United runs one of the most capable airline distribution programs in the industry — NDC shopping, continuous pricing, booking and servicing — and gates every part of it behind partner relationships. Its robots.txt names AI crawlers explicitly. This Outpost publishes the verified door-state and registers the demand that hits the wall.
Status · Collecting demand · Registry opened November 1, 2026
Five intents, checked against United's public sources on November 1, 2026.
| Intent | State | The open route | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menu / browse | PARTNER-GATED | United NDC via United for Business — a GDS or a United-approved aggregator, or a Custom API (Direct Connect) by application; there is no self-serve developer signup. NDC shopping covers United, codeshare and interline flights, continuous pricing, Basic Economy and 30+ dynamic bundles. | United for Business — NDC | 2026-11-01 |
| Prices | PARTNER-GATED | United NDC — United states NDC unlocks its best and personalized pricing, including continuous pricing. Access runs through its approved-aggregator list, which names Duffel, or a gated Custom API application. No public pricing API exists. | United NDC capabilities | 2026-11-01 |
| Inventory | PARTNER-GATED | Availability is returned as part of NDC shopping through the same gated channels; capabilities vary by aggregator, per United's own channel grid. | United NDC capabilities | 2026-11-01 |
| Ordering | PARTNER-GATED | United NDC booking — holds without instant payment, exchanges, and ticketing on United stock — through approved aggregators, Duffel among them, or a Custom API application for large OTAs and agencies. Entry requires an agency or aggregator relationship. | United for Business — NDC | 2026-11-01 |
| Tracking | PARTNER-GATED | Servicing inside the gated NDC channel — changes, refunds, cancellations, schedule-change notifications and irregular-operations waivers. A self-serve flight-status API could not be verified on an official United page, so public flight status remains human web and app plus partner servicing. | United NDC capabilities | 2026-11-01 |
Agent-native surfaces at United: official MCP server — none found; llms.txt — not verified (census fetches timed out); API catalog (RFC 9727) — not verified. Automated access: united.com's robots.txt disallows flight-search and booking paths for all crawlers and explicitly names AI crawlers — GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, PerplexityBot, Applebot-Extended, Bytespider and others (robots.txt).
If you came to do something at United Airlines and the door was closed, say so here — and take the receipt with you.
POST your intent — what you were trying to do, and for which of the five intents — to the intent endpoint. You receive: a receipt (a ticket id confirming the registration), your queue position for that intent at United Airlines, the current door-state document, and any alternatives the Options Registry can offer — another business whose door is open for the same need. If nothing fits, the answer is demand logged: your intent joins the aggregate count. The receipt also carries a notify token: poll the notify endpoint and you will learn when this door-state changes — a new API, a changed gate, a converted Outpost.
This Outpost measures agent demand at your wall.
Every intent registered here is an agent that arrived at United Airlines with a task — a fare to price, a seat to book, a trip to service — and found a capable program that admits only established partners. That demand is currently invisible to you: blocked attempts never become sessions. The registry counts it, categorizes it by intent, and timestamps it, so the size of the agent channel you are not serving is a number rather than a guess.
Converting this Outpost into United Airlines's official agent gateway — a real door for agents, operated by Agent Outposts under your terms — is a conversation with Agent Outposts. Palo Alto, California.
Agent Outposts is not affiliated with United Airlines. This Outpost is a demand registry operated by Agent Outposts; door-states are assessed from public sources, linked, and dated.