United Airlines Blocks AI Agents from Booking Flights

United Airlines is prohibiting AI agents—tools like Meta's Muse or OpenAI's operators—from booking flights, checking in, or performing other account actions on behalf of customers. The airline says granting such agents access to personal credentials and payment data "can expose sensitive information" and lead to "unintended purchases, account changes, or use of MileagePlus miles." United also flagged a regulatory angle: AI-assisted check-in could technically violate federal rules requiring travelers to personally verify their bags contain no prohibited items. The airline says it will enforce the ban both on its own digital platforms and indirectly through travel agencies and aggregators. Aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research Group frames the move as much about economics as security, noting that United wants to avoid ceding control to yet another intermediary—on top of Google, metasearch sites, and OTAs—and to avoid costs from mass AI bot searches. United fares will still appear on Kayak, Hopper, and Google Flights. Not all carriers are following suit: Southwest has opened its flight inventory to ChatGPT users directly.