In reply to the question - How to find mistake fares?

My answer is since you cannot really distinguish between an excellent fare and a mistake - you find the fare the same way you find any other fare - old fashioned luck!

You search through Dreammaps (using lowest allowable $ field as it can bring up different results). Check out www.air-fare.com , check your favourite airline website. What is probably more important than any prescribed procedure to finding cheap fares, is that you share a good fare find with the FT community. You may not want the fare or may not be able to take advantage of it but others may.

Some have argued that it is important to get your ticket in your hands first because it may get pulled if the airline is swamped with similiar bookings (raises a red flag - free ticket from LHR-BKK is one example). Others have argued that by posting it on FT, the airline would hesitate to not honour the fare because of the bad publicity it may raise in the media (BA WT $20 fare is another example). This issue is still up for debate and the resolution largely depends on the airline you are dealing with and the fare paid.

In the end, it comes down to the person who finds the great fare. To post or not to post, that is the question. Most people on this board are not trollers and as such share. I appreciate this. The power of the internet is a wonderful thing.