Sep 13, 2013, 12:40 pm
12 September 2013 UA $0 Mistake Fares (UA Honoring Ticketed Itineraries)
Sep 12, 2013, 4:18 pm
#91
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: EWR
Programs: SPG LT Plat/P100, UA 1K 1MM
Posts: 532
Business travelers who need to be at xyz at 9 AM with price no object? Never booked anything as crazy as 28 grand, but I have shelled out 1400 USD to fly from DFW to DTW in Y.
Absolutely. Retail frequently does this, honoring the ticketed price. I own a tie that cost me $5 because they forgot to enter the second 5 in the price tag.
Absolutely. Retail frequently does this, honoring the ticketed price. I own a tie that cost me $5 because they forgot to enter the second 5 in the price tag.
I see your point about the tie, but there is a difference between $0 and >$0.
Sep 12, 2013, 4:18 pm
#92
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
Sep 12, 2013, 4:25 pm
#93
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: ORD / DUB / LHR
Programs: UA 1K MM; BA Silver; Marriott Plat
Posts: 8,243
I think the correct answer is: never.
It's equally interesting to see how fast they could identify and fix this error but how hard it is to get attention to errors which do not affect revenue but do affect delivery of promised benefits.
This just goes to show they are capable of doing what they want to do.
It's equally interesting to see how fast they could identify and fix this error but how hard it is to get attention to errors which do not affect revenue but do affect delivery of promised benefits.
This just goes to show they are capable of doing what they want to do.
Second, you have to be kidding if you think they would do anything other than shut something like this down immediately. Are you trying to have us believe that any one of your wish list of things that UA would add / change is equal in time, effort, and priority to address? Come on. You're not naive enough to believe that, and it's abundantly obvious that an airline is going to take immediate steps to prevent tickets being sold for free
Sep 12, 2013, 4:27 pm
#95
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: ORD-LAS
Programs: UA MM 1K, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium Elite
Posts: 4,419
Sep 12, 2013, 4:27 pm
#96
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: YVR SFO
Programs: UA G
Posts: 4,866
I'm looking forward to them honoring the tickets under the condition that the tickets are free and do not earn EQM or RDM. 
nb. I did not book any of these tickets.
nb. I did not book any of these tickets.
Sep 12, 2013, 4:28 pm
#97
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Location: ORD / DUB / LHR
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Posts: 8,243
Sep 12, 2013, 4:30 pm
#98
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LHR (sometimes CLE, SFO, BOS, LAX, SEA)
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 5,896
A good rule of thumb for mis-filed fares in the last few years is that tickets which have a $0 fare basis tend to not be honored; and tickets which have any >$0 fare basis, even something that might seem a bit silly like a $2 promotional fare, tend to be honored.
Sep 12, 2013, 4:33 pm
#99
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Northern Calif./Eastern Ida.
Programs: Amethyst Premier Plutonium Medallion
Posts: 20,675
i'm already booked to 1K this year and the tickets i bought under this "sale" i would simply not have purchased otherwise, but i don't care if i get EQM on them personally. RDM would be nice, but for $0, okay, that fine since this is even more free than an award ticket...
i also booked a 2014 ticket, in the world of PQ$, i would still fly this ticket since i booked it with the full knowledge that it will literally earn almost 0 PQ$...it's a trip i want to take, and for the price, it would be acceptable to get no PQMs since i am also getting no PQ$ to speak of. if the fare was on DL for $0, i would have booked it there too even as a DL kettle.
point being the impact of this fare mistake on FT would be huge if PQM and RDM are not awarded. but in the grand scheme, most people who got $10 tickets just want the $10 tickets...not the PQM and RDM that might come with them.
Sep 12, 2013, 4:36 pm
#100
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 24,153
okay, but i and many others will take a less convenient flight to get a G or N, if that option were presented to us at booking. instead, we got a bunch of K's for $0 and no background knowledge of what else was available on the route.
in addition, i am not about to take UA at their word that lowest intended fare for a given city pair or group of flights cost $x when they already sold it to me for a given "price" even if that price is $0. they need to either honor the tickets, or come back with something that a reasonable person would identify as a good deal to incentivise people not to fight them over it. otherwise they will have a hot DOT mess on their hands.
i understand the theory that i, and most other FTers know enough to know that a flight should not be sold for $10 round trip -- but out there somewhere there were people browsing for flights for a trip they actually need to take and they stumbled across this without the knowledge of how airfares work to make a decision about whether it was a mistake or not. the DOT has been very clear that it is not the responsibility of the consumer to identify whether a fare is real or a mistake. most people only know what they pay all included, they dont know what the cost is of taxes/fees on each segment/city pair.
in addition, i am not about to take UA at their word that lowest intended fare for a given city pair or group of flights cost $x when they already sold it to me for a given "price" even if that price is $0. they need to either honor the tickets, or come back with something that a reasonable person would identify as a good deal to incentivise people not to fight them over it. otherwise they will have a hot DOT mess on their hands.
i understand the theory that i, and most other FTers know enough to know that a flight should not be sold for $10 round trip -- but out there somewhere there were people browsing for flights for a trip they actually need to take and they stumbled across this without the knowledge of how airfares work to make a decision about whether it was a mistake or not. the DOT has been very clear that it is not the responsibility of the consumer to identify whether a fare is real or a mistake. most people only know what they pay all included, they dont know what the cost is of taxes/fees on each segment/city pair.
Doubt any court (Im not a liar I mean lawyer) would uphold that $0 is a price for anything, unless teher were a ton of *s that basically got the item back to what its price should have been eg a $150 fee for letting you buy the item, simply charging some taxes isnt gonna fly. No different then everyone who had their 4 mile HKG tkts honored after 100s of pgs of saying how UA Must honor them and DOT will stick it to them
Sep 12, 2013, 4:40 pm
#101
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: NYC, FLL
Programs: UA PP 1MM, Marriott Bonvoy LTTE, BA Gold
Posts: 6,361
Sep 12, 2013, 4:45 pm
#102
Company Representative, United Airlines
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Chicago, Houston, or somewhere in between
Posts: 2,176
Update
Hi everyone,
One of our filings today contained an error which resulted in certain fares displaying as zero. This has been corrected and united.com is currently available for reservations.
I realize many of you have questions about bookings that were made today, and we will share those details when they become available.
Thanks,
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
One of our filings today contained an error which resulted in certain fares displaying as zero. This has been corrected and united.com is currently available for reservations.
I realize many of you have questions about bookings that were made today, and we will share those details when they become available.
Thanks,
Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines
Sep 12, 2013, 4:46 pm
#103
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Location: Dog House
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Posts: 1,245
The real question: Did someone get fired over this? Did SMI/J's head nearly explode when he heard about this? When they shut down the booking engine online, was someone running down the hall as if their hair was on fire screaming "SHUT IT DOWN!"
Oh...to be a fly on the wall today in Chicago HQ.
Oh...to be a fly on the wall today in Chicago HQ.
Sep 12, 2013, 4:46 pm
#104
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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Bloomberg (not the mayor, the news service) posted this about an hour ago:
United Studying Whether to Honor $0 Fares Sold in Error
United Airlines (UAL) said its reviewing whether to honor an unknown number of tickets accidentally offered online for free after faulty data was put into its reservations system.
The booking portion of United.com had to be shut down while the carrier fixed the error, said Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the unit of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc. The fares were only on the website and werent distributed to other channels such as travel agencies, she said.
The fault was not technology-based, she said, without giving details on the reasons or the length of the website shutdown. Errant prices appeared for a couple hours at midday, McCarthy said.
Many of the tickets had a total cost of $5 or $10, suggesting that United was only collecting a mandatory 9/11 security fee of $2.50 per leg, said Rick Seaney, chief executive officer of FareCompare.com, a ticket research firm based in Dallas.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at [email protected]
United Studying Whether to Honor $0 Fares Sold in Error
United Airlines (UAL) said its reviewing whether to honor an unknown number of tickets accidentally offered online for free after faulty data was put into its reservations system.
The booking portion of United.com had to be shut down while the carrier fixed the error, said Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the unit of Chicago-based United Continental Holdings Inc. The fares were only on the website and werent distributed to other channels such as travel agencies, she said.
The fault was not technology-based, she said, without giving details on the reasons or the length of the website shutdown. Errant prices appeared for a couple hours at midday, McCarthy said.
Many of the tickets had a total cost of $5 or $10, suggesting that United was only collecting a mandatory 9/11 security fee of $2.50 per leg, said Rick Seaney, chief executive officer of FareCompare.com, a ticket research firm based in Dallas.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mary Jane Credeur in Atlanta at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ed Dufner at [email protected]
Sep 12, 2013, 4:52 pm
#105
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: SAN
Posts: 101
I don't know whether this is the same or not but Air Asia ran many zero base fare promotions many times before (Example: http://www.examiner.com/article/air-...india-and-more).