Summary Qantas mistakenly sold first-class tickets at a bargain price of AU$2,191. Qantas and its CEO showed generosity by offering business class tickets after the error, despite not being obligated to honor the prices. Although the dream of first class fizzled, passengers are looking forward to an enjoyable business class experience at a fraction of the cost.
Last Thursday night, a sharp-eyed web surfer noticed that Australia's flag carrier, Qantas, was selling one-way first-class tickets to Los Angeles from Sydney for AU$2,191 ($1,490), compared to the regular fare of around AU$14,000 ($9,500). The find made its way onto a website, and within eight hours, 300 people snapped up the bargain and then sat back and waited to see how long the dream would last. If it's too good to be true.
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According to news.com.au , it didn't take all that long for Qantas to find out about the issue, with a Qantas spokesperson later putting it down to "a coding error.
" The customers had paid AU$4,299 ($2,900) for return first class bookings when they would generally see a price around the AU$29,000 ($19,700) mark. After enduring a nervous wait on Friday, the jig was up by Saturday when Qantas emailed them to say there had been an error. In a statement, Qantas said: "Unfortunately this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true.
As a gesture of goodwill, we're rebooking customers in business class at no additional costs. Customers also have the option of a full refund." In Sep.