BA sells $40 plane tickets from US to India – by accident
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 October 2009 18.41 BST
British Airways refuses to honour $40 price for $800 flight caused by computer error
The US department of transportation is looking into an "error" by British Airways which led to thousands of people booking tickets between major American cities and the Indian subcontinent in the apparent deal of a lifetime: a fare of just $40 return.
The fare appeared on BA's booking system for two hours on 2 October and was the result of a technical mistake. The airline had intended to introduce a $40 increase on its fares, which typically start at $805 for the route.
"This was an error in the system and we're investigating how the error occurred," said a BA spokeswoman.
The fare instantly appeared on price comparison websites such as Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline. News of the deal spread like wildfire on internet travel forums, spread by "professional bookers"who scour the web for bargains.
"It's been a pretty interesting week for us," said a source at one travel agency. "Across all the on-line travel companies, the number of bookings definitely runs into the thousands."
To the dismay of travellers, BA is cancelling all the bookings, saying it will not honour the tickets as they were the result of an obvious error. If allowed to stand, the tickets could leave BA with a shortfall of several million dollars in revenue.
"As the fares are so clearly below normal levels, we are cancelling them," said the spokeswoman. "We've been organising emails to all affected customers, urging them to get in touch with BA or with their travel agent."
The US department of transport's consumer protection division has received complaints about the cancellations and is investigating. An response by the department to one traveller said the government agency was "looking into the issue".
On an on-line forum for frequent flyers, Flyertalk.com, several customers have posted details of their entire bookings. One, who got a $40 ticket from San Francisco, via London, to Mumbai, wrote: "It's fully refundable? Am I reading this right?"
Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance, which represents US air passengers, said airlines generally exhibit no sympathy if the boot is on the other foot, when passengers make a mistake by booking non-refundable tickets on the wrong dates, or under mis-spelt names. "They will hold our feet to the fire for even the tiniest of mistakes, even if passengers call immediately to try to correct their booking," he said.
* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 October 2009 18.41 BST
British Airways refuses to honour $40 price for $800 flight caused by computer error
The US department of transportation is looking into an "error" by British Airways which led to thousands of people booking tickets between major American cities and the Indian subcontinent in the apparent deal of a lifetime: a fare of just $40 return.
The fare appeared on BA's booking system for two hours on 2 October and was the result of a technical mistake. The airline had intended to introduce a $40 increase on its fares, which typically start at $805 for the route.
"This was an error in the system and we're investigating how the error occurred," said a BA spokeswoman.
The fare instantly appeared on price comparison websites such as Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline. News of the deal spread like wildfire on internet travel forums, spread by "professional bookers"who scour the web for bargains.
"It's been a pretty interesting week for us," said a source at one travel agency. "Across all the on-line travel companies, the number of bookings definitely runs into the thousands."
To the dismay of travellers, BA is cancelling all the bookings, saying it will not honour the tickets as they were the result of an obvious error. If allowed to stand, the tickets could leave BA with a shortfall of several million dollars in revenue.
"As the fares are so clearly below normal levels, we are cancelling them," said the spokeswoman. "We've been organising emails to all affected customers, urging them to get in touch with BA or with their travel agent."
The US department of transport's consumer protection division has received complaints about the cancellations and is investigating. An response by the department to one traveller said the government agency was "looking into the issue".
On an on-line forum for frequent flyers, Flyertalk.com, several customers have posted details of their entire bookings. One, who got a $40 ticket from San Francisco, via London, to Mumbai, wrote: "It's fully refundable? Am I reading this right?"
Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance, which represents US air passengers, said airlines generally exhibit no sympathy if the boot is on the other foot, when passengers make a mistake by booking non-refundable tickets on the wrong dates, or under mis-spelt names. "They will hold our feet to the fire for even the tiniest of mistakes, even if passengers call immediately to try to correct their booking," he said.
* guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
) a tutti quelli che hanno comprato questi biglietti. Si farebbero buona pubblicità e in ogni caso eviterebbero le spese legali che date le leggi USA comunque dovranno sostenere, perché ci sarà certamente qualcuno che farà causa.
