This morning I wanted to reserve a BSL-BRU-BSL flight on the Brussels Airlines website. After choosing the dates and the flights I got a fare quote of 126.40 sfr.

When I wanted to confirm the booking the fare immediately went up by 50 %, to 183.40 sfr.

I then called the help desk of Brussels Airlines and was told that the seats I wanted to reserve just had been sold and that there weren’t any seats at that rate available anymore. Not a very convincing explanation, but well...

But when I tried again this evening, on a different computer, exactly the same thing happened: A quote of 126.40 sfr. followed by a 50 % increase once I wanted to book the flights.

In my opinion this is cheating the customer. A fare quote on internet is binding as long as I confirm my purchase immediately which obviously is not the case on the Brussels Airlines website. I have sent them a mail asking them to honor the fare quoted and I am waiting for their reply.