Anyone ever had this happen with an airline?

[Tess]

My husband was checking flight prices on Saturday a.m. when he ventured upon a rate of $138.90 on NWA. Needless to say, he was agog because we NEVER get these kind of rates here. This flight was from TOL-DTW-MCO. It was a r/t price and showed on the site as a yellow star "promo" fare.

Well, he tried to pounce on it since the flight times were just the ones we'd been looking for. He tried for hours to get this rate to come up at the time he needed to hit the "purchase" button. Every time he got to the end of the purchase procedure, the rate that showed up in the total was over $900 when, in fact, it should have been $555.60 for 4 tix. After he made several attempts he was sure he was doing something wrong so I took over and got the same error in pricing.

Some 5 hours later and many, many phone calls plus two separate calls with hold times of 80+ mins each, we were told that this fare NEVER existed. Yes, we were seeing it, but NO--it was not purchasable. NWA had made an error in loading its codes and that they were being corrected as we were speaking. This call was the only one that gave us valid information and it was to the internet tech department. Apparently, it was a "glitch" in their system and those rates should never have shown up as available. The tech tells us that the IT guys were loading "new rates" that a.m. and made an error. When I asked what the "new rate" was, he told me $233.80. In point of fact, this is the same rate as the site has had for well over a month. So, I asked him what's new about the rate and he couldn't answer me. He apologized for our wasting 5 hours of our day and gave me a customer service direct line to call this a.m. and suggested that NWA might be willing to offer something--of course, not the rate "because that just won't happen"--as a result of our time spent on this wild goose chase.

Frankly, this appears--glitch or not--as a "false advertising" situation. Nothing worse than spending nearly an entire afternoon (and it was a lovely one at that) only to find your efforts unrewarded. The icing on the cake is the direct phone number we were given has been busy all morning AND it's not toll free so you can't stay on hold for hours since it's our dime. Unbelieveable!

 

[Jestocost]

I've run across "phantom" fares a few times. I've even run into it with travel agents who say they can see the rate on their system, but that it won't let them book the ticket. I've also heard of people booking a great rate (and getting a confirmation) through Expedia or another travel site, then having the airline come back and say the fare was invalid. The airlines usually can come up with an explanation that precludes them having to (or wanting to) make any concessions.

Sometimes there are legitimate things that you can't tell online, like there was one fare left at that rate and you're trying to buy four tickets. In that case it might refuse to put the transaction through at all or it might price it with one fare at the special price and the rest at a regular fare, so the total comes out much more than you expected.

 

[Esmerelda]

Next time...try copying the page its on immediately so you have proof that it was there...then I would complain they would not honor it. Its a long shot....but worth it in my opinion.

I had this same thing happen to me 4 years ago with Enterprise car rental in Orlando. We booked an SUV for $9.99 a day for 4 days...they swore that there was NO way that was the price until I showed them 'THEIR' page copied and all...and my reservation that I'd printed then they had to honor it....of course, they were quite snotty with me about it...but oh well...I figured it was their problem NOT mine....it was there in black and white.

Esmerelda

 

[Jestocost]

Originally posted by Esmerelda
Next time...try copying the page its on immediately so you have proof that it was there...then I would complain they would not honor it. Its a long shot....but worth it in my opinion.

I had this same thing happen to me 4 years ago with Enterprise car rental in Orlando. We booked an SUV for $9.99 a day for 4 days...they swore that there was NO way that was the price until I showed them 'THEIR' page copied and all...and my reservation that I'd printed then they had to honor it....of course, they were quite snotty with me about it...but oh well...I figured it was their problem NOT mine....it was there in black and white.

Esmerelda

I think the airline situation will be somewhat different, however. The airlines may make a limited number of seats available at a certain fare and once they're gone, they're gone. Since the reservation system updates in real time, there's always a chance that a fare could be available when you do the search, but that the seats could be booked by someone else before you complete your reservation and you will be out of luck.

 

[Tess]

There was NO fare at that rate to be had, period. The fare rate showing in the search wasn't recognized by the computation portion because it didn't exist, according to the tech person. No one was able to book at that rate because the rate was "actually" being offered. He could see it online in the search phase, but knew that it was incorrect because the rate didn't exist. He admitted he had spent his entire afternoon dealing with calls and apologized, but the rate was nonexistent despite what the search page showed.

My husband and I joked that it was a disgruntled NWA employee who bugged the system OR a hacker--who knows. I would have been really miffed IF there was a rate available at $138 and change AND we didn't get it after all that time working at it. Cold comfort that NO ONE could book at that rate though. . .

Esmeralda Very, very good suggestion. . .just getting someone to actually justify how they could show it on the website and deny it existed! LOL

 

[safetymom]

The fare may have been the same but the fare rules might have been different. That was why they were loading in new info.

If you kept getting that mistake I would have contacted them a lot sooner than 5 hours. That is not something the airlines can do something about that you kept trying for that long.

Fares can come and go very quickly. Sometimes they change hourly.

 

[DebbieB]

Having a printout may not help. I went through that with USAir a few years ago. Back when they had the Senior Citizen 10% discount, I booked online. Senior Citizen plus 1 companion any age (mom and myself). The confirmation came back with the 10% discount, I printed it. I was charged the amount without the discount. When I went back into their website, the price had changed to the higher one. I called them, they said our fare was not eligible for the discount even though they confirmed it. They offered to cancel and refund, which I didn't do since it was still a good rate. I disputed the charge with my Visa, I sent them copies of the printouts. They refused to intervene.

 

[Tess]

We called immediately after the first attempt failed--between the many calls to different numbers given us by NWA, the hold times, and the repeat attempts, we were tied up for 5 hours! It was during our last call (with a hold time of 80 minutes) that we were told the fare was nonexistent--it was a mistake that came about as a result of improper loading of information. Believe me, after our first attempt to book and it didn't go through as advertised, we were on the phone right away.

NWA, yesterday, agreed to spot us 3,000 miles for our efforts, but wouldn't give a more attractive rate. We would have rather had a better fare rate, obviously.

 

[SB in KY]

Don't know if this would have worked in your case, but 2 or 3 times over the years I have had the same thing happen...you try and try to book a fare directly from an airline and it will not go through...a trick I heard on a flyer talk forum has worked for me twice now....if you cannot book the fare go immediately to expedia or travelocity and see if you can find the fare posted there...if you do you can probably book it through them (of course you pay the $6/ticket booking fee, but if it is a megacheap fare that's OK)...then the airline has to take it up with a huge travel agency and not just you...plus apparently expedia and travelocity have an excellent reputation for standing behind their posted fares even if the airline won't. In short if you have a confirmation from them you fly at that price.

I found a BNA (Nashville) to MCO RT fare (taxes, etc included) for $66RT last fall on Delta...tried x2 to book it through their site and it kept coming up as $224/ticket...so I hopped to expedia and booked it without problem through them ($72/ticket including their booking fee) my sister called Delta and inquired about why she couldn't book it on line and after a prolonged hold period and explaining it to about 4 different CSR's they told her it was an error...no fares would be sold at that price, etc... by the time she gave up arguing with them (to no avail) the fare had been pulled and she couldn't get it anywhere.

Don't know if this would have made a difference in your case but it might help someday!! BTW I have heard that this will NOT work very well on Orbitz,,,since it is airline owned and has a different fare structure link (don't know that from experience, since I don't usually use Orbitz, but it might make sense).

 

[Tess]

Great tip SB in KY! I'll keep that in the back of my mind. This particular fare was not pulled for over 5 hours! Still, no NWA CSR could find it in the system even using the codes they asked us for as we viewed the screen. We went through 4 different CSRs and then we were referred to the IT tx # which precipitated lengthy hold times without results.

At first the IT folks had no explanation although they could at least "see" the code. By the time the fare disappeared, the explanation we were given was that it didn't really exist. Admittedly, the amount showed when search was engaged, BUT it didn't really exist in the pricing structure. I've heard of these "glitches" before, but usually a few slip through and get booked. There was never a time throughout the 5 hour period that the fare rate, as advertised, went through as the search function found, i.e., $138 and change r/t. It wasn't that these were "sold out", they simply didn't exist in the pricing structure. Gremlins at work I guess. . .

Thanks again for the tip--I'll certainly keep it in mind. BTW, that particular fare didn't show up on Expedia nor through a Side Step search.

 

[Brian Noble]

I've seen phantom fares probably one in 20 trips I try to book on NWA. Not that unusual. The tip of booking through a reseller doesn't always work either---expedia often "updates" the fare on the confirmation pages.

 

[SB in KY]

If the fare doesn't show up on any of the major booking sites then chances are it really was a phantom fare. I did not follow all of the discussion on flyer talk, but the jist was a true phantom fare is one that is loaded only in one portion of the system but never into the ticketing portion (for some reason airlines do this occasionally and sometimes on routes they do not even run...i.e., they will list a very low fare between 2 cities when they do not even fly into one of those cities.....) they suggested that it was a test to see if other carriers would match and if they do they put the low fare into the ticketing portion of the program and if they leave it up for 8 to 12 hours and no one follows suit then they can pull it without any real loss.

Expedia or travelocity won't do you any good if it is a true phantom fare because their computers are linked to the ticketing program only....however if it is a fully loaded fare, but posted by mistake there is a safety check on the airlines direct booking systems that will often block sales of those fares and somehow they don't work with the expedia, etc systems.... sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't....nothing more disapointing than finding an incredible fare and then having it "snatched" away!!

 

[clkelley]

I had something similar happen to me with Delta on our May trip. When I search, I usually just search for one person, it's just easier.

A great rate popped up, so I went to book it for 4 people. Oops, the fare went way up for all four of us!!

I then searched for two people, low rate...... three people, low rate..... four people, the rate jumped up!!

I ended up booking hubby and the boys on that direct flight at the great rate, then booked myself on a different flight that left earlier and got in about the same time with a connection for only $7 more than their flight. We were all on the same flight home.

It was pain for me to get up at 4am, but it was worth the savings.

Carol

 

[Chicago526]

I'm a trave agent, and this happens all the time, and on most of the airlines-not just NWA.

What happens is that the airline updates it's central mainframe about 3x a day. Once at mid night, once at around 10 or 11 am, and again in the evening around 5pm or so. Any changes in fares or schedule get uploaded at that time. Sometimes mistakes happen, usually with the fares (but sometimes the schedules too). Occasionally the airline is stuck honnoring the fare (I think either UA or British had to honnor $200 round-trip fares to London once), but usually it just won't let you book the flights. As long as the system doesn't actually let you buy the tickets, the airline doesn't have to honnor them. But if you are able to purchase, then the airline is stuck.

It sucks, but there's nothing you can do about it. At least NW gave you the 3,000 miles for your trouble.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

For some reason I didnt see Chicagos post. Like she said if it lets you book the fare, the airline is stuck. I did hear about the time British Airways accidently sold somthing like 5000 tickets for 200 rountrip from New York to London. It was right after 9/11 I think. Sucks for them

Most of the time an airline cant come back at you after you buy it and say its more. Wether its a computer glitch or not. You bought it and the airlines computer agreed to that price weather it was wrong or not. I was looking online at air fare and a fare of 62 each way from Miami to Iceland. I never saw anything that low to such a rare and interesting place. I booked it. Iceland Air called and said there computer was screwd up and they sold over 1000 tickets at that price. They said the agreed to the price and so did I so they had to honor that rate not matter how much is sucked for them. It was a really cheap and cool trip to Iceland. So if you ever book somthing and they come after you need to show them your terms of agreement listed on purchase page, they usually cant ask you for more money for a problem of theres. At least thats what Delta and other airlines have told me. Also booked a ticket once for 250 rountrip LAX-Boston in first class. I knew it was messed up but Delta honored it and I still got frequent flyer miles at a first class level.
Matt

 

[beachbunny]

So I guess it's just luck of the draw as to whether the airline will honor the rate before you pay for the ticket. After purchase, I've never had an airline not honor my ticket. Earlier this year, I booked Honolulu to Orlando for travel in May for $315. And several years ago, I was lucky enough to get in on the Honolulu to Paris flight for $200 on United.