Lost a cheap airfare today which was literally at my fingertips

[lauren0309]

GRRR! A little off topic. I have a trip planned to Vegas for August. When I went on the Delta site this morning to check prices for airfare, the airfare was $50.00 roundtrip! I called Delta to ask if this was a typographical error and she said no, that was the price. So I went back online to book 4 tickets (for me, my boyfriend Charlie, my son and his girlfriend). It asked for each passengers birthdate. I did not know my son's girlfriend's birthdate so I texted him at work and he was in a meeting. So I finally texted his girlfriend and she told me her birthdate and when I typed it in and pressed purchase, it jumped up to $367 a person! I was so mad. I just heard on the news that it was a glitch. Well I caught that glitch but I lost it. Oh well

[UATLB]

Never hesitate if it's listed as that said price they have to offer it.

[kenish]

Never hesitate if it's listed as that said price they have to offer it.

 

Not true. In this case, DL will honor the mistake fare. But airlines are not legally required to do so, and they often do not. UA seems to have "fat finger" errors about once a year and lately they have not honored them. Several months ago a few "bold" consumers posted a UA fare error on social media and also purchased many tickets for themselves. UA cancelled their Mileage Plus accounts and their elite status. A travel ombudsman (Chris Elliot) investigated, and explained a provider doesn't have to honor a price error and can retaliate against those being egregious about it. Explicitly covered in the contract and website disclaimers (I see both sides of this issue and I'm not totally taking the airlines' side).

Edited December 27, 2013 by kenish

[RickT]

I saw a bizarre rate on ITA with Delta for $150 return. The trip should have cost over $750. I immediately went to the Delta site but it was showing $750+ Not sure if this is connected but I may have missed out on booking this glitch. Will keep my eye on it just in case.

[Cruise Junky]

I just read on trip advisor that someone got 4 tickets from NYC to Kona for $103 each...nice

[joyus]

I know how you feel. I saw someone posted on Flyertalk.com that Expedia was offering these really low rates on DL. We're planning a trip to LAX in May. It came up $59.00 r/t, I almost booked, but realize I needed 2 tickets so I re-entered and it came back at $59.02pp. Then got concerned that the tkts may not be honored at the airport (though it was a problem w/Expedia), so I went to DL website. Showed regular price so I went back to Expedia, still showed the $59.00pp on front page, but when I got to the payment page changed to $432.00pp.

I was really angry at myself for not booking before especially since they had a 24hr cancellation! The fact that we got an awesome airfare to Barcelona consoles me.

[wrp96]

I just read on trip advisor that someone got 4 tickets from NYC to Kona for $103 each...nice

 

I saw multiple people get that rate - for first class.

 

 

It was definitely a glitch which Delta caught and fixed quickly but they are honoring any tickets purchased under the glitch.

Edited December 27, 2013 by wrp96

[Keith1010]

Would have been great.

 

Keith

[lauren0309]

That would have been a nice Christmas present for me. I'm going to check New Years Day morning. Maybe someone will have had too much to drink and press the wrong button and we'll have another glitch.:rolleyes:

[frugaltravel]

Never hesitate if it's listed as that said price they have to offer it.

 

Not true. In this case, DL will honor the mistake fare. But airlines are not legally required to do so, and they often do not. UA seems to have "fat finger" errors about once a year and lately they have not honored them. Several months ago a few "bold" consumers posted a UA fare error on social media and also purchased many tickets for themselves. UA cancelled their Mileage Plus accounts and their elite status. A travel ombudsman (Chris Elliot) investigated, and explained a provider doesn't have to honor a price error and can retaliate against those being egregious about it. Explicitly covered in the contract and website disclaimers (I see both sides of this issue and I'm not totally taking the airlines' side).

 

The US DOT agrees with UATLB and disagrees with kenish. If a customer's credit card has been charged, the DOT requires the airline to honor the fare. The DOT also says that the contract jargon that talks about not honoring such fares is not enforceable. Note that Chris Elliott is a strong opponent of "fat finger" fares as well as of elite flyers and frequent flyer programs in general. His comments are naturally filtered through that prism.

[kenish]

The US DOT agrees with UATLB and disagrees with kenish. If a customer's credit card has been charged, the DOT requires the airline to honor the fare. The DOT also says that the contract jargon that talks about not honoring such fares is not enforceable. Note that Chris Elliott is a strong opponent of "fat finger" fares as well as of elite flyers and frequent flyer programs in general. His comments are naturally filtered through that prism.

 

Agree with your comments on Chris Elliott. But a number of other sites say the same thing...an airline can refuse to honor a fare (though it may be terrible PR). That said, you piqued my curiosity because I'm aware of several cases in the past 2 years or so where an airline wouldn't honor fare mistakes. It falls under an area of law called "unilateral error"...when a price is obviously wrong, a seller doesn't have to honor it. Also most airline CoC specifically allow the airline to not honor erroneous fares. I combed the DOT website and couldn't find what you cite...can you provide a link?

 

Maybe that's why there's a several hour wait between ticket purchase on airline websites and a confirmation?

[nascargalinfla]

Talked to several friends that secured awesome rates for their clients during the Delta glitch.

 

Sent from my NX008HD8G using Tapatalk

[waterbug123]

 

Maybe that's why there's a several hour wait between ticket purchase on airline websites and a confirmation?

 

???

I generally get a confirmation immediately when booking through delta.com.

[6rugrats]

UA seems to have "fat finger" errors about once a year and lately they have not honored them. Several months ago a few "bold" consumers posted a UA fare error on social media and also purchased many tickets for themselves. UA cancelled their Mileage Plus accounts and their elite status.

 

Are you talking about the 12 Sept error? If so, those tickets are being honored. Why would UA cancel Mileage Plus account and a flyer's status because they purchased a mistake fare? Really makes no sense.

 

OP - next time purchase immediately. You don't have to put in the correct DOB; it can be corrected later. And, the basic rules for these mistake fares (which this was) is never call the airline, just book them.

Edited December 28, 2013 by 6rugrats

[dadroy]

These kinds of errors cause a problem, legally speaking. If all contracts say the airline does not have to honor a ticket, they could, in theory, sell tickets at a price, they a week before the flight claim error and reject the ticket. This would force the customer to pay a higher fee to take the flight.

 

I am not sure how a court could decide something is an obvious error. Would they only compare fares on that carrier or compare it to others. Southwest is usually lower priced than other airlines. Could they claim all their flights were obvious errors because they were not charging as much as AA or Delta?

 

What a mess to try and work through.

[kenish]

Coincidentally there was a piece on the morning news about "fat finger" errors and new DOT regs I was unaware of. One person was with DOT and another was a transportation attorney.

 

When your reservation is confirmed, the airline now has to honor the price. The reservation is confirmed when funds actually transfer. I wasn't aware of the new rule, sorry. On AA (no doubt different on DL and others), I receive an email showing the itinerary and price...the charge shows up as a "pending transaction" for about 12-24 hours on my card which is much longer than routine purchases. I receive a full confirmation after the pending transaction is approved. That struck me as odd the first time it happened...perhaps AA double-checks new bookings before processing the transaction?

 

UA cancelled several M+ accounts where the customer was very egregious about the error and gamed the system...the majority who just got a good deal due to the mistake were fine.

 

dadroy- There's several articles online about "obvious error", which is moot with the DOT rule. A $20 ticket to Hawaii is obvious...as you point out, a $200 fare to Hawaii is a gray area and these would usually be honored. It cost the airline more in legal fees and bad PR to end up in court.

 

BTW, not sure how the DOT rule applies to international tickets (say, a LHR-LAX fare purchased in the UK on BA). Again, a link to the DOT or a good article laying it all out would be great!

Edited December 28, 2013 by kenish

[jc719]

Two US government sites:

 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title14-vol4/xml/CFR-2012-title14-vol4-sec399-88.xml

 

http://airconsumer.dot.gov/rules/EAPP_2_FAQ_01-11-2012final.pdf (at the very end, #8, page 43).

 

Search "49 CFR 41712 § 399.88(a)" for additional discussion and analysis.

[kenish]

Thanks for the links! I'm pretty savvy at web searches but not when it comes to government regs. Maybe because sensible and logical search words aren't used by the government. :)

 

It also answers my question about a hypothetical LHR-LAX fare on BA (rule applies).

[scottbee]

A little more background on the DL goof

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/travel/la-fi-mo-delta-website-mistake-low-fares-20131226,0,6650091.story#axzz2ojYD8fEB

[greatam]

It also answers my question about a hypothetical LHR-LAX fare on BA (rule applies).

 

I'll definitely keep my eyes open on the BA site after midnight, Dec. 31. It was at that time that the $20 fares appeared to LHR. Someone forgot to change the date from one year to the next and it made a mess of the entire booking system. I could use a "free" trip to Europe without having to use miles or "normal" money to get there.

[kenish]

I'll definitely keep my eyes open on the BA site after midnight, Dec. 31. It was at that time that the $20 fares appeared to LHR. Someone forgot to change the date from one year to the next and it made a mess of the entire booking system. I could use a "free" trip to Europe without having to use miles or "normal" money to get there.

 

Be careful though. Your 777 could turn into a mouse-powered pumpkin enroute!

[lauren0309]

What is a BA site?

[cruisefanatic4life]

British airways

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[waterbug123]

Southwest is usually lower priced than other airlines. Could they claim all their flights were obvious errors because they were not charging as much as AA or Delta?

.

 

That's a frequent misconception.

 

Case in point: I have a CHS-FLL trip in late Jan that I haven't booked yet. Same dates, approximately the same departure times, but Delta's cheapest is $223 whlle Southwest's cheapest is $310 (and I'd have worse connections to boot)

[scottbee]

I called Delta to ask if this was a typographical error and she said no, that was the price.

 

You should avoid doing this. The faster you alert the airline of their misprice, the faster they're going to fix it. Had you tried that on FT, you would have been flame broiled