Japan airline blunder sees business-class tickets to US sell for as little as US$550
- All Nippon Airways, or ANA, says it will honour the tickets for those people who saw the mistake and jumped on its website quickly to book and pay
- Most of the tickets were for travel starting in Jakarta, through to Japan and then onto New York, and would normally costs thousands of US dollars
ANA has said it will honour the tickets for those people who saw the mistake and jumped on its website quickly to book and pay - the glitch was circulating widely on some social media platforms - but those who only reserved the tickets will have to pay a “just price”, according to an airline statement on Wednesday.
Several people are known to have successfully booked what is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime bargain.
Johnny Wong, who works in the airline industry, snagged a round-trip ticket from Jakarta to Honolulu via Narita airport in Tokyo for 13 million dong (US$550). “I never thought I’d catch such a deal,” he said. The 29-year-old said he felt under pressure to enter his details as fast as he could, racing against time before ANA realised its error. That fare is currently selling for US$8,200.
Cathay to honour tickets sold in error in move that could cost millions
It isn’t the first time an airline has inadvertently sold premium seats at a steep discount.