Technical glitch leads to half price Qantas flights
Australian carrier Qantas is the latest airline to be counting the cost of a technical glitch offering ‘mistake’ fares on third-party websites.
US website Hopper.com first noted the super cheap round trip fares from Sydney and Melbourne to Los Angeles at A$576 (about £280) in what was described as a ‘flash sale.’
The fares were also listed on Skyscanner’s Australian site which included one-way fares for just $A286, before being abruptly removed by Qantas after about 12 hours, reports Australian news site news.com.au.
"Skyscanner displayed lower than average flights from Australia to Los Angeles as a result of a technical glitch from a partner. Skyscanner doesn’t offer sale fares and the glitch has since been rectified," a Skyscanner spokesperson said.
Qantas also confirmed the mistake: "There was a glitch that impacted third party USA-based online booking systems, as we made some fare changes effective 1 July for travel originating in Australia."
"These mistake fares were incorrectly offered and have been removed from sale."
It is unclear whether Qantas will actually honour any bookings made at the wrongly-priced fares.
"We are contacting affected customers impacted by the glitch," a Qantas spokesman said.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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