With all of the buzz around yesterday’s 4-mile United “mistake” award fare, there’s a lot of speculation about how United will handle the situation. For those of who are unaware of what happened, award trips routing through Hong Kong were being priced, confirmed, and ticketed at the redemption rate of only 4 miles per passenger roundtrip, regardless of the date of travel, class of service, and final destination.
Some people actually bought tickets departing on the same day and were able to board the plane and fly – thus further proving that the tickets were indeed 100% valid. You may read more about the situation at View from the Wing and One Mile at a Time.
The more interesting fact is – Eddie, who last night commented on Lucky’s post, brought something powerful to the table by sharing this Wall Street Journal article from March of 2010, that states:
UAL Corp.’s United Airlines, Continental Airlines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co.,LUV +1.40%JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU +1.59% and Singapore AirlinesC6L.SG +0.28% all say their policy is to not cancel tickets even when a mistake is discovered, no matter how large the error.
“That is the right thing to do,” says United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.
Now rather to continue to beat up a dead horse with an ethics/morals debate, let’s put all aside (including DoT regulations and legal advice) and focus strictly on United:
Does this statement put United in a hole with their customer service at stake? Will United’s word/integrity be on the line if they don’t honor these tickets? If you were United in this situation, what would you do?
I say, whatever does end up happening, this will surely be the talk of the frequent flyer and airline industry for quite some time, and it will be an interesting topic in the news to watch unfold and follow.
Please share your opinions in the poll below and in the comments.
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Let’s connect:Â 
I did not get in on this. Missed it by 5 or 10 mins. They were shutting down HKG searches as I was trying to get it. I also don’t have any recent flying experience with United so no ax to grind here. But when you think about this, If they choose to honor this great for everyone that got it! But we all know that this was NOT what United intended, and we are all taking advantage of the mistake, but doing so comes at a price. Someone EATS the mistake XXX million dollars, and that someone is NOT United. It never is the company. This is all passed on to the market down the road in the form of higher fares for everyone. Not trying to preach here, just wanted to point out that there are 2 sides to every transaction and when someone wins big, that means there was a big looser, and that loss always rolls down to the littlest guy.
i hate that if i miss type or mispell I can’t edit to correct. I meant axe to grind, and
But when you think about this, If they choose to honor this great for everyone that got it, great!
It really depends on how many tickets were issued, though if I were United, I would cancel the tickets, offer $150 travel vouchers to everyone, and fire whoever caused this to happen. I guess time will tell what they do….and in any case, I certainly would’ve tried booking one of the 4-mile redemptions if I caught this yesterday. It can never hurt to try :)
I really don’t see United taking a $10-20M+ loss over an error like this. Just sayin…
Looks like United is going against its own policy and against previous commitments to honoring their mistakes. Here is what they are saying as of Monday night:
“Hi Everyone, over the weekend, we discovered a united.com programming error that allowed customers to obtain Mileage Plus travel awards to and from Hong Kong for as little as four miles roundtrip per person, substantially below published levels, which we disclose to customers. We have since corrected the error and will be in contact with customers who have tickets issued at the incorrect award amounts. Customers will be given the choice to redeem at the correct mileage amount or re-deposit their award with all fees waived. We regret any inconvenience this has caused you, and appreciate your understanding.
Shannon Kelly
Director, Customer Insights
United Airlines”
So how many mistake fares has United Air had that has worked in their favor ? Is it right for them to charge
more as the plane gets closer to being sold out ? Is it right to charge more for a holiday weekend flight that is almost a year out ? I guess the supply and demand theory can only work in their favor.
So a few people buy tickets with a few miles in excahnge for shutting out people who were willing to pay over 60000 miles but now have to pay 100000 miles for a seat
. HUH ?
Maybe I am missing the point , but it seems an airline
can charge anything it wants whenever it wants but that and it is OK. They can strand you at airports, leave
you on tarmacs, kick you off planes nickel and dime
you to your blue in the face but heaven help us if they
make a mistake that benefits a few
Regardless of how big or small the “error” was, I think United should come out with something like this:
“While we’re sure this was a great deal for customers, it was inadvertent, and we took a big loss (over $XX million – ouch) selling so many items so far under cost. However, it was our mistake. We will be honoring all purchases that took place on XXpm.com during our mess up. We apologize to anyone that was confused and/or frustrated during out little hiccup and thank you all for being such great customers. We hope you continue to Shop. Save. Smile.”
This is taking for a press release a company put out after a similar computer glitch”
My 4 cents or 4 miles.