{"generated_at":"2026-11-12T18:49:20.112Z","source":{"name":"Hacker News public API","url":"https://github.com/HackerNews/API","attribution":"Stories and comments are public Hacker News submissions by their respective authors. HackerHub is an independent reader, not affiliated with Y Combinator.","content_is_untrusted":true},"story_id":50458900,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50458900","total_comments":671,"returned":20,"scope":"Up to the requested number of top-level comments in Hacker News ranked order. Deleted comments are omitted. Nested replies are not fetched; this is not the complete thread.","comments":[{"id":50472200,"author":"kgiddens1","created_at":"2026-11-12T18:48:50.000Z","text":"The real reason here is to a) charge for this service in the future (think cable plans) and the more important fact that they do not want an automated ticket cancel and checking bot available to masses as they play games with the ticket prices ie. they do not want a bot that finds better prices for the end consumer automatically.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50472200"},{"id":50459506,"author":"doctoboggan","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:18:19.000Z","text":"How do they plan on stopping me from using Claude code with the Claude in chrome plugin, or some other computer use agent?\nAt this point it feels like I have an adversarial relationship with many merchants I use online. I wish the simple “you have a product, I have money” relationship was possible. I don’t want to take part in your giant human behavior optimization problem. You have a product and I have money why does it have to be more complicated than that?\nRealistically though I know that’s not happening. I will continue to access online merchants in the way I prefer and will do my best to avoid detection or blocking. At least so far Claude is happy to play along but I suspect I will need to seek out an obliterated agent in the not to distant future. (Once the corporate capture of the frontier cloud AI models is complete.)","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":58,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459506"},{"id":50459719,"author":"cmpolis","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:32:25.000Z","text":"Tangent: it was always odd to me that \"booking a [flight|hotel|concert tickets]\" is the canonical example of a task that can be automated by an agent. These are tasks that are:\n- already streamlined (spend 2min on Google flights, seatgeek, etc...); we aren't stuck with early web UX and latency\n- I want to have 100% control of the outcome or would have to write a long list of preferences and rules (middle seats, layovers, etc...) to feel good about trusting automation\n- require making a large payment. the agent is not getting free reign to use my cc\n- give me some personal satisfaction and enjoyment - its delightful to look foward to a trip, concert, etc... and planning is part of the fun and anticipation imo","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":16,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459719"},{"id":50459448,"author":"andix","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:13:10.000Z","text":"Somebody once said, that airline booking pages itself are one of the most sophisticated CAPTCHAs. No idea if this is true, but they obviously don't want their customers to easily find the best deals.\nI guess the best option is, to use a good reseller/travel agency that provides an API/MCP for booking and managing flights.\nFor finding the cheapest deals agents can still be used. Just the booking itself is probably better done manually. It also eliminates the risk that the agent does something stupid.\nedit: they might try to block agents, but this won't be possible with browser use. they can always throttle users by IP or fingerprint. Letting an agent book a flight might be risky, because they might cancel a booking or impose a fee if they somehow detect it.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":7,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459448"},{"id":50459287,"author":"ProblemExplorer","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:01:01.000Z","text":"The airlines are trying to reduce prices for everyone without giving specific people (atleast those who they don't deem \"worthy\") an edge. Here's a great, short comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459444\nIt's mostly a commodity, specially for economy class where price matters.\nAfter gas and grocery, its the most vicious, cut throat business where a customer will switch from United to Delta over $5. Unlike gas and grocery they cannot compete on volume (even a 747 has a fixed capacity per leg).\nIt sounds counterproductive but personal AI agents cause a local optima while overall increasing cost for rest of the travelers.\nFor example, if you had an MCP connector to United and found a flight from SFO to DEN for $50, the rest of the seats have to go up in price to compensate and not just by a few cents because the nominal cost of an economy seat is likely $250, not $50.\nNow United isn't against offering a $50 flight to customers who they deem \"worth it\" - they just don't want it to be anyone who can run an MCP connector. They are just betting that the \"worth it\" will \"make it up\" in the long run vs. a customer who's just there for the $50 seat.\nWhat happens if you say \"screw it, I'll code my own custom MCP connector to United.com!\"\nWell, eventually they will try and block you and then those $50 flights will just be gone from the website.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":17,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459287"},{"id":50460160,"author":"pixl97","created_at":"2026-11-11T23:02:49.000Z","text":"Anyone here sticking up for the airlines just because you hate AI, ya'll are out of your minds.\nThe airlines use every nasty practice they can to raise costs to you. Hidden fees, raising costs by just viewing flights and all kinds of other crap.\nLet them burn.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":2,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50460160"},{"id":50461658,"author":"cakeface","created_at":"2026-11-12T01:13:25.000Z","text":"I have found these agentic blocks sort of inspiring and in the spirit of a free market. Amazon blocked my Muse, so I told Muse to find other vendors and prefer the shopify store for the brand. That was a pain for me to search through but AI has no problem.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":2,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50461658"},{"id":50459145,"author":"pavel_lishin","created_at":"2026-11-11T21:47:22.000Z","text":"> \"United is saying they don't want to add yet another, and potentially even more powerful, intermediary than they already face in terms of Google search, price-comparison metasearch sites and online travel agencies,\" he told CBS News. \"Flight searches cost airlines money, and undoubtedly United wants to avoid the expense associated with the surge of AI bot flight searches.\"\nHow much can it cost? And if it's so expensive, wouldn't intermediaries who cache results actually be cheaper?","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":5,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459145"},{"id":50459702,"author":"throw03172019","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:31:02.000Z","text":"I recently bought a Flight directly on United.com. I usually book business travel directly on Brex so I was appalled of how bad the checkout flow was on the United site. 5 page loads. Multiple “offers” to sift through. Donations to the environment. Upgrades for security priority, seats, classes. Credit card ads.\nIt made me think, an agent would be nice. Too bad.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":1,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459702"},{"id":50459483,"author":"aucisson_masque","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:16:39.000Z","text":"> The carrier also said that using an AI agent to, for example, check in for a flight could violate federal regulations, including rules requiring travelers to verify in person that their luggage does not contain banned substances.\nThat’s ridiculous.\nThey just want to keep their price list miserable to compare so they can overcharge people.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":2,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459483"},{"id":50459141,"author":"solyin","created_at":"2026-11-11T21:46:30.000Z","text":"Their suit against Skiplagged should tell you everything you need to know about their attitude.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459141"},{"id":50459826,"author":"ctoth","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:39:34.000Z","text":"I use a screen reader to access the web. In future, I can easily imagine an agentic screen reader as being incredibly useful.\nI do not look forward to when rules like this run up against a11y concerns. The AI equivalent of the Domino's case will certainly be interesting!","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459826"},{"id":50460955,"author":"schappim","created_at":"2026-11-12T00:09:58.000Z","text":"I understand why they might be tempted to do this customer hostile action. For our own business, ChatGPT’s sales have grown to be 6.3%[1] of total, but our basket size is smaller compared to other channels.\nI think this is because people are purchasing only what they need as recommended by their AI and nothing extra. This is a better outcome for the customer.\nOpenAI is really eating Google's lunch hard[2]!\n1. http://files.schappi.com/pb-JjWzp83d2O.png\n2. http://files.schappi.com/pb-2BtxkLaITY.png","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":1,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50460955"},{"id":50459798,"author":"flossly","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:37:38.000Z","text":"These companies need to be bound by some sort of equal treatment.\nIf they can forbid us to use AI to interact with them, their customers should be able to opt out of being handled by their AIs as well.\nTit-for-tat.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459798"},{"id":50459544,"author":"DeepLogin","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:21:05.000Z","text":"Actual article without ads: https://www.united.com/en/us/newsroom/announcements/cision-1...","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459544"},{"id":50462267,"author":"azinman2","created_at":"2026-11-12T02:21:32.000Z","text":"They don’t want people to comparison shop easily without getting a cut. Further, all these guys want to move to Uber-style dynamic/personalized pricing. So basically they want an adversarial relationship against you, but block any attempts to reverse that relationship on them.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50462267"},{"id":50459841,"author":"bz_bz_bz","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:40:46.000Z","text":"If prices drop on United, you can rebook and pocket the extra money as travel credit (as long as you don't book BE). This is typically considered an underpriced option as most travelers don't regularly check prices after they've booked. AI agents threaten to reduce this \"laziness tax\", and it is something that other industries are worried about too. There's lots of speculation that mortgage rates will have to increase if people use AI agents to start optimally refinancing their mortgages. Seems like United will have to change this policy, fight the bots, and/or raise prices to compensate.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":3,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459841"},{"id":50459845,"author":"teliskr","created_at":"2026-11-11T22:41:03.000Z","text":"How many people really want an AI agent to book their flights? I like AI and travel a lot, but I don't see that as being an ideal agentic tasks. In most cases, I prefer using google flights or expedia and looking at the options in a UI that is tailored to the task. Of course AI can be useful if you want to inquire about certain details or find more information.\nIt's funny how many AI tool demos have used flight booking as an example task. I always groan at that. I just don't think that will be the way most people book flights. Maybe the 1%ers or less. Are you you currently doing this?","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":7,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50459845"},{"id":50469528,"author":"abalgir","created_at":"2026-11-12T15:59:21.000Z","text":"Instead of banning the agents, we better make sure that agents are acting on our behalf and under our instructions. \nMost app will have agents buying and selling on behalf of. We cannot stop that. \nGuardrails for agents are better than banning.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":0,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50469528"},{"id":50463192,"author":"throwaway13337","created_at":"2026-11-12T04:52:23.000Z","text":"Whether our future will follow a dystopic path centers on this.\nWill the agent represent the individual or the organization?\nThe only world that doesn't lead to accelerated manipulation, wealth inequality, and ultimately oppression is the one where the is answer absolutely clear: It is the individual.\nThe social norms for this are being shaped right now. This is the most important question in AI.\nWe're distracted by the far less important questions. Safety, nationalism, and tribalism are how we don't talk about this.\nThis is /the/ important question of our time.","parent_id":50458900,"replies_count":1,"hn_url":"https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50463192"}]}