Paying with a credit card was/is only possible for e-tickets. None can be bought for this route, and I would be stunned to hear that anyone's card was charged. (Even though you could put in your CC #, right next to the disclaimer about e-tickets.) Until the reservation is ticketed, there's not much recourse. (Even BA iirc refused to honor non ticketed reservation after a while.)

Oh no no... My fault here... I meant that I won't be entering a flame war with my new friend Ozstamps here, we have decided to leave each other alone and respect each others points of view, I love fare errors and any time I'll see them I'll send them to whoever I can (2000 members and growing!)

Heck, anyone that remembers past alerts knows I sent out the BoraBora thing AND started the whole alerts list AFTER the BA debacle to alert people of things just like this!

BUT CANISTA, before you get all MAD with ME, there are over 30 people with access to the fare alert error mailing list, so it's not always me sending them...

And I am not saying it's not OK to complain about them, of course people are free to whine all they want, but at least add some logic to it, anyone claiming it wasn't obvious that this was an error is clearly missing the point...


[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-24-2003).]

[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-24-2003).]

[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-24-2003).]

[This message has been edited by ScottC (edited 04-24-2003).]

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by Canista (edited 04-24-2003).]

So he has existing reservations made before this one and having nothing to do with it. This is FT -- who doesn't?!?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

smart = trying to screw a company out of money over an obvious error. May I be the dumbest person in your world? (Oh wait, I already am! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif )

btw, I don't know which side is the majority and which is the minority. ozstamps asserted "no one" was doing anything, and I simply commented on that.

I didn't say anything about that actually.

Completely wrong. If you care to check with host Bernie, I am as always booked and long ticketed on UA for the big Dusseldorf FT "DO" in July. What I stated in my letter to TG is 100% accurate. Appreciate you editing out your completely erroneous comments please.

Waste? Their policy is not to give it away, thereby protecting (as best they can) the exclusivity of the product.

Somehow, a person who pounds the table and stamps his feet demanding the free ride he thinks he is entitled to (but is not, according to any reasonable observer) does not seem to me to be the type that will fly a paid fare in the premium cabin of the same airline in the future. Rather, such a person is more likely the type to wait around and pounce on the next fare error and play the same game. After all, they got away with a free ride once, why not try it again?

I don't think that'll work too well. If you give the product away for a price that doesn't even cover the production costs of said product, why bother making it in the first place? Airlines have tried, in their desperation, to "give away the shop" to stay in business and ended up doing nothing but to speed up their own demise.

Your analogy is not accurate. The butcher can easily change the amount of sausage he makes, even on a day-to-day basis. When demand is higher, he makes more; when it is low, he makes less. He doesn't make the same amount, sell 15% of it and give away the remaining 85% for free. That just makes no sense. An airline, in contrast, is not able to expand or cut its capacity very easily because of high operating costs and the scheduled nature of its operations (the planes will pretty much have to fly regardless of how many paying pax are on board). But, the airline is similar in that it should not be giving away the product for free.

FewMiles..

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This falls into the category of law school-type conjecture and doesn't really happen much in the real world. Still I do think there's a way a court might sort of hold Thai Air to this deal.

Even in the absence of consideration, courts will sometimes hold a party to a promise on the doctrine of "promissory estoppel." In this case, the airline "promised" that it would get you from LHR to BKK for free. No consideration, no contract. Court's don't normally enforce mere promises, which I think this is. If someone reasonably relies on that promise to his detriment, though, the courts might enforce the promise. A perfect example would be if someone purchased a ticket to LHR so that they could take the Thai Air flight to BKK. If Thai doesn't let him use the ticket he bought to BKK, he's relied on their promise to his detrmient. Note, though, that the reliance must be "reasonable." I actually think it might be -- other airlines have honored these fares in the past and I think that might be good enough.

Though a court might enforce this promise, damages are another story. I think a court would probably only award the "aggrieved" passenger his/her cost of transportation to LHR, not a free trip to BKK. Also, I don't know what law applies to this contract. If it's US or UK law, promissory estoppel might be an option. If it's some other law, who knows.

I don't think anyone should expect Thai to give them these tickets for free. As a purely legal matter, though, I think a court might hold them to it.

Legal and right are not necessarily the same thing.

FewMiles..

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No, two edits to correct some spelling errors. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

I stand by my opinion that your letter to TG seriously misrepresents the facts, your own opinion of whether this was a valid fare, and attempts to indicate that you bought tickets for the sole purpose of using these TG fare error ones, when as you point out above this is not the case at all.

I wish you good luck in your attempts to obtain compensation, but will as stated above not be joining it, now or later.

Where’s Jim Thompson when you need him!

Matthew,
Thanks for all of the entertainment yesterday. It was fun to participate in your adventure. Thanks for sharing your info in the first place
wwbgd

And yes, my word use was over the top (I edited it), but when you invest a lot of time and effort in something and then get questioned you tend to get a little upset http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Sadly only ONE flyertalker took the time to thank me for sending out this alert http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Defraud? Tickets for zero dollars were purchased on the same day Thai had news stories stating:

Thai Airways International is planning to offer complimentary tickets and heavily discounted tour packages to 20,000 travel agents worldwide in a bid to woo back passengers.

The move comes amid declining flight occupancy rates and regional fears over the Sars virus.

Deputy Transport Minister Pichet Sathirachawal said yesterday he had ordered the national carrier to introduce generous promotions to ensure the airline stayed afloat.

(from http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/24Apr2003_news20.html )

It's not at all a long shot to think that a zero dollar ticket, since they are offering them to others, would be part of that.



[This message has been edited by cordelli (edited 04-24-2003).]

There is nothing wrong with contributing to people booking the fare. If the airline honours the fare even though it is clearly an error, then that it is their free and conscious choice.

There is also nothing wrong with complaining about the £0 not being honoured. That is perfectly within anyone's rights. It is, however, a bit silly to get all ruffled up about something that was clearly an error and have unreasonable expectations that the fare would be honoured as is.

What I would say, however, is that it is ridiculous to claim a moral and/or legal entitlement to have this error fare honoured.

I hope this makes it more clear. I believe this is what ScottC is getting at.

Cheers,
FewMiles..