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 September 2023, Qantas replaced the combative Alan Joyce as CEO with Vanessa Hudson , its former finance boss.
While this is speculation, it's almost impossible to believe that the 'old' meaner Qantas would have been so generous as to let these people get away with business class tickets at around 20% of the regular price. Qantas would have been well within its rights to cancel the tickets, as under the terms and conditions, airlines do not have to honor prices that are clearly offered in error. However, after being slapped with an AU$100 million dollar fine ($68m) for selling tickets on canceled flights , the CEO and her team clearly went for some positive PR over the dollars.
The long-running saga around canceled flights has hopefully ended today, with Qantas and the ACCC agreeing on a settlement. OK consolation prize So the quick 300 missed out on their first class adventure on the Qantas A380 between Sydney and Los Angeles, which must have been disappointing. On the other hand, in a nice piece of karma, they will luxuriate in business class, sipping French champagne and laughing all the way across the Pacific for about the price of a cheap economy ticket.
In the news.com.au report, William Fowler, an American living in Sydney, said he heard about the deal on Friday and quickly jumped on the Qantas website to book.
After paying his AU$4299 ($2,900), he had his first-class dream settled but spent the day hoping it was legitimate until Saturday morning when that bubble burst. Without a hint of disappointment, he said it was a great price for business class and would have been an unbelievable price for first class. He is heading to the US for two months with family and friends and said that after COVID and the global recession, "it's really exciting when you get to travel and then also travel in business class.
" After an absence of 20 years, Qantas is back in Paris as it keeps on whetting the appetite of Australians for the launch of Project Sunrise. From various reports, it seems everybody knew the ridiculously cheap fares were an error but rolled the dice anyway. To end up with A380 business class seats on a world-class airline like Qantas is a fantastic result, but if they had tried this a few months back it would probably have been a very different outcome.
C'est la vie!.
