United Blames 3rd Party for Glitch & Refuses to Honor Thousands of Ultra-Cheap Premium Mistake Fares
Jeff Edwards February 13, 2015
United says transatlantic BusinessFirst fares that were issued for as little as $75 on Wednesday were the result of a third-party error and therefore will not be honored.
United Airlines will not honor any of the ultra-cheap tickets purchased through United.com on Wednesday. In an email to Bloomberg, United spokeswoman Rahsaan Johnson explained that the mistake fares were not the result of an error on the airline’s part and that all the tickets will be invalidated.
“United is voiding the bookings of several thousand individuals who were attempting to take advantage of an error a third-party software provider made when it applied an incorrect currency exchange rate,” wrote Johnson.
In the early morning hours Wednesday, this FlyerTalk thread alerted community members to a suspiciously premium low fare listed on United’s Danish website. BusinessFirst, transatlantic round-trip tickets purchased using the Danish krone were being offered for what amounted to as little as $75.
The thread quickly filled with advice on how flyers could navigate the complex maze of departure and point-of-purchase information required to reach the bargain fares, which were only available for purchase in Danish krone. By the time the airline managed to close the loophole late Wednesday afternoon, thousands of people had successfully booked super-cheap flights.
United said it was first alerted that errant fares may be listed on its site when an unusually high number of transactions with Danish krone listed as the local currency were recorded. The airline reported that most of the mistake fares sold were for flights originating in the U.K.
[Photo: United Airlines]
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If you make a mistake, generally, you can cancel within 24 hours, so, yes, passengers can cancel their mistakes sometimes.
"Passengers don’t have the right to cancel their mistakes like this…" Yes you do, within 24 hours of booking.
Passengers don't have the right to cancel their mistakes like this...
I am no United apologist, but do people really think the airline should honor THOUSANDS of fares that were an "obvious" mistake. I know people will argue that passengers don't have the 'right' to cancel their mistakes and I agree that is an issue that should be addressed. Don't get me wrong; I love a great deal when I get one; I hate it when I lose out on a great deal; and I sometimes argue that a too good to be true deal should be honored for me. But if the deal is not honored, I don't cry foul and attempt to legally enforce a too good to be true deal. In my experience, sometimes one wins and sometimes one loses but most of the time one gets that for which one pays.
It's United, hence it is always someone else's fault... I guess that UA cannot hold the converter provider liable as their contract, if it then exists, does not stipulate any liability. For many European legislations - other than Germany - cancelling past the 24 hour mark would not constitute a mistake fare recovery and UA may still be liable for transport.