South African Airways Prompts Fresh Mistake Fare Madness With Void of 600 Tickets
Mary Minor Davis March 06, 2015
As the saying goes, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Many travelers learned this lesson the hard way after learning their erroneous fares would not be honored.
Last week, South African Airways discovered that more than 600 people had taken advantage of an erroneous fare that posted during one of its sales and promptly informed all 600 that it will not honor their purchases.
Round-trip business class tickets between Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi were mistakenly included in the airline’s late February fare sale at $72 each. The average fare for the eight-hour trip is $2,500. South African spokesman Tlali Tlali told AP that the airline will issue refunds to those who took advantage of the erroneous fare.
“We appreciate the fact that customers would under normal circumstances take advantage of bargains and good travel bargains,” said Tlali, adding that “underpricing” would expose the airline to legal challenges.
Several of the affected customers plan on filing complaints against the airline with regulators. A similar mistake fare was taken advantage of by thousands last month after a glitch resulted in United Airlines offering first-class tickets for as little as $75. The airline ultimately voided the mistake fares, a decision which the U.S. Department of Transportation upheld in the face of customer complaints.
[Photo: South African Airways]
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Can I cancel my mistake bookings upon realizing it's a mistake? I think contract law can come into play here...
I agree, the people enraged over this or "filing complaints" are shameful. These are the customers as an airline I wouldn't mind losing.
@AsiaFlyGuy: Sadly, there are people that think it is okay. They'll rationalize it by saying, it's only 600 tickets. But, those 600 tickets would end up costing a loss of $1,456,800 based on the average ticket price.
Why would a person think they can get away with booking an obius fare mistake...
SAA is centimeters away from bankruptcy. Unlike Etihad, who honored last year's Christmas fares because they have so much money they don't know where to put it, SAA can't afford this!