I’m addition to my usual writings here, I’ve been blogging occasionally for Conde Nast Traveler‘s The Daily Traveler.
This morning I shared some thoughts on airline and hotel mistake fares, prompted by one that’s been handled especially badly by Korean Airlines.
I’m more sympathetic than most when it comes to airlines and mistake fares, I buy them so that I’m in on the action if they decide to honor but I’m no worse off usually if they don’t. If airlines are giving away $28 tickets to Paris or $33 business class fares to Italy and Cyprus, I’d hate to think I wasn’t part of it, but I’m always pleasantly surprised rather than expecting or entitled.
But I’m not at all pleased by Korean Airlines’ recent decision not to honor an almost $500 fare to Palau a full two months after the tickets were issued. They’re offering to cover traveler expenses incurred for other non-refundable costs related to the trip. But two months is not ok, people make plans and forego other plans they might have made.
It’s fair when an airline doesn’t honor a true mistake quickly, though I do feel that rules ought to be applied reciprocally, passengers should be able to cancel purchases made in error on the same terms. What isn’t at all fair is deciding to cancel (and these weren’t $33 business class tickets, either) after two months.
Read the whole thing, as they say. And in the interest of full disclosure, I did not book any tickets on this fare myself, nor as of this writing am I aware of any friends, family, or acquaintences who may have either.
What’s a reasonable amount of time for a travel provider to dishonor paid reservations, arguing that they were offered in error?
That is pretty lousy. Some may find http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_mistake#Unilateral_mistakes helpful. $500 for a Palau flight is likely on the borderline of what should be so obviously a mistake that buyers should have known KE did not intend to make such an offer, but instead, knowingly offered a bargain. And KE’s post contract conduct – taking two months to correct – further defeats any claim of mistake as opposed to a bad deal knowingly struck.
Link gives me a 404.
absolutely unacceptable. 2 days, fair enough. 2 months? come on…. Bad KE….
You’re exactly right Gary – if airlines have a 24 hour cancellation policy for us to cancel tickets they should catch their mistakes in the same window. I also think it’s fair if there’s no cancellation window for us they should have the same standard. Defenders will say they have technical issues to work around, but they’re also the far more sophisticated party in such a transaction.
Two months is especially ridiculous since (as you say above) the cost to mitigate the now-cancelled trip is probably much higher than simply the price of other non-refundable travel charges.
And, the “quit trying to scam the airline” excuse definitely doesn’t work in this instance. $1 hotel rooms is one thing, but $500 tickets seem at least plausible for pretty much any flight to a layperson.
Gary, any chance you’re willing to use this as an opportunity to talk more about mistake fares generally? Are they becoming less common? Are discussions about them going ‘underground’ (as was suggested on FT a year or so ago)? Do you participate in non-public discussions of mistake fares? Do you have advice for how to keep abreast of mistakes these days? I’d love some discussion on this issue.
Any chance of the DOT becoming involved in this one? They did do a little to help on the infamous BA India mistake fare, where BA was at least pretty prompt in cancelling the tickets (including mine).
It is mind-boggling to me that Korean could wait 2 months to tell pax that their tickets would not be honored. More so because this fare, while cheap, isn’t “crazy.”
Aren’t there any lawyers on FT or MP who would be interested in a class action lawsuit?
“Action class lawsuit” – knew that was coming:-)
Also got 404 error from link.
I wonder if it is also cultural issue or specific to Korean companies. I had a very bad experience with Samsung last month. The tablet that I ordered from them was defected (it won’t even start) but they refused to accept the return. I’ve tried everything and even complained to a customer protection agency. Nothing worked and I have to eat the loss. I will never do my business with Samsung ever again since they have ZERO respect for their customers.
BTW – I ordered an iPad since then and LOVE it. What a difference! Wanted to learn how to edit movies on iPad went to Apple local store and they spend one hour with me teaching me the basics of film editing. FREE OF CHARGE. They do know how to win customer loyalty.
A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT is inevitable – if there’s a qualified attorney interested in taking on the case, there are over 300 passengers that were affected, all of whom are hopping mad, myself included.