I know I am a new member to this board, but I had to find a place to vent and decide if there is anything I can do about tickets I purchased last week.

My husband and I decided to look into taking advantage of Lufthansa's air sale to go to our favorite place in the world - Italy.

After many calls and probably a collective 2 hours on hold, we managed to make reservations and pay for two round-trip tickets from the west coast to Italy for a grand total of $750, taking advantage of their special fares and companion flies free deal. We made payment on our tickets just over a week ago.

Today, I was called by Lufthansa. They told me that we could not have this fare - someone made a mistake (they can not combine the discounted fare with the companion flies free offer) and they would be willing to refund our money or we can pay an additional $400 and keep our reservation.

Maybe my thinking is wrong - but should their mistake be my problem? If it were the other way around, and I had made some sort of error in my travel arrangements, would they be so forgiving? Absolutly not! In paying for my ticket, I would have agreed to their fare rules and would be subject to change fees, non-refundable airfare, etc. In effect, by paying for my tickets I would have entered into a contract.

When they give me the price, and I pay them for the tickets at the price they quoted, have they not entered into a contract with me?

I am planning on talking to someone at the airline tomorrow about this to try to save my airfare from increasing. Is this thinking nuts? Is it worth a try?