Datapoint- I cancelled my flights today as frankly it goes against my morale compass and has bothered me since I booked them. I reached out to Cathay via Twitter and asked for a cancellation fee waiver since at the end of the day they can sell these two seats at full fare and make a boatload of money compared to the mistake fare. Sadly they responded as such:
" we are unable to waive the cancellation fee at our end, we will charge it according to the terms and condition."
I now have a new understanding of the people who take great pleasure in giving it to an airline. Think about the dollars and cents involved in this situation and ask yourself if you were a decision maker why you would not support a waiver of the cancellation fee. I applauded them for owning their mistake and honoring the tickets, however I have an incredibly bad taste in my mouth with how they are handling the cancellation.