Emirates: No, We’re Not Honoring Those Mistake Fares
Jackie Reddy January 17, 2019
Emirates celebrates the arrival of its inaugural flight from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) via Athens International Airport (ATH) on Sunday, March 12, 2017, marking the launch of its twelfth U.S. gateway, Newark, N.J. (Stuart Ramson/AP Images for Emirates)
Cathay Pacific has had two instances of mistakenly listing premium fares at cheap prices over the course of the last few weeks. One Mile at a Time reports that it is not the only carrier to do so, with Emirates making this mistake earlier this month. Emirates, however, has not honored these fares.
Cathay Pacific has had two high-profile occurrences of premium fares mistakenly advertised at a fraction of their true value within the course of just a few weeks, but as One Mile at a Time reports, it is not the only carrier to make this kind of error in recent days.
The outlet reports that Gulf carrier Emirates also made a similar error just this past month. The website observes that, as of earlier in January, “…you could book a $1,300 roundtrip first class fare that was marketed by Malaysia Airlines and operated by Emirates for travel between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.”
However, One Mile at a Time also adds that, “It’s pretty clear this fare was entirely Malaysia Airlines’ fault, since the tickets weren’t bookable at that price directly through Emirates.”
But as the outlet makes clear, any carrier can advertise a mistake fare; rather, Malaysia’s handling of this incident vastly differs from Cathay’s procedure. While the latter airline opted to honor the mistake fares as publicly listed after both incidents, the outlet reports that Malaysia didn’t quite take the same path.
It notes that Malaysia canceled the tickets of those who had booked without even making contact with them, leaving passengers to find out only by viewing their online reservation.
Unlike Cathay, Malaysia is not honoring these tickets and it does not appear to be refunding them. Instead, the outlet reports that it “is offering passengers who booked this one nonstop roundtrip economy ticket on Malaysia Airlines, valid for travel on select routes (including taxes and fees).”
A full list of valid destinations – which features a range of cities across Malaysia, Southeast Asia and China – can be viewed here.
[Photo: Stuart Ramson/AP Images for Emirates]
When it comes to Malaysia, Paul Keating got it right, bloody recalcitrants, give the miney back you fools, no one wants to ever endure hardship by flying in Economy on MH, what are they thinking
Sounds the title is rather misleading. Malaysian is not honoring the fares.
I said this on the Etihad mistake fare thread, but it bears repeating: "The airlines’ handling of these so-called 'mistake fares' is absolutely insane. They can basically unilaterally get out of the contract with no penalty – there’s no burden of proof they have to meet to have a fare declared a mistake." This case is particularly egregious since, by the sound of it, they're both not honoring the tickets and not refunding them - if I'm reading that correctly, they've just taken the money and provided nothing? Insanity. I'd say it's about time the courts weigh in on this nonsense.
Malaysian airlines is the worst for refunds. When I cancelled my regular flights, they told me it will take 90 days and if they do not refund after that it is up to me to chase them!
My refund from vayama.com where I booked this fare just posted the refund on my American Express that included all fees and insurance.