CANBERRA – An Australian airline became the passenger’s favorite for a short period of time when it offered a massive discount for first-class passengers.
The website of Qantas displayed flights between Australia and the US at a whopping discount of 85% for first-class passengers on Thursday, letting around 300 passengers book their tickets.
After realizing that the blunder had been committed, the airline announced to honour what it offered though a coding error led to that discount.
The airline has now announced that it will refund or downgrade passengers who were sold first-class flights at a huge discount because of the coding error.
“Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true,” a spokesperson for the Australian airline said.
Qantas has stated that it will switch passengers who purchased the tickets into business class – one step down from first class – at no additional cost.
As far as the discount is concerned, the ‘lucky’ passengers have paid a few thousand Australian dollars for tickets that are meant to cost more than AUD20,000.
The airline’s terms and conditions imply that if there is an error or mistake that is reasonably obvious in the fare price, the airline is allowed to cancel the booking and offer a full refund; however, Qantas decided to honor what was offered mistakenly.
“As a gesture of goodwill, we’re rebooking customers in business class at no additional cost. Customers also have the option of a full refund,” Qantas said in a statement.
A passenger traveling business class would still be paying 65% less than usual for their ticket, the airline said.
This isn’t the first instance of an airline accidentally offering discounted fares. Back in 2019, Cathay Pacific mistakenly sold $16,000 business-class seats for just $675. Ultimately, the airline decided to honor the tickets for those fortunate passengers; however, sometimes, the carriers refuse to honor the tickets sold due to an error at a discounted price.
