Originally Posted by
no2chem
Exactly what basis do you have for this? You aren't AA --- only RM knows whether or not fares should exist.
Uh, I think you're taking my comment a
wee bit too literally.
Originally Posted by
no2chem
People calling things "error fares" and such is what led to the recent DOT decisions in the first place... If you call it an "error fare" you give AA the license to rescind the fare since you are apparently knowingly exploiting it...
...which is why I never
said it was an error fare. Obviously it's not. (The earlier ~$430 fare might've been, but AA obviously elected not to make a big deal out of it, presumably because they caught it quickly.) If anything I'd call it a "loophole fare": the ticket prices are roughly the same as if a pax flew nonstop between LAX-MIA en route to PTY, despite AA flying only its standard domestic metal on the route (ergo, no flat-bed seats).
Btw I know it's common practice among FTers to avoid phoning an airline directly about a true error fare, but that doesn't mean
we are the ones
defining the fares as such. That's generally the airlines' own call, and the DOT appears to be supportive of those calls. Further, most bona fide error fares are prima facie (plain on their face) erroneous, e.g. last year's incident when AA's Brazilian servers experienced some sort of rounding error in their conversion of reals to dollars, and were pricing tickets at 1/10th the usual price.