking, ticketing, and distribution policies to reflect the decision. The airline is mostly worried about security. To book a flight, an agent needs a customer’s personal information, including payment details and account credentials. “Sharing account credentials with personal, third-party, AI assistants can expose sensitive information,” United said, and “actions taken by these tools may result in unintended purchases, account changes, or use of MileagePlus miles.”
But they are also concerned about regulation. United said using an AI agent to check in for a flight could violate Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation rules, including requirements that travelers confirm in person that their bags don’t contain banned substances. The airline said agents can still search United flights and show prices; they just can’t complete the purchase.
CEO Scott Kirby explained at an industry event in Chicago: “I don’t want to create another middleman.” That echoes airlines’ long fights with online travel agencies over ticketing, customer relationships, and fees. Aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research Group told CBS News United doesn’t want to add “yet another, and potentially even more powerful, intermediary” on top of Google search, price-comparison sites, and online travel agencies. He added that flight searches cost airlines money, and United likely wants to avoid the expense of a surge in AI bot searches. Fares will still be bookable through Kayak, Hopper, and Google Flights, he said, so consumers shouldn’t find it harder to get a good deal.
But not all airlines feel the same. Delta Air Lines has not followed United and lets AI assistants that can authenticate a passenger’s credentials complete bookings. Southwest has made its flight inventory viewable to ChatGPT users. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said on the company’s earnings call that Airbnb is building its own AI travel agent, rolling out to guests in the first half of 2027, and expects “all bookings going through the app for every vertical in travel.” OpenAI, meanwhile, made headlines a day earlier with the acquisition of the travel startup Odessia, which let travelers plan and book a trip in a single conversation. It seems the split isn’t about whether AI will book travel. It’s about who owns the checkout.
So far, AI is sending little business. Traffic from large language models stayed below 1 percent of room nights at Booking Holdings in the second quarter, and Expedia’s CEO said volume from AI agents is too small to draw conclusions. Consumers are curious, though. A PYMNTS Intelligence survey of 2,299 U.S. adults found 70 percent are interested in using agentic AI for travel planning, and 58 percent of those who use dedicated AI platforms prefer to check out inside the platform.
While United may be the most cautious in the airline industry, it isn’t alone in creating safeguards for AI agents. JPMorgan Chase told investors last month it’s blocking outside agents from logging in with customers’ credentials, sending money, or paying bills, and CEO Jamie Dimon said, “You don’t want rogue agents, and there could be thousands of them.” Wells Fargo changed its terms so customers are responsible for their agents’ actions, and Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse from shopping on its site in September, citing privacy and security. Booking travel was a selling point for Muse and for the agent startup Instinct, which asks users for card details and passwords.
As banks, retailers, and now an airline begin deciding that handing credentials to a personal AI agent is a risk they’d rather not take, it leaves the companies building these tools in a bind. Agents are only useful if they can act, but the places they most want to act are the ones locking them out. Agents that can’t authenticate safely, satisfy rules that require a human to confirm something, or be held accountable for a purchase will keep hitting walls. So for now, plan on booking your flights yourself. At least, if you plan to fly United.