United Airlines now bans AI agents from buying its tickets, even when the traveller approves each step
On 11th Nov'26 United revised its contract of carriage to bar AI agents from making, changing or servicing a ticket, or buying any other service, and the rule applies even when the customer supervises or approves what the software does. It covers agents that come to United directly and those that book through travel agencies and aggregators, and a separate rule lets United cancel any reservation an agent made or changed. Agents can still search and show United's fares, and a person who researches with AI and then buys the ticket themselves is within the rules. Bookings agents completed before 11th Nov will be honoured. United cites exposed personal data, purchases the customer did not intend and miles spent without the passenger knowing, and its chief executive, Scott Kirby, also said he did not want another middleman. Delta has indicated that properly authenticated assistants can book, with extra safeguards for sensitive transactions.
What it actually means
Most agent builders treat human approval as the thing that makes an automated purchase safe, and United has written into its contract that approval does not count. What the seller is protecting is its relationship with the customer and the upsells that come with it, so the risk to an agent that buys things is the merchant's terms rather than the law, and those terms can let the merchant cancel what your agent bought.
If your agent books, orders or pays on someone's behalf, check each merchant's terms for automated purchasing, and design the flow so the agent finds and fills the basket while the person completes the purchase on the merchant's own page. That handoff is what United still allows.
A traveller's approval makes an agent's purchase safe for the traveller, not acceptable to the seller.
Source: View from the Wing · Wednesday, 11 November 2026