British Airways: $40 Round-Trips To India Offered Accidentally

latimes.com:

How's this for a dream deal: Fly round trip between the U.S. and India for as little as $40, plus taxes, fees and surcharges. For about two hours last week, that dream was reality for untold numbers of British Airways customers who booked these fares. Alas, it was a computer error, and now the carrier is trying to fix it.

Read the whole story: latimes.com

Comments

[Gernuser]

More work needs ot be done

Good articles: http://pie.im/af30

[MyTalkRadiou]

Obama needs to do actual reform instead of just talk & plan

good articles: http://br.st/tU

~~

[GreenN10]

good articles: http://iamned5.blogspot.com

[ICorpsDoc]

These mistakes happen more often than you might think. But far less than you might hope for. For hotels as well as air.

Someone drops a digit or two when they enter the price.

A few years back BA had a great "sale" that lasted about 24 hours before they caught it.

Less than $50 (can't remember the exact cost now) for anywhere BA flew. In upgraded coach also.

BA stood behind this mistake. And even gave FF miles.

I know one guy that scored 8 tickets to Amsterdam from the states.

[jws2346]

Oh well, I didn't reall want to go to India anyway (not meant to be critical of the great people from India)
I figure if you're human and not Dubya, youll make mistakes once in a whike

[lastpost]

"British Airways goofs, sells $40 round-trips to India"

Seating is outside, on top of the fuselage.

[rtaylor352]

Hilarious! Thanks, I needed that!

[mergina]

Are there any Brits actually living in London anymore?

[newyorkid]

Are you brain d_ead? This is a clever PR scoop. Thi is not news. It's p_ropaganda.

[Agentprovokatur]

The article does not mention, but if they were charged $40 + normal "fees and taxes" etc. they have a stronger case than if it was just $40 and that didn't even cover normal fees (landing, security etc.) Those who booked and lost money are entitled to the cost of that. BA made a mistake but it was not unreasonable to rely on it - they may have been having a promotion, etc.

People who canceled other bookings should let BA know they lost money (cancellation fees + any increase in fares for rebooking) and demand that they either refund them that money or honor their original fares reduced by such cancellation fees for travel on BA.

At a minimum they could individually sue BA in small claims court. At a maximum, a class action suit could be filed.

[Deaninphilly]

Guess it would help if you actually read the article in the future.

[Sebbybear]

British Airways should be legally required to honor these no-doubt non-refundable fares purchased in good faith buy their customers. No other industry would be allowed to sell a product and then after the product has been purchased declare "Sorry, wrong price, that will be $2000.00 more." This is a mistake that British Airways must be made to stand behind.

[Rober]

If only that were true. There are numerous examples every day. Check out the fine print in newspaper advertising. It typically says something like `"we are not responsible for typographical and other errors`". I also know of at least one example in the cruise industry where sold & confirmed fares were subsequently "adjusted" because the original price was a "data entry error".

If we do not hold companies responsible for all mistakes made by their employees and agents then there is no reason for them to spend the money to verify their work and institute procedures that prevent errors. It's time to force companies to honor sales they make at the sale price, regardless of any error involved in the pricing.

How do we know that the $40 fare was not a misguided attempt at a loss leader? Is BA willing to fully cooperate with a comprehensive investigation to prove that is was not?

[NeoconGal]

Accidentally? Maybe not, they just announce that they were going to lay off another 1700 of the staff.