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Home » ANA » Flip-Flopping ANA Will Not Honor Mistake Fare, Begins Cancelling Tickets
ANALaw In TravelMistake Fares

Flip-Flopping ANA Will Not Honor Mistake Fare, Begins Cancelling Tickets

Matthew Klint Posted onApril 27, 2023November 13, 2023 34 Comments

a woman holding a tray with food on it

So sorry! Japanese carrier ANA will not honor the deeply-discounted business and first class tickets it issued last week, blaming  a currency conversion error for the abnormally inexpensive “mistake fare” tickets. This reversal comes days after the carrier said it would honor the so-called mistake fares.

ANA Decides It Will No Longer Premium Cabin “Mistake Fare”

Last week a currency conversion error on ANA’s Vietnamese website resulted in steep flight discounts, with tickets retailing for thousands of dollars suddenly only costing hundreds. Many jumped on this deal, though some took it to an extreme. Herman Yip, for example, purchased $250,000 worth of tickets (at normal retail) for $17,000. That included a first class round trip from Jakarta (CGK) to Aruba (AUA) via Tokyo (HND) and New York (JFK) for $895. That ticket normally costs $16,300. Some business class tickets were as cheap as $300 each.

The error was was not ANA’s directly, but attributed to Amadeus IT Group SA, one of the major airline global distribution systems (GDS), that publishes fares.

The carrier told Bloomberg:

“For the flights which were erroneously processed, ANA will cancel and fully refund all itineraries. ANA will notify each customer affected by the error. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your cooperation in communicating with us.”

Understandable, But Sad Move From ANA

My position on so-called “mistake fares” has not changed in over a decade. I do understand that in this case, a currency conversion error led to the mistake. I do understand that there is a bit of unreasonableness in the idea that an airline should bear the cost of what some knew was a clear error but booked anyway.

But the flip-flopping is troublesome. ANA indicated it would honor the fares (at least some of them) from the outset. What changed its mind? Seller’s remorse almost a week later undermines trust and frustrates the idea of a contract.

Fundamentally, you could argue there was no contract in the first place because there was no mutual ascent to a bargained for exchange, but I dismiss that reasoning. ANA sold the ticket. ANA issued the ticket. ANA charged your credit card. That formed a contract and I think the danger of letting airlines unilaterally change their mind after issuing a ticket is more troublesome (and theoretically knows no limits) than asking a carrier to own up to its mistake (even, as in this case, if made through a contractor).

I am willing to give airlines a 24-hour cooling off period if travel is more than seven days away, but even that compromise is problematic for customers who buy tickets in good-faith.

Bottom line: airlines should honor the fares they sell and be more cautious about issuing tickets they later regret selling.

CONCLUSION

For those who took advantage of those cheap ANA premium cabin fares last week, your tickets will be cancelled. ANA has said those tickets were “erroneously processed” and you can expect a refund on your card shortly. I do not like that ANA waited so long to do this, but I cannot say that I am surprised.

Did you book any of these cheap ANA fares? How will you handle the cancellation?


image: ANA

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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34 Comments

  1. Scott Schultz Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 8:35 am

    Hey Matt, are a currency conversation and currency conversion the same thing? I think you meant to say the latter of the two in that first paragraph? Nothing against your work mate.

    • vietri Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 2:56 pm

      We overlook all mistakes–even if intentional–makes me feel better about chatGPT

  2. Dave Edwards Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 9:05 am

    As we sadly learned on December 7th 1941, trust the Japanese at your own risk.

    • Mark Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 10:19 am

      And I’m sure you’re proud of the fact that my grandfather spent years in an American concentration camp too.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 10:33 am

      @Dave Edwards: Don’t troll, Dave. Come on, man.

      • Dave Edwards Reply
        April 27, 2023 at 12:37 pm

        Matt, I would think by now you understand I truly believe the things I post, good, bad or indifferent. If that doesn’t meet what others consider politically or otherwise correct in 2023, so be it.

        But for you and the tolerance you have shown, I’ll keep some things to myself.

        • Matthew Klint Reply
          April 27, 2023 at 12:48 pm

          I can tolerate just about anything. You don’t see me trying to censor you…

          But I am just shocked. You don’t strike me as a stupid person, but some of your comments about other countries are just absurd. I wish you would travel more to those places and see that they are not the s-holes you imagine them to be.

      • vietri Reply
        April 27, 2023 at 2:58 pm

    • Robbo Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 3:08 pm

      Don’t be so damn ridiculous, shame on you

      • Robbo Reply
        April 27, 2023 at 3:14 pm

        If you ever traveled to Japan you racist, you would see Japan is in a much better shape than the USA. The country is safe, it has dignity, it’s people are polite and courteous and very friendly, the food is second to none and they have retained their cultural identity.

        Now let’s compare that to the United States. Out of control lawlessness, everyones a racist of you disagree, gang violence, drug use out of control, car-jackings. It’s not safe to walk on the street for fear of being shot dead. And you have the hide to elect a President who can barely string 2 words together.

        So if you want to remember World War II you racist, be honest with yourself and look who came out the other side better off. #giveyourselfanuppercut

    • Travis Peacock Reply
      April 28, 2023 at 10:51 pm

      Not only is this racist (not “everything is racist in this PC world we live in” just normal old fashioned racism… But it’s also just factually incorrect.

      The United States knew Pearl Harbor was going to happen. Perhaps not at the conspiracy theory level but at the very least at the incompetence level. Also, even if they didn’t… Japan was obviously not a US ally. There was no trust to break.

      Though, I wouldn’t expect someone who spouts casual racism to be well educated.

      @Matt I appreciate that you let the comments here be a fairly open dialog… But where is the line drawn? Does he have to actually use the slur he so desperately wants to? Clearly this is both inappropriate and not relevant to the post

  3. Angus Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 9:21 am

    ANA never said it would honor the fares, only the ones who flew before a decision was made.

    • Lukas Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 10:13 am

      This is correct. So there was no flip-flopping.

    • Matthew Klint Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 10:32 am

      That is not entirely true. A spokesperson for ANA told Japanese media that the tickets bought by people on the airline’s Vietnamese website would be honored with no caveats.

      • tom Reply
        April 27, 2023 at 11:58 am

        Is there any evidence of this ?
        My understanding is there was a blogger citing anonymous sources inside ANA, not exactly something to depend on

        • semar Reply
          May 8, 2023 at 11:48 pm

          https://www.straitstimes.com/business/airline-blunder-sells-13000-asia-us-business-class-tickets-for-400

  4. PolishKnight Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 11:58 am

    I thought about this for a while, and I’m thinking perhaps it’s fair to put the responsibility on the airlines to be careful about their published airfares meaning they should hire the additional staff and oversight to protect the integrity of their pricing system. This could include computer coding to check to see if a fare falls into a range of reasonable prices (a first class ticket going for less than 1/4 normal?), etc.

    In other words, hire the staff, set up responsibilities with partners to assume liability if they don’t properly oversee fares, etc.

    If one of us books a ticket with the wrong date or name and a few days later catches we made a mistake, we’re held responsible and rightly so. The airlines can pay for staffing to properly prevent these mistakes from being made. If corporations are treated legally as “people”, then they can be responsible like the rest of us are.

    Aren’t CEO’s supposed to provide leadership for these contingencies rather than just playing golf and managing their own careers?

    • Al LeFeusch Reply
      April 28, 2023 at 8:17 pm

      Your point is exactly it. If an airline ticket buyer makes a mistake, we are held accountable for it (with a 24 hour grace period, in the US, at least). Airlines should be held to the same standard. , If I can’t call up ANA a week after purchase and say “whoops, sorry, that was a mistake booking by me.” and have it fully cancelled and refunded, ANA shouldn’t be able to do the same a week after selling a mistake fare.

  5. chasgoose Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 1:43 pm

    I’m curious how that person booked a flight on ANA to Aruba connecting through JFK. Can you buy tickets on JetBlue metal through ANA?

    • vietri Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 2:49 pm

      I have no idea but Expedia probably or similar. “I am booking on a 3rd party site and the itinerary is “multi-airline”. The Boston to JFK is on Jet Blue and the JFK to Tokyo is ANA.”

      https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g1-i10702-k9324324-ANA_Jet_Blue_itinerary_question_for_baggage_fee_ticketing-Air_Travel.html

  6. Pete Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 2:42 pm

    What is considered “good faith”?
    Virtually everyone who was able to get in on this offer wouldn’t be considered a novice traveler and most likely knows an error fare when they see one (and I would argue even the average person could tell this fare was ridiculous).

  7. vietri Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 2:50 pm

    New rule: all mistake fares are honored.

  8. 121Pilot Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 10:11 pm

    In my view the key is this. Airlines and consumers need to be on the same footing when it comes to mistakes. So if an airline can determine at any this. That the fare was a mistake and byte consumers should have the same ability.

    Which in practical terms means a proscribed and
    Limited period during which either party could declare a mistake but after which the tickets stand.

    • vietri Reply
      April 27, 2023 at 10:20 pm

      Happy pilots day, a day late. ttps://simpleflying.com/world-pilots-day-guide

      • vietri Reply
        April 27, 2023 at 10:20 pm

        https://simpleflying.com/world-pilots-day-guide

  9. Jacob B. Reply
    April 27, 2023 at 10:57 pm

    Anyone who buys a mistake fare knows that there is always a big possibility that it will be canceled. If it is honored then they are lucky. Broadcasting it to the world and or bragging about it online greatly increases the chances of it getting cancelled. The guy bragging about getting $250,000 worth of airfare was just asking to have it cancelled.

    Mistakes happen on a regular basis and no one can predict when they will happen. Whenever I see a mistake fare I book it right away, always keep quiet, keep my fingers crossed, and hope it doesn’t get cancelled. I see mistakes happen most often with hotel rates. When I run across one, I book the room and count on the possibility that no one will check the rate I am being charged, especially when I pay for it in full in advance. I have yet to have a hotel booking cancelled due to a rate error.

    Earlier this year I booked a mistake fare that also happened because of a computer/software glitch when I was paying the fare. The flights, seats, everything is fully confirmed and I am confident that it will not be cancelled because everything on the airline’s site shows that I paid the full amount for the airfare even though in reality I was undercharged. The only way they can discover the error is if they audit the individual tickets and it is highly unlikely they are going to do that (It will cost them way more than whatever they could gain from finding the error) when they sell tens/hundreds of thousands of tickets each day. How much is the glitch saving me? 40% of the fare. So unless it is happening to a large number of people, which I highly doubt, it is unlikely that they will know.

    The point is: consider yourself lucky when you get a mistake fare and don’t let the airline or hotel know about it.

  10. Mick Reply
    April 28, 2023 at 2:02 am

    I don’t get it. There’s def a contract. As I’ve said 10000x surely you’d have some algorithm that says “you’re about to cut fares 90%. I’m going to hold off until someone manually confirms”. Make that number 30/50/70 whatever. Make a mistake? Learn from it. Add to the algorithm for currency. Cross check. I am a trader and that’s how we build our systems. We don’t get let off the hook.

    Also. Not like these people were going to fly these routes anyway. And unless the planes were full they haven’t lost too much by honoring the fares.

    • Travis Peacock Reply
      April 28, 2023 at 10:55 pm

      Not only this, but how often does a single person buy $17000 in fares. Yeah they took a hit but they are obviously making someone who has disposable income very happy. Take the win.

  11. Funny Reply
    April 28, 2023 at 10:11 am

    Websites will scream and blast ERROR all over the internet and this is what happens lmfao

  12. James Reply
    April 28, 2023 at 8:22 pm

    My take on this is, blame Herman Yip for abusing the error. There’s taking advantage of a clear error and then there’s full on abuse. If it were single purchases here and there, I’d guess ANA likely would have honored it. But when one guy gobbles up 250k worth of flights, that’s abuse and I’m fine with ANA making the decision they did. It’s Herman’s fault.

  13. Miamiorbust Reply
    April 30, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    All airlines are private businesses. There are various legal requirements regarding fraud and in some regions for biased against one group of passengers to the benefit of another. Don’t trip those and all other decisions are profit maximizing decisions. There is no moral contract for a private business. Don’t like their behavior, don’t fly with them. In the case of mistake fares there is little risk customers change future buying pattern if the airline cancels. Hard to fault ANA on this one.

  14. Christopher Chappell Reply
    May 1, 2023 at 2:05 pm

    I agree with the person above who says that publicizing the fact that they “scored” on an airline’s mistake increases the risk of having the ticket(s) revoked. Perhaps upon hearing of this, ANA’s loyal and elite customer base pressured the airline in any of various ways into folding on honoring these fares. That could explain the one week delay. After all, if you just paid $17K for a trip and you find out someone else has paid $1K for a similar trip, you might be a little upset too. Of course we all know airline pricing is notoriously volatile, and well-seasoned travelers accept that. But there’s a limit…

  15. David D Reply
    May 1, 2023 at 10:48 pm

    Being upset that you didn’t get something for nothing is a little ridiculous. Grow up

  16. Jose Reply
    May 9, 2023 at 2:01 pm

    I just am curious if they now could be legally bound. Bought ticket 04/17, paid by CC. Charge sat pending to 04/24 then went away.
    04/25. ANA released statement that tickets won’t be honored ( OK). Ticket still shows up
    05/05. Now disturbing is ANA manually pushed the charge through and is now posted 10 days after stating they would be cancelled. To me they knew it was a mistake and 10 days later still charged. How can they claim anything now? Any insit would be nice

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