Anyone notice some really cheap UA fares yesterday? United was mistakenly selling tickets from $5 to $10 both on their website and via phone centers. Like the United 4 mile award glitch (Final Update – Colleague’s 4 Mile HK Roundtrip – Honored by United!), those who are able to travel immediately clearly benefit the most from these mistakes.
The AP reports:
The airline said it accidentally filed some fares for $0. United Continental Holdings Inc. spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said the mistake was due to an error in filing the fares, not a problem with the website. She said United doesn’t yet know how many tickets were sold at the unusually low prices. Will United honor the tickets? The airline is thinking about it. “As always, we will do what is appropriate,” McCarthy said. Maura Leahy, who lives in Houston, was booking a Christmas trip back to Washington to visit her parents on Thursday. The trip to Washington was $5. The return leg was $220, but it was still a cheap ticket. But why wait. She decided to try booking a cheap flight to surprise her parents on Friday. “It was $5 round-trip, no fees, nothing,” she said. “This is nuts.” She checked in right away and printed her boarding pass hoping to increase her chances of being able to use the ticket. Leahy said a co-worker scored a cheap flight to San Francisco while another got one to DC for later this year.
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1 comment
The United website is replete with errors in pricing. Upon searching for an infant seat on a reward ticket I got inconsistent results from taxes on various flights including a $923,000 tax on a reward seat for my infant. There is no consistency with it and if any does exist it is set to shaft the parent on the tax. I kept finding quotes higher than they should have been with alternate partner taxes, especially China Air (or air china). Once I found a common consistent price for partner Asiana at a much less tax rate I checked the same flights and was able to get the same exact tax. I then called to reserve it and I was quoted a higher tax than a dozen checks on the same $700 online price. Upon a second call, I was then quoted $419. In that case I took the bag and ran with it. If your trying to book an infant in seat on reward, be real careful, those seats that are expensive are listed, but the cheaper partners are sometimes hidden under “error, no availability….” Call them and give them the flight segments.