You may be unethical if you book fares you think are “mistake” fares but one airline is certainly unethical for waiting NINE DAYS to cancel a cheaply-priced economy class ticket is blames on “human error”. Let’s all give a round of applause to Virgin Australia.
Virgin Australia recently filed “mistake fares” twice. The first was a $172 round-trip economy class fare from Dallas to Melbourne. The second was a $900 round-trip business class fare from Auckland to Oakland.
Six days later, Virgin Australia cancelled the cheap business class tickets. Virgin offered economy class on the same flights or a full-refund. You could accept economy class online, but had to call if you wanted a refund…
Nine days later, Virgin Australia began cancelling the cheap economy class tickets (the email below came to reader Katherine).
Recently you purchased an Economy Class fare from Dallas, United States of America, to Melbourne, Australia with us. Due to human error, there was a discrepancy with the fare price advertised and unfortunately we’re unable to proceed with your booking.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. We will cancel your booking and issue you a full refund, which you will receive within the next 7 days to the payment method provided at the time of booking.
Again, we sincerely apologize for this mistake and we thank you for your understanding.
Virgin claims, “[U]nfortunately we’re unable to proceed with your booking,” even though the booking was complete and ticket issued. It sickens me.
If the Tables Were Turned
Imagine if we sent out the following nine days after booking a fare we now regret buying—
Recently I purchased an Economy Class fare from Dallas, United States of America, to Melbourne, Australia with you. Due to human error, there was a discrepancy with the fare price advertised and unfortunately I’m unable to proceed with your booking.
We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Kindly cancel my booking and issue me a full refund, which I expect within the next 7 days to the payment method provided at the time of booking.
Again, we sincerely apologize for this mistake and we thank you for your understanding.
Virgin Australia would laugh. Yet they try to pull the same stunt with these fares…
It is unconscionable.
And don’t expect any help from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Their policy is that airlines do not have to honor mistake fares, but must reimburse “reasonable” expenses incurred upon reliance of the fare.
Good luck collecting anything for non-refundable hotel bookings and positioning airline tickets from Virgin Australia.
CONCLUSION
I don’t think seller’s remorse should be permissible by law when buyer’s remorse is not beyond a 24-hour window. If consumers have 24-hours to cancel when they book more than seven days in advance, airlines should be held to the same standard. You think it is a mistake fare? Fine. You have 24 hours to cancel as long as there are more than seven days prior to travel.
Shame, shame, shame on Virgin Australia.
the 24 hour rule should go both ways. I am sensitive to error on both sides. 9 days is shameful
We will see. I have a case number with the DOT, a request to Virgin for a refund and for a refund for the visa. I paid a higher fare which is closer to what United charges for a similar flight from LAX to SIN so they cannot say my ticket was the same as the $172 fare.
What gets me is that they do not even have the common courtesy to send an email that the fare was cancelled. The only way I found out was when I checked the Delta app and the ticket disappeared.
I am upset by this too. Thank you to people like you who are ousting them publicly. I want my ticket reinstated. This is absolutely unethical and ridiculous.
I received a phone call from Delta this morning. They were offering me economy class for the business class price.
What a joke!
The reason airlines delegate on a contractor IT support services is to avoid legal responsibilities.
Matthew,
I think you should combine your passions for travel and law and bring some kind of action on this topic. Class-action maybe?
That could function as meeting your life pro bono hours.
Would be a fun little project, representing all mistake fares and petitioning for mutual 24 hour rules.
Think about it!
I filed with DOT and they are allowing the cancellation to take place. It’s ridiculous that the airlines don’t have a specified time frame related to the cancellation window but customers have a clearly defined 24 hours.