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British Airways computer glitch posts super low cost flights to India
I quickly logged on to Orbitz, selected my dates, and clicked purchase. I received an email from Orbitz confirming my purchase and then got to work planning the trip. My husband was out with friends and had left his cell phone at home, so I was hoping he'd come home just tipsy enough to not mind that I'd just bought $1100 worth of plane tickets without discussing it with him first. Besides, he is accustomed to me buying plane tickets on a whim, just because they are on sale.
Luckily, he was just as excited as I was....until Saturday morning, when I received an email from Orbitz saying that due to "limited quantities", our order could not be fulfilled. As it turns out, it's because the fare never should have existed. Someone at BA obviously messed up (how'd you like to be that person come Monday morning?) and entered the wrong number. The fare should have been more like $1550 per person. The fat finger fare was corrected, but not before several people, myself included, had bought tickets at the faulty price.
Word on the web is that tickets bought before the error was discovered will be honored, if they were purchased on British Airways. So far it seems that those of us who used Orbitz will be out of luck. Christopher Elliott posted the story on his blog, along with a response from the company. They say British Airways didn't honor the purchases made with Orbitz ,so people who tried to book that way will not receive tickets.
This isn't the first time a technical error has crushed some budget traveler's dreams. In February, Northwest refused to honor $0 fares that were "purchased" online in error. So next time you see a fare that seems to good to be true, watch out. It might not be.
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Filed under: Asia, North America, India, United States, Airlines, Transportation, News, Travel Deals
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AA Oct 5th 2009 9:09PM
I booked this ticket when I came to know about the deal. Obviously it seemed like too good to be true but with all the deals floating around I gave it a try.
I then checked and double checked the ticket status on both priceline and British airways and that said "Its Confirmed" I also called British airways to check for status. After that I took BAs word on confirmation on tickets and went ahead and booked other tickets connecting to it.
Only to find out that those tickets were not honoured by BA even though they confirmed it on phone and website! so beware, even if airlines like British Airways confirm the tickets, they can back out on you!
I asked priceline to at least match the fare I was getting on friday from other airlines (other than BA) but priceline signed out on it too saying "Its completely British airways fault and you should contact them only. we are not involved"
I just wish I should have checked fares from priceline but then booked directly from airlines themselves. These middle mens in between only good for charing more fare but do not provide any customer service!
Overall bad experience from both priceline and BA customer service. Will think twice before booking any low fares from British Airways.
luiza Oct 6th 2009 1:12AM
I've bought the $600 tickets to India through a travel agent.
They called today, 3 days later to cancel the purchase, saying they had a glitch in the system... Even though I booked through a travel agent and got the confirmation email, they will not honor the fare or compensate me in any ways for their mistake.
Terrible customer service, My agent tried to reason with them for 1.5 hours and kept hitting a wall...
bummer!
Rich Oct 6th 2009 9:36AM
It WASN"T a computer glitch!! Geez! It was Human Error! Someone entered the price incorrectly. Why do people always blame it on technology when SOMEONE had to enter the price into the system. The computer just displays what it was told to display!
laughing Oct 6th 2009 10:00AM
airlines need to honor what they put on line since the airlines want and push for you to book online
johnathan Oct 6th 2009 10:07AM
if you go to a store, go to a rack, and see a shirt that is priced 2.98, and you get to the register and the clerk says, "hey, this is priced wrong, it should be 42.98" if you tell them, no, it says 2.98, they have to honor "their" mistake. why is it different in this case? if you see a fare at 550.00 and it should be 1550, oh well....i bet if you people who purchased the "deal" went to higher power, you can sue the airlines for not honoring the human computed error.
Crunk Oct 6th 2009 10:53AM
Who the heck wants to go to India anyways? Argh. Horrible country! Yeah, Yeah some nice buildings to see but pfffff I will look at the pictures anyday!
bellered Oct 6th 2009 11:24AM
Actually, Johnathan, a clothing store in that situation does not "have "to honor their mistake. When it's clothing, they usually will honor it simply because they don't want to make you angry -- and because the markup on clothing is so astronomical that they won't really lose much by letting you take the deal.
Airplanes, on the other hand, have real, honest-to-God expenses. Fuel costs. The amortized expense of the jet. Maintenance to ensure that the jet takes off and lands in the correct, expected manner, rather than suffering from an unfortunate, unintentional interaction with the ground mid-flight. Pilots and crew cost more (while the store has the same personnel costs no matter how many customers come in, an airline has to add more flights if they want to meet demand for more seats).
We all love a good deal, but this mistake would cost the airline money -- it would basically be stealing from them. If someone who serviced a vending machine forgot to lock it after restocking it, would you pull the door open and help yourself to any snack you saw? After all, that's simply a human error. If the clerk at McDonald's gave you $21 in change instead of $2.10, would you keep it?
I fully realize that many of you who booked this have gotten hosed because you paid for connecting flights, and I *do* think British Airways should do something to fix that. The most logical, and fairest solution (since this can happen to any airline) would be for all the airlines to agree that when this happens, connecting flights are refunded without any fees or hassle.
John Kantner Oct 6th 2009 1:08PM
It is not stealing if a company post the wrong price on their website. Airlines run specials all the time and prices change from day to day. British Airlines should honor these prices especially if they confirmed. Their actions are thqat of a sleqazy organization. It isn't as if airlines don't nickel and dime customers right now.
maria Oct 6th 2009 11:58AM
This sounds like would any good consumer advocate otr lawyer would tout as bait and switch...when a price is advertised by a store or business and then suddenly withdrawn when you make a purchse it is illegal. When ther is an advertising issue or error the business has the responsibility to check the ad within 24hrs if a retraction is not made publicly the business must honor the advertised price. W hen I was in collegge I got a couch at a substantial discount because of such an error. My advice call a lawyer
shellz Oct 6th 2009 11:58AM
you'd have to pay me $1500 to go to india, no the other way around
B Oct 16th 2009 1:58AM
Bellered, that is so much BULL you're spewing. A retail store is liable to honor the price for what it advertises and comparing someone who takes advantage of someone else's "advertising" mistake as stealing is ironically ludicrous! Not honoring a confirmed after-the-fact point of purchase is stealing! It's actually the law that protects people from companies that falsely advertise (Laissez-faire or "buyer beware" articles of law) and If I had one of those tickets I would start a class action suit. People have and are suing with less grounds and have/will win. That's business. You must be connected with British Airways or have stock in the company somehow.
Sherrie Oct 6th 2009 2:28PM
If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is....always call to speak to a person to verify and then proceed. That's what I would do anyway...if you can get thru to a person, that is....LOL...... : )
Kristi Oct 6th 2009 4:31PM
About 20 years ago, BA put an ad in the Anchorage Daily News with an amazing airfare - round-trip tickets from Anchorage, AK to London, England for something ridiculous like $399. It was an insane price, and my very good friend, who desperately wanted to go move back to London, jumped right on it.
She called and tried to buy the ticket, but they told her it was a misprint (probably more like $1399) and that they couldn't honor the ticket price. She started crying because this was her way out of Alaska! I'm not one to take "no" for an answer, so I got on the phone, instisted that they honor this price since it's printed in the paper, and that it boarders on bait-and-switch. They finally said that they were actually honoring the price for ONE day. Good enough!
She got her ticket and she's lived happily ever after in England. I'm sure other airlines have gone through this error at one time or another, but when BA does this, they seem to step in it big time...
Trevor Price Oct 6th 2009 6:10PM
I keep reading about people seeing these great "mistake" fares on Twitter. So my question is who are you following that's tweeting about these fares?