To Honor or Not to Honor "Error Fares"

Airlines don't always honor ultra-low fares that they posted by mistake

"The Middle Seat," an always-informative Wall Street Journal column on air travel, tackles an interesting topic today. In "When Airline Fares Are Too Good to Be True," columnist Scott McCartney discusses situations that occur when someone at the airline makes makes a mistake in fare quotes and passengers snap up the bargain deals. Some airlines live with their employees' errors, while others backpedal and don't honor their unintended offers.

McCartney cited to recent dramatic examples of backpedal ing carriers. "British Airways PLC canceled 1,200 reservations for 2,200 passengers from the U.S. to India last fall when it mistakenly offered tickets for $40 on October 2." The airline claimed that passengers should known have better and gave them an apology $300 vouchers for a trip from the US to India that had a short booking deadline. Some passengers have sued, but so far, the courts have reportedly sided with the airline. I think "Super Nanny" should have been enlisted to send BA to the "naughty chair."

Another example: "In January, American offered first-class tickets from the U.S. to Australia for the coach price of $1,100 round-trip. First-class round-trip tickets actually cost as much as $20,000. American refused to honor the tickets and offered passengers $200 vouchers as compensation."

The parent corporations of United, Continental., Southwest, JetBlue and Singapore Airlines told McCartney that "their policy is to not cancel tickets even when a mistake is discovered, no matter how large the error."