Last Sunday, United Airlines' website offered up award flights to or from Hong Kong for the ridiculously low rate of 4 points per ticket. When the airline realized its blunder, after many eager fliers already purchased their nearly free tickets, they announced that the mistake they made would not be honored. Customers were given the choice to pay full price for the ticket or have the reservation canceled without any penalty fees.
Rahsaan Johnson told USA Today that the mistake happened because of a programming error on their website, which allowed customers to buy award tickets for any class at next to nothing rates. Normally, it costs about 120,000 miles for a round trip business class ticket.
A United spokesperson also posted on the websites, FlyerTalk.com and MilePoint.com, this statement, "Hi Everyone, over the weekend, we discovered a United.com programming error that allowed customers to obtain Mileage Plus travel awards to and from Hong Kong for as little as four miles round trip per person, substantially below published levels, which we disclose to customers. We have since corrected the error and will be in contact with customers who have tickets issued at the incorrect award amounts. Customers will be given the choice to redeem at the correct mileage amount or re-deposit their award with all fees waived. We regret any inconvenience this has caused you, and appreciate your understanding."
However, a new government rule has banned price increase on tickets after purchase, unless government imposed taxes increase. Does this mean United has to allow those lucky Hong Kong travelers to keep the tickets they bought? Possibly.
A spokesperson for the Transportation Department, Bill Mosley told USA Today that the rule states that no post-purchase price increase can happen after a customer has already received confirmation, even in the case of a mistake.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
