A Qantas fare error spotted by a bargain-hunting web surfer that
resulted in hundreds of people snapping up a first class fare for an
economy price has ended in a compromise between the airline and those
who thought they had grabbed the deal of a lifetime.
The carrier explained that “a coding error” led to them selling
selling one-way first-class tickets to Los Angeles from Sydney for
AU$2,191 (US$1,490), compared to the regular fare of around AU$14,000
(US$9,500).
The bargain offer was picked up by a website, and within eight hours
last Thursday 300 people had snapped up the fare before Qantas corrected
the error.
However, customers’ joy didn’t last long before receiving an email from Qantas telling them that there had been an error.
Qantas would have been within their rights to cancel the booking, but
instead offered the lucky passengers a business class seat at the
economy price they had paid for first class.
In a statement, Qantas said, "Unfortunately this is a case where the
fare was actually too good to be true. As a gesture of goodwill, we're
rebooking customers in business class at no additional costs. Customers
also have the option of a full refund.”
A passenger travelling business class would still be paying 65% less than usual for their ticket, the airline said.