DOT backs United Airlines in low fare glitch
The Department of Transportation has backed United Airlines’ refusal to honor cut-price tickets booked due to a currency conversion glitch, citing the majority as ‘bad faith’ bookings.
Thousands of customers ‘gamed the system’ by changing their home location to Denmark to take advantage of the fares which were as low as $50 for a transatlantic flight.
The DOT’s Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings said customers who knowingly did this forfeited any rights they had under US ticket-pricing protections.
The DOT was inundated with requests to uphold its rule on ‘fare advertisements and disclosure of baggage fees.’
DOT published its ruling on its website rather than respond individually to each complainant.
"To obtain the fare, some purchasers had to manipulate the search process on the website in order to force the conversion error to Danish Krone by misrepresenting their billing address country as Denmark when, in fact, Denmark was not their billing address country," the DOT announced on its website.
"This evidence of bad faith by the large majority of purchasers contributed to the Enforcement Office’s decision."
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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