Qantas accidentally sells first-class tickets for 85% off
Qantas accidentally sold first-class airfares to hundreds of customers at a steep discount, a bargain that turned out to be too good to be true.
The Australian airline on Monday told CBS MoneyWatch that it sold 300 first-class tickets between Australia and the U.S. for 85% off their usual price — an unheard of discount. Qantas said the deal was not a genuine offer and that the blunder was due to a coding flaw in its booking system that lasted for several hours on August 22. It has since been fixed, the airline said.
“Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true,” Qantas said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.
terms and conditions on its website that “Sometimes mistakes are made and incorrect fares can be displayed.” The airline says it reserves the right to cancel tickets or bookings when “there is an error or mistake that is reasonably obvious in the fare price.”
Alternatively, Qantas can give customers a refund or sell the same ticket at the correct fare, according to the carrier’s terms.
In 2023, the airline agreed to pay nearly $70 million to passengers who had purchased tickets on roughly 8,000 flights Qantas had already decided to cancel, but continued to advertise.
Megan Cerullo
Source: cbsnews.com