https://www.9news.com.au/national/2017/04/30/12/23/mistake-fares-how-to-fly-cheaper-thanks-to-airlines-errors
Simple clumsy mistakes by airlines are allowing travellers to fly for thousands of dollars cheaper than usual.
A mistake fare is when an airline sells a ticket on their website at a price they didn’t necessarily intend to – and while the error is usually picked up quickly, airlines will often honour the price for customers who snapped up the fare early despite not being obliged to under law.
There are a number of reasons why these mistakes happen, Scott Keyes, from mistake-fare finding website Scott’s Cheap Flights, told 9news.com.au.
“It can be as simple as someone at the airline typing in ‘$189’ instead of ‘$1089’,” Mr Keyes explained.
“There can also be currency conversion errors... air pricing algorithms can be problematic too. Some are built from 1980s technology.”
Virgin Australia last year sold a round trip from Melbourne to Paris for $607, I Want That Flight reported.
The same return flight is currently selling for $2231 on Virgin’s website.
A slew of clued-in customers purchased the fare for it was quickly taken down, and the price was honoured by the airline, a Virgin Australia spokesperson told 9news.com.au.
Mr Keyes said it “not unusual” for airlines to admit error.
“Ninety percent of the times it works. More often than not, airlines would rather take a relatively small loss instead of having their reputation ruined,” he said.
Social media also plays a factor in airlines honouring mistake fares, Mr Keyes explained, mentioning United Airlines’ recent PR disaster.
“Any consumer slight gets amplified in the world of social media. It’s to the consumer’s benefit. Airlines don’t want to be on social media for the wrong reason.”
Mr Keyes warned however, that buying error fares was still a “risk” and that airlines could cancel the erroneous fare at short notice.
Qantas and Jetstar said such mistakes on their sites were “rare.”
“It’s not a common occurrence as we have a number of checks and balances in place to make sure the right fares are loaded in the system,” a spokesperson for the airlines said in an official statement to 9news.com.au.
“In the rare chance of it occurring, each case would be reviewed on its specific circumstances.”
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), airlines are not obliged to honour reduced fares but can instead offer a refund.
“A business can withdraw a product or service from sale if they believe it has been incorrectly represented or priced,” the ACCC said, adding:
“If a business has taken payment from a product or service in question, they must refund any consumers who have purchased the product.”
Air New Zealand this month issued a written apology for advertising a $457 return fare from Auckland to Honolulu in an email, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The link to the fare was soon corrected to $922 return.
Given the varying policies, Mr Keyes advised travellers to “wait a week or so” before booking hotel accommodation and other non-refundable travel itinerary details.
Mr Keyes said he had a “weird quirk” for finding bargain flights.
“It’s like a treasure hunt for me,” the former journalist said.
Scott’s Cheap Flights began in 2014 as an email chain the 29-year-old would send out to his friends when airlines posted cheap fares.
The site rapidly grew in two years, with more than 500,000 members now signed up to receive his free emails.
Mr Keyes has a team of 12 fare hunters dotted across the world, sourcing deals specific to customers departing from certain countries, including Australia.
“I lived with a couple of Aussie roommates in Washington DC. They said ‘we’re paying way too much for flights’, so Australia and New Zealand was actually the first place we expanded to outside the US.”
He emphasised that his site was not a flight agency and does not take commission or affiliate fees.
“We just spend all day, every day, scouring Skyscanner, Google Flights and Kayak, trying to find the best deals.”