You probably scour the weblogs, forums and search engines for the best airfare deals — and then along comes an airfare which is either too good to be true or is an amazing bargain. You drop whatever you are doing and immediately concentrate on booking those flights…
Why I Do Not Like Posting Articles About Mistake Fares — and Should I Change My Mind?
…only to find that the unusually low airfares either no longer exist, or were basically “phantom” airfares — meaning that they never existed in the first place. The experience is almost as if they were turned on with a click of the button — only to be turned back off again with another click of the button.
Not long after Chuck Powell posted this article at Points With a Crew pertaining to airfares between Atlanta and different cities in Australia for as low as $627.00 round trip — including all taxes and fees — for a seat in the economy class cabin, I immediately attempted to book a ticket.
Here is my experience illustrated in screen shots:
I used the search engine of Google Flights to find airfares between Atlanta and Sydney — and I found quite a few for as low as $640.00.
The dates I chose were Saturday, May 18, 2019 for departure from Atlanta to Sydney, with the return on Saturday, June 8, 2019.
I had a selection of three choices for outbound flights. I chose the one which cost $640.00…
…but when I was brought to the point of choosing a return flight, the cost skyrocketed back to typical airfares. I chose the one which cost $1,089…
…and even that selection jumped to $1,508.00 — which was the cost of the other choice.
When using the official Internet web site of American Airlines to book the same itinerary, the total cost of the itinerary was $1,489.00.
As far as I know, the example used by Chuck Powell may be legitimate but was not confirmed, as he posted screen shots of what he found at Google Flights, which is not always accurate because of the speed in which airfares change. I have learned that if you want to confirm that flights are being sold at the airfare found at Google Flights, you must confirm the pricing at the official Internet web site of the airline — and furthermore, ensure that the airfare remains the same when clicking all the way through the process but just short of purchasing the ticket.
In contrast, Ric Garrido posted this article at Loyalty Traveler pertaining to airfares between Atlanta and different cities in California for as low as $78.00 one way — including all taxes and fees — for a seat in the economy class cabin.
That airfare still existed at the time at which this article was written — but the airfare is a Basic Economy class ticket, for what that is worth.
Taking Advantage of Mistake Fares: A Question of Ethics?
I am not going to delve deep into the ethics of taking advantage of a mistake fare, as I ventured in depth into this topic with this article I wrote back on Thursday, December 25, 2014 — but how would you know whether or not the amazing airfare which is found is actually a legitimate sale?
In this article pertaining to what is the difference between incorrect prices and mistake fares which I wrote four days later on Monday, December 29, 2014, I wrote:
The question is whether or not consumers should be able and permitted to use the aforementioned rules and pricing laws to their advantage when it comes to incorrect pricing and mistake fares. The problem is — except for the most obvious cases — how can anyone prove that a consumer actually knew that an airfare or price of an item or service is actually a mistake?
Please answer this question without peeking: is the following headline of an article which was posted earlier today describing a mistake fare or a legitimate airfare purposely offered to customers?
London to Germany and Ireland – at £17.82 all-in return
That sounds like a pretty good deal, right? The writer of that article called that airfare “remarkable”…
…so was it a pricing error? Click on the link above to find out.
Even if you do not click on the link, I use that as one of myriad examples of airfares which could be considered mistake fares or legitimate deals. Can you really tell the difference between a mistake fare and a legitimate bargain airfare? Should you as a consumer be required to be burdened to know the difference?
Summary
While such airfares would certainly drive more traffic to The Gate, I typically do not post articles with possible error fares because I do not want to frustrate you when you get the news of such an airfare from me — only to become irritated after taking the time to go through the process and come up empty because that airfare is not available. To a reader, posting airfares which are quickly unobtainable may equate to what is known as click bait in his or her mind…
…but am I wrong about this train of thought? Which would you rather I post more articles about great airfares which may be mistake fares — and thus have you score a phenomenal deal but may potentially waste your time — or should I continue the current policy of rarely ever posting articles about those airfares?
Photographic composite illustration ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
