A deal between the Transportation Department and American Airlines resulted in
1,634 travelers getting either nearly free flights or reduced business-class tickets to China. Travel must be completed during the next year.
American Airlines said it was a computer glitch that happened during a sale on March 17 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. which allowed customers to get $0-$20 airline tickets from the US to Shanghai and Beijing.
Before this agreement was reached, American had honored the tickets that were paid during the sale period, but refused to honor the tickets that were put on hold for 24 hours.
American put this in the agreement and didn’t admit any blame:
“American continues to believe that given the clear correlation between social media postings that prompted consumers to make bookings and holds and alerted those consumers to the fact the fares were offered by mistake, enforcement action is not appropriate, as it rewards persons not acting in good faith.”
Blane Workie, assistant general counsel for aviation enforcement, though ruled that this action was warranted for American canceling the tickets during the customary 24-hour hold period.
I’ve followed airfares for years and I can’t tell when it’s a great unadvertised fare or a promotion vs some kind of mistake fare. The ticket being free or nearly free doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a mistake.
I’ve seen free fares that were not a mistake and also super sales for promotional purposes. For instance, United couldn’t possibly of made money on the $150rt fare from NY-LA we posted earlier this year. I guess my question is it for the passengers to decide before they buy if its a mistake?
I’m glad they’re honoring the mistake, but a $20 fare to China has to be a mistake, Rob. But I’d gamble the 20 for the chance to see it.