Delta Glitch: Customers Get Away with $20 Round-Trip Tickets due to Mistake

Delta Air Lines customers lucked out due to a glitch. Some customers made away with fares as low as $20 for a round trip. Even though the fares were a mistake, the airline says they will honor the discounted tickets.

Early this morning, travelers got word that Delta was offering ultra-cheap airfares. Frequent fliers who visit the popular message boards on FlyerTalk.com let others know about the mistake fares at about 9 a.m. They started noting that the mistake fares disappeared by 10:45 a.m. However during that period, customers were able to find the deals on Delta.com, Expedia, Priceline and other travel booking sites.

Customers took to Twitter to ask the airline if the cheap tickets would be honored. Delta released a statement that they will indeed accept the cheap tickets.

"For a portion of the morning today, some prices on delta.com and other booking channels were incorrectly displayed, resulting in lower than usual fares for customers," Delta said in a statement according to Good Morning America. "The situation has been resolved, and the correct prices are being displayed. Delta will honor any fares purchased at the incorrect price."

Some customers took to FlyerTalk to discuss the deals they got away with. A user named Wanderluster was able to book four trips including Chicago to Miami for $55; Erie, Pa., to Miami for $47; Salt Lake City to Erie, Pa., for $65, and Chicago to Erie, Pa., for $90.

The Delta site seemed to be experiencing an overload. At points, the booking engine was down and showed a message that read, "It looks like you may be trying to visit a place that doesn't exist" when customers tried to book flights.
Fare mistakes are pretty common, but not every airline lets customers get away with it. Earlier this year, some United Airlines customers were able to buy tickets for $0, but United didn't honor these.

Delta's policy says that they can cancel and refund any fake fares, but rules set by the Department of Transportation say that an airline must honor all tickets, whether the fare was a mistake or not.