Originally Posted by
millsdale
If KE stranded you at another airport and you had to buy a most likely full fare one way coach ticket, that would be easily sueable in court. KE knows about this fare, and assuming they do not have retards in their legal office, they are probably going to honor this as the longer they do not the most it would cost them. They got about 500-600 out of a lot posters, if they not honored the fare, at the very least they will lose it, possibly go with an empty seat (if denied at the gate), be possibly on the hook for hotel and excursion cancellation costs (if not the cost of a full hotel stay as some hotels offer the best price if non refundable pay up front). So instead of taking their $550 in the bag already, KE could not honor but instead of being $550 ahead, could cost them a couple thousand per person.
While companies have been known to do dumb stuff in the past that really burned them in court, I would hope KE would know better.
And remember, mistake fares are not for the risk averse faint of heart traveler, things sometimes go bad with these arrangements.
Finally, if we get to October and this is still showing, I think we got this one in the bag.
I think the unknown here is the AD 75 fare, and how this is treated at the gate. From the KE website it appears that travel agent tickets are pre-approved by the Sales Office, where documentation is provided including IATAN card:
"AGENT'S DISCOUNT (AD75) Requests for travel agent's discount ticket is approved solely at the discretion of the respective Korean Air Regional Sales Office. - Agent's request must be on original agency letterhead and must include the agent's name, itinerary and booking class. The request must be signed by the owner or manager of the agency. - The request must be accompanied by a copy of the agent's valid IATAN ID card. - AD75 tickets must be issued by Korean Air, and will be valid for 3 months from the date of ticket issuance."
It is unclear to me whether this card is required again at check-in. If it is, that could be a problem, even if KE brass choose to ignore their error. If standard operating procedure is to check the IATAN card, how would the GA know if I (on the mistake fare) am different from any other travel agent flying on this discount. I doubt they can suspend all travel agent verification because of this error... and the fact that flights originate from multiple cities with multiple agents makes it more complicated.
'Course the other problem is the 3 month limit.
I was lucky to travel on the HKG-IST-LAX fare, but this was only an error in $, and all originating from the same city(s), so less confusion. Anyway, I'm holding on, but since I'm not scheduled to leave until late December, I'll be carefully watching the first person through. Would certainly be preferable if KE was proactive in legitimizing this fare.