Qantas has mistakenly sold hundreds of first class tickets for almost 85% lower than the normal fare.
About 300 customers were able to snap up the error fares when it was published and displayed for almost eight hours on August 22, 2024.
A report by The Guardian said that the flights were listed at less than AUD 5,000 ($3,388) return, about AUD 15,000 ($10,100) cheaper than usual. Prices were also about 65% cheaper than the business class fare on offer.
Qantas then contacted passengers who purchased the ticket. The airline informed customers of the mistake, and offered to honor the fares but on a business class ticket instead.
Some passengers who managed to purchase the error fares shared their correspondence with the carrier on an online forum, saying that the Australian flag carrier is offering a full refund, or honor but downgrade the tickets to business class.
One of the passengers shared an email that they received from Qantas regarding the booking:
“An updated ticket and itinerary has been sent to you which is for the same dates as booked for travel in our Business cabin. Any future date changes are subject to our standard fare rules, and any applicable fare difference.If you are proceeding with this offer there is no action required from you.”
“If you do not wish to proceed with this offer, you can request a full refund by replying to this email directly confirming that you wish to cancel and refund this booking. We will then process a refund to the original form of payment,” the airline told the passenger.
A Qantas spokesperson told Australian media outlets that a “coding error” was responsible for the mistake in fare publishing, adding that the incident was a case where the fare was actually too good to be true.
Qantas’ current rule on error fares or booking mistakes states that it may cancel the booking or offer a refund to its customers.