Nelty

Hi all,

I follow a facebook page which usually has really good traveling deals such as cheap airfares. While most of the time it only works for very specific dates, I saw an amazing deal last week-end.
The staff from that page realized that a lot of flights taking off from Paris and going to the U.S. were really cheap. Some of the cities were Miami, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis. The prices were between $370 and $400, which is at the very least twice as cheap as usual. Note: the dates I was looking at were right during holidays in France (Feb. 19 - Feb. 28).

They claimed it was a price error and that there was a chance the ticket would eventually be canceled. I decided to book a ticket CDG-MSP anyways, knowing it would be canceled within a day or too. I had to take the chance.

This was on Sunday. Since then, the ticket I booked is now displayed at more than twice the price I paid, but mine is still confirmed on the airline website (United Airlines).

Knowing it's been 2-3 days, do you think my ticket could still get canceled?

Thanks!

DaveBlaine

It's a solid maybe.

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Mauibaby2008

Nobody knows but the airline. However, I don't think that price would get cancelled, as it is not rare to find eu > usa flight for that cost especially in the dead of winter.

You're fine

Nelty

Thanks for your answer. However, the price did jump to $1,000 the day after and then moved back down to $800. I agree that it's possible to find some cheap flights (like maybe $600) but this is pretty much "free".

MSPeconomist

Has the ticket been issued at the low price? Do you have a receipt with a ticket number as opposed to just a reservation/itinerary?

BTW, did you buy the ticket directly from UA?

Nelty

Yes, I bought it for about €390 (btw, I checked in different currencies: same price, so it's not an exchange rate typo). And bought it directly from UA (is that better?).

What I have is an "eTicket Itinerary and Receipt for Confirmation". It does have an eTicket number and a receipt for the amount I paid.

Efrem

I doubt they'll cancel it. It's not so low that it's obviously a mistake, as it would be if the flights were $37-40 RT instead of $370-400. It's in a reasonable range for a promotional fare. That means you can require them to honor it, as all the others who jumped on it - some of whom are, undoubtedly, lawyers. If UA tried to invalidate those tickets, which they may not want to do at all, they'd find themselves on the losing end of a short court battle with lots of attendant negative publicity. And they know this.

A while ago UA offered a real mistake fare: about $1200 round trip in business class, LAX or SFO to New Zealand via Sydney. (Someone had left a zero off the end.) It was up for a weekend during May 2007. My wife and I jumped on it. UA's position then, and keep in mind that this fare was so low as to be an obvious mistake, was "we'll honor the ticket exactly as sold; we won't allow any changes; and we'll refund it in full, because it was sold as a refundable fare." That seemed fair enough to us and to others we discussed it with. We ended up having to cancel, for reasons that don't matter here, but a good friend of ours and two of his buddies enjoyed a great Kiwi vacation on the cheap. There's been some turnover in UA management since then, but I think they'd be at least as accommodating as this with a fare that is not an obvious mistake.

Nelty

I guess you must be right. It's not like they left a zero off.
I'm just wondering when I can assume for sure they're going to honor it? Like how many days seems reasonable?

dodgeflyer

Business or econ?

Nelty

Economy

Tchiowa

If the receipt is the 390EU then you're covered. You can make them honor it. If it's the higher price you mentioned then you have no proof that UA accepted the lower fare.

Go back to the original site and look at "the fine print". Sometimes these low prices (and this is low but not spectacularly low) are "Each way, based on R/T purchase". So if you bought one way you didn't get it.

Nelty

No this is definitely a round-trip ticket.
The receipt says 390EU.

Tchiowa

Then IMO you're covered. Stick to your guns. This is not an obvious "mistake fare" or "typo" so you can make UA honor it.

Nelty

Thank you for your help!

Hairbus380

I would not be concerned at all. It is ticketed, first of all. And second, there is a huge difference between a sale fare and a mistake fare.

Mistake fare, 50/50 it gets cancelled. Maybe 70/30 if it hits FT. Sale fare would be more like 1% chance of cancellation.