I took advantage of the cheap round-trip business class fare from Bangkok to Toronto yesterday on Ethiopian Airlines.
I have a trip to Bangkok coming up and this provided the perfect way to get me home. I’m not sure yet how I’ll use the return, though four longhauls on Ethiopian Airlines actually excites me. Recreating Lucky’s trip to Nepal and Bhutan tempts me greatly, but I want Heidi along for that so maybe this will give me a chance to check out Laos and/or Mongolia for the return potion.
Despite Ethiopian’s rapid growth and new service to Los Angeles, it is one of only three Star Alliance carriers I have not yet flown (Air India and Shenzhen are the other two). The Dreamliner has good business class seats and clients have reported back satisfaction with the hospitable in-flight service.
Will Ethiopian Honor This Ticket?
An unrestricted business class ticket for $763 seems almost too good to be true, and yet this is far from a $0 fare or other obvious mistake. Premium tickets have historically always been cheaper out of Bangkok and Ethiopian Airlines has run many fare sales lately.
My hunch is they will honor this fare.
But’s let say they do not. What recourse would I have? Even though I am a U.S. resident who booked the ticket on Ethiopian’s U.S. website, the U.S. Department of Transportation has no jurisdiction because airline ticket does not touch the USA. Any redress would have to be via the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).
I have battled an airline in Canada before and prevailed but times have changed. In May 2014, the CTA ruled in favor of SWISS in the context of mistake fare out of Burma. Arguing passengers should have been aware the fare was a mistake, CTA upheld the right of SWISS to cancel the tickets.
This fare, however, is not 1% of the normal fare. It seems to be about 25% (or 75% off) the normal fare. Is that enough? We will see…
CONCLUSION
I booked this directly through Ethiopian Airlines (online) and my ticket was promptly issued. Hopefully this sticks because I do intend to use this ticket. I’ll report back either way.
IT should go well
Ethiopian is one of the leading airlines in Africa
Would love to know how you find flights like that! That’s an amazing deal for that distance (actually, from Toronto to almost anywhere in business class!).
Flyertalk,
From Toronto is only the return part.
I think you made a mistake by booking directly though.
My hunch is the best you can hope for is a free ride in Y.
Side note: you should know better then repeat the 1% LX argument. This far has a similar promo to normal ratio.