Mel-lax oct/nov rt from $444 us qantas

[tororm]

Just seen a note on the Melbourne subreddit that a booking made this morning has received a cancellation email.

 

[whatmeworry]

Emirates generally honours these mistake fares.

 

[isdnman]

Pretty sure it's issued on QF 081 stock. So no luck I'd say.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Couple of interesting things reading Ozbargain.

The first is a twitter message from Qantas in response to a passenger who had booked one of these fares, saying they look forward to welcoming the passenger in October: https://twitter.com/tim_dunlop/status/616040645765914624 (an hour later QF says this was a mistake)

The second is a comment from user dandandan: they ask whether DOT will accept 'not collecting enough fuel surcharge' as a mistake? (if it is in fact a fuel surcharge issue)

 

[TomVexille]

Is there a single person out there that didn't think these fares were a mistake? It's all over the internet. I was even tempted to book to BKK but didn't want to tie up my money for a few hundred dollars saving that is not likely to be honoured.

Good luck if they are honoured but I wouldn't be holding my breath.

Absolutely there's plenty of people out there who just think it's a great fare. Most of the population are rather uninformed about how airlines operate. And of course it's all over the internet, so lots ofpeople see it and think, "wow! that's a fantastic fare". My first reaction was that it was a fuel surcharge muck up with the OTAs, but that's because I know more than the general person does about these things.

Personally I hope they do honor them (didn't book one myself) as part of making up for all the profit they have reaped from "fuel surcharges".

However to have the opinion that "everyone" out there would know that it was a mistake is rather naive and misguided don't you think?

 

[ChrisFlyer]

Surely if it's a mistake 'fare', then the 'fare' itself has to be incorrect?

As it stands, QF announced that its fuel surcharge would become part of the base fare from July 1 2015, yet most of these tickets would have been bought on June 30 2015 in the local time of the OTA, before this change was scheduled to take effect in the place where the tickets were booked.

Thus, if Qantas claims that the "fares" were in error because the fuel component was in some way incorrectly loaded, they'd be contradicting their statement that their own changes would take place for bookings made from "July 1" – not "July 1 at 0:00 AEST". Again, many of these bookings would have been made on June 30, local time.

If anything, what looks to have happened is that the fuel surcharge which would have normally been applied for bookings made up until June 30 may not have been charged, but there's not always an easy way to see this via the OTAs, making the ticket price appear to be more of a really great sale rather than an obvious "mistake" such as the zero-point redemptions previously seen with VA.

IMO, it's a failure on the airline/OTA's part to collect an added surcharge that the carrier would normally levy at its own discretion in addition to the 'fare price', rather than being a "mistake fare" which by nature should require the 'fare' component to be incorrect. As it stands, the fare itself was in line with the expected pricing as at June 30.

So, will Qantas try to broaden the definition of "mistake fare" to include "whoops, you paid the correct fare but we forgot to hit you up for the fuel surcharge"?

 

[JohnK]

Here's a revision for you. Anyone that genuinely booked these fares thinking they were kosher can keep their booking.

Anyone that jumped on the deal from some sort of frequent flyer website or social media site for fun can wear the cancellation costs involved.

Is that better for you? Can't stand people gloating about something and spoiling it for everyone else. Yes ex-Brazil was one. First lounge access flying on $9 airfare matches is another.

 

[Aeolus]

Subscribing! This is more interesting than any soap opera, can't wait for the next episode on the revelations...

 

[Alanslegal]

An update for you savvy AFFers celebrating Xmas in July with these mistake fares: they’re not valid and have been removed from sale. We’re currently following up affected bookings.

Thanks for spoiling our fun, and personally my one and only chance to fly Qantas in almost five years

But bigger thanks for making me avoid flying economy, so two thumbs up there

 

[Rugby]

Subscribing! This is more interesting than any soap opera, can't wait for the next episode on the revelations...

I'm going to get a quaffer ready for tomorrows episode - looking forward to solid performances from all the cast and crew

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It gets more interesting. The latest from Qantas in reply to the tweet I linked earlier is this (my edit to protect identity):

Qantas ‏@Qantas 1h1 hour ago
Hi [xx_], these mistake fares were incorrectly offered & have been removed from sale. We’re following up on affected bookings.

Note the text used is now 'incorrectly offered'... not that they are invalid.

 

[opusman]

Note the text used is now 'incorrectly offered'... not that they are invalid.

Wishful thinking Why would they need to follow up if they were valid?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Wishful thinking Why would they need to follow up if they were valid?

'We're following up' on these bookings could mean they are going to honour them, but under strict conditions... for example no date changes allowed, or cancellation allowed without penalty if someone chooses to cancel now instead of later.

 

[Tannin]

'We're following up' on these bookings could mean they are going to honour them, but under strict conditions... for example no date changes allowed, or cancellation allowed without penalty if someone chooses to cancel now instead of later.

More likely.... if you'd like to keep this booking, the price is now $3,000. Please let us know if you'd like to continue. As an act of good faith, we'll offer the ability to cancel your existing booking with no fees.

 

[snabbu]

Considering NZ had return East Coast Australia to West Coast USA for $790 only 2 months ago I hardly see how this is a "mistake" fare. If it was $80 return then sure I (and everyone else on the planet) could straight away see it's a mistake however $AUD600ish isn't that far off the NZ fare back in April.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....nal-airfares/mel-lax-790-return-nz-67252.html

 

[opusman]

Considering NZ had return East Coast Australia to West Coast USA for $790 only 2 months ago I hardly see how this is a "mistake" fare. If it was $80 return then sure I (and everyone else on the planet) could straight away see it's a mistake however $AUD600ish isn't that far off the NZ fare back in April.

$444 is a lot less than $600, and a lot, lot less than QF have ever sold that route for before. Blind Freddy could see it was a mistake.

 

[snabbu]

$444 is a lot less than $600, and a lot, lot less than QF have ever sold that route for before. Blind Freddy could see it was a mistake.

$444USD = $576AUD and some of the fares were $USD486 = $630AUD so I'm sorry I don't see it was a "mistake" aka the Rangoon fares for example.

 

[Austman]

$444 is a lot less than $600, and a lot, lot less than QF have ever sold that route for before. Blind Freddy could see it was a mistake.

What if the fare was US$559? Could that be reasonable? I was seeing US$559 fares.

 

[amaroo]

If I wake up and find an extra $100M in my account - it's a mistake and the money will leave as fast as it appeared .... can't see the difference with this sort of caper.

 

[Edge]

I booked (and flew) MEL-LHR-MEL on QF for about $1,050 in Oct-2013, via expedia.br

Many flew to Singapore for ~$400 return.

Surprised those were honored but these aren't? Very similar prices?