The initial report regarding how United intends to handle the mistake fares that were booked this morning, as reported by Ben Mutzabaugh at USA Today, is that United will NOT be honoring all of the tickets purchased.
Notice the emphasized words.
FlyerTalkers aren’t quite ready to give up the fight based on this news.
Off to DOT. Here are the relevant links:
http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/air-t…t-comment-form
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-201…-sec399-88.xml
Everyone please file immediately as the initial number of complaints will be important as both UA and DOT assess the situation ~HansGolden
Will you be filing a DOT complaint?
(Not sure what this is all about? Read my earlier post: Denmark Wiped Off the Map – Now What?)
Read the thread in its entirety: [PREM FARE GONE] UA: NCL-EWR 600 DKK (mistaken fare)
Calm down. Unless your ticket has been canceled you have no basis for a DOT complaint. Patience.
In general, I think airlines should be forced to honor mistake fares just as best buy or Amazon has to honor its published ads, mistakes and all.
However, on this deal, users changed the point-of-sale to countries that weren’t their own. Exploiting this loophole seems to go beyond what is reasonable to ask United to honor the deal in good faith. Beyond that, since point of sale is how taxes are calculated, I wonder if fliers are indirectly circumventing tax laws with this maneuver? (not like anyone is coming after you, but still…). Government precedent has usually asked the line of questioning “would a reasonable person know this was a mistake” and in this case, it seems to me, that there is little doubt that even the most inexperienced flier knew what they were doing was shady.
I think UA has to honor those who are based in Denmark. For US, lets see whose actually ticketed as those that didn’t are likely out of luck. For those who ticketed, it will be interesting to follow.