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From time to time airlines (and their contractors) advertise airline tickets priced so low, they appear too good to be true.

Known as mistake airfares (or “fat-finger” discounts), they’re typically the result of a typo or data-entry blunder.

Recent examples in the US have included a First-Class return ticket from New York to Hong Kong for $43 on United (normally $11,000) and a round trip from the USA to Israel for $330 on EL AL Israel Airlines (normally $1,300).

Once on an online booking system, a mistake airfare is available for purchase by any flier lucky enough to find it.

Every case is unique – some airlines have honoured mistake fares, while others haven’t.

Where tickets haven’t been honoured, carriers have offered customers either a full refund (including fees) and reimbursed expenses or the chance to pay the balance for a full price ticket.

This is despite a US Department of Transport ruling in January 2012 (section 8) which asserts an airline cannot increase the price of a ticket once the consumer has received confirmation of his/her purchase (e.g. in the form of an email or entry on their credit-card statement).

The ethics of capitalising on an error has prompted heated debate, as these Time Magazine and Huffington Post articles and their comments prove. We will leave it to you to decide which side of it you fall on.

How to nab a mistake airfare in 3 steps:

1) Become a part of the frequent flier community

A mistake airfare is like a needle in a haystack – your chances of finding it are incredibly small. There is however an online community working together to find and share them. Seek out the relevant discussions on flyertalk.com.

2) Prime your social media

Where possible increase your chances of being alerted to mistake airfares by connecting with leading members of that community on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.

3) Buy immediately

A mistake airfare generates an unusual activity alerting an airline quickly to their error. You’ll have to act lightening fast to get in before they correct it. Needless to say, being flexible to departure dates is a prerequisite. Oh, and hold off making other bookings (like hotels) in association with that flight to see how the airline chooses to handle its mistake.
Written by insider city guide series Hg2 | A Hedonist’s guide to…
(Featured image: Tax Credits)

About the author

Brett AckroydBrett hopes to one day reach the shores of far-flung Tristan da Cunha, the most remote of all the inhabited archipelagos on Earth…as to what he’ll do when he gets there, he hasn’t a clue. Over the last 10 years, London, New York, Cape Town and Pondicherry have all proudly been referred to as home. Now it’s Copenhagen’s turn, where he lends his travel expertise to momondo.com.

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