Tuesday, June 26, 2018

What Booking a 'Mistake Fare' Really Means | The risks and rewards of buying that really, really low-priced flight!!

Flight pricing errors are a godsend for wanderlust’s with big dreams, but small wallets. It's like an opening that crinkly take-out bag, and realizing you got an extra set of fries with your order ðŸ˜Š . Believe it or not, airline pricing mistakes happen all the time. Here are few of them:

* 2007: San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand return, business class – $1,500 USD instead of $15,000 USD. The cause? Human error resulted in a missed zero – oops.
* 2012: Myanmar to the US, return – $300 USD. How come? A mistake when converting the price between currencies.
* 2013: Various US cities to Hawaii, return – $7 USD. Why? A computer glitch that lasted 2 hours messed up the price.

But what rights do travelers like these who have booked a mistake fare actually have? In fact, what even is a "mistake fare"? Here's how to find these fares—and make sure you're not left in the lurch after booking. 

Mistake Fares, Decoded
Error fares or airline price glitches, are a HUGELY reduced flight ticket due to a blunder. Various botch-ups can create a mistake like:

  • Human error: Laziness, fatigue, or a case of stubby fingers and a small keyboard can cause numbers to be omitted or added in error when entering a flight price, resulting in a seriously reduced ticket.
  • Currency conversion misfortunes: Calculating a rate from one currency to another poses a huge risk for miscalculations. A famous example is a $4,000 United Airlines ticket that was listed for just $79 – allegedly due to a mishap when converting the Danish Kroner to the British Pound.
  • Omitting fuel surcharges & fees: Fuel surcharges were first created in the 70's during the oil crisis to accommodate fluctuating prices. Annoyingly, they were kept ever since – supposedly partly to prevent frequent flyer programs from allowing people to book 100% free tickets using miles (you must always still pay these additional fees). Every now and then though, these charges may be dropped by mistake. Fuel surcharges make up a surprising percentage of an airline ticket, so if left out, it equates to big savings!

Statistically speaking, error fares are foreseeable. With the profusion of flights and traditional flight booking systems out there, mistakes will happen and they will be overlooked. It is far too time-consuming and costly for airlines to continually correct every single price conflict.


Things to know before you book
DOT used to make all airlines honor mistake fares, but that all changed in 2015, when a first-class ticket on an United Airlines flight to Denmark cost just $51 if you marked that you were in Denmark in your billing address. The error curtailed from a currency conversion mistake. Though DOT's policy is to keep airlines from jacking up flight prices after travelers had booked a ticket, the transportation agency ruled in this case not to enforce it, since the passengers who booked the flight had done so "in bad faith," lying about their address to book a lower fare. Because of this, since May 2015, airlines have been able to cancel tickets booked on error fares at will, as long as they can prove to the DOT that the ultra-low fare truly was a mistake, usually by comparing the prices between a standard fare and the error fare. Few of the airlines also provide an advisory message , to be sure of the price – for instance, American Airline’s contract states: "If we sell a fare in error, we have the right to cancel the ticket. This includes fare errors, computer errors, and third-party errors (human or computer). We make every effort to prevent, detect and correct errors as soon as possible. When we issue a mistaken fare, we'll void the ticket, give a full refund and notify you within: 72 hours after we learn of the mistaken fare [or] at least 24 hours before departure if you bought the ticket less than 72 hours before departure."

How can I find mistake fares?
The easiest way here is to stalk the experts. Secret Flying is arguably the best resource out there for worldwide flight pricing errors. Each day they scrape up current mistake fares (in mysterious ways), and are prompt with updating when tickets sell out or become defunct. Airfarewatchdog, or The Flight Deal to find these deals. The other option is to set up flight alerts on Google Flights or Hopper for a variety of routes you'd want to fly.
The gray area here is whether or not a low fare is a good deal (which the airline can't backpedal on) or a mistake (which they can). Though a fare may be low because of lack of demand or increased inventory, there is one way to know for sure the deal isn't a mistake fare.


What to Do If Your Ticket Gets Canceled
The DOT requires the airline to reimburse you for all of your non-refundable purchases, including, but not limited to, "hotel reservations, destination tour packages or activities, cancellation fees for non-refundable connecting air travel and visa or other international travel fees." Make sure to keep receipts on hand for any of the purchases you do make, as the airline will likely require proof of purchase. That said, reimbursement is such a hassle that it's worth it to wait to book those non-refundable charges until you have a booking reference or passenger number record to make those purchases.

No comments:

Seasonal Marketing - Utilizing What Every Season Has to Offer

Seasonal Offers - Are they worth promoting for?? Let’s  take a look  at statistics: In 2016, U.S. and UK online retailers alike saw...