by sn26567 » 24 Oct 2012, 20:08
Alitalia Mistake Fares Gives Free Flights,Then Cancels
A promo code on Alitalia’s Japanese web site over the weekend discounted flights by $315, making some shorter-haul flights free.
Brian Kelly, aka “The Points Guy” was able to book a flight from Rome to Milan — typically $149 — for free with the promotion code.
“Alitalia has been offering a lot of promotions and discounts recently, so a $315 promo code didn’t seem that strange,” he said. But Kelly, and all the others who booked flight using the promo code, received emails from the airline stating:
“Thank you for choosing alitalia.com. We regret to inform you that your ticket purchase has not been processed. Any amount debited on your account, will be credited back.”
This is far from the first time an airline has published error fares and then not honored them. Over the summer, United Airlines sold flights from New York City to Hong Kong for four miles and $43 and then cancelled the tickets.
But Kelly said some airlines are better about honoring mistake fares than others. Delta Airlines once had a system-wide glitch that dropped all taxes and fuel surcharges from airfare to Stockholm and Copenhagen. The result was flights under $150. Kelly estimates thousands of people took advantage. Delta honored all the tickets.
And despite not honoring this summer’s rock-bottom fares to Hong Kong, United has in the past honored error fares. The airline once dropped a zero from a fare, making business-class fares to Asia $1,000 instead of $10,000. Those people were able to use their tickets.
Source: ABC News
André
ex Sabena #26567
