British Airways will offer compensation to fat-finger customers

For someone who had only booked a flight, say for family visit, this is more like a marketing gimmick than honest compensation.

That’s one way to look at it. Another is Orbitz is making some form of amends, even if others don’t consider it enough.

Chris, perhaps you can close comments on your other post about it so people can post here as a followup instead? :)

How exactly is it a $40 base? It’s $40 + fuel surcharge + taxes = $500. The fuel surcharge (which is about $360) goes right into BA’s pockets. So BA got about $400 per ticket here. While it’s a good deal, it’s hardly a trivial sum.

By continuing to quote a ficticous “$40 base,” you’re essentially legitimizing the airlines’ practicde of having absurdly low “base fares” in an attempt to advertise something lower than it really is.

So really you should point out it’s a $400 (10 times the $40 you keep quoting) base fare on the tickets that BA is invalidating.

Don’t feel too angry about the ‘vultures’ making ‘out like bandits’ at the expense of the ‘poor airlines’

This ‘compensation’ is close to a general offer being offered to ANYONE on orbitz.

$150 off 5nt package: ORBITZOT150 [book & stay by 12/27/09]
$50 off 3nt package: ORBITZOT50

I appreciate your efforts to get this resolved. While I understand BA’s decision, I don’t think it’s fair that they can cancel after 3 days without any explanation. What happens if they cancel after few more days? Customers have no right to protest this? I bought the ticket on 2nd octber. They cancelled the ticket on 7th october.They have already charged my Credit Card with $596.98. I can see the ticket number and the travel details. I have not seen any refund yet there. I only stumbled on this fare. I thought it is a sale price and i’m not a frequent flier to know, it is mistake or not. I called travelocity after receiving an email from them about the cancellation. They are simply saying “BA cancelled your ticket not us”. Is this fair? While i planned my vacaction and now i have to look for fares on other airlines. As you have mentioned if the tables are turned around? why the customer has to suffer all the time. They have all the rules/conditions on the ticket. As a customer we have to adhere to those conditions but not BA. Is this fair? Even if i beg they won’t let me off the hook for a change, but BA can simply cancel. The travel web site has all the price guarrenttee/promise. None of those are in play. It is simply unfair for the customer to suffer.

“The folks who saw the $40 base fare must have known this was a mistake, and if they booked a dozen flights in the hopes that the fare would be honored, they are trying to steal from British Airways.”

Chris, with all due respect, I think that’s a bit of a stretch on your part. I’d argue that anyone who follows airfares closely, especially by foreign carriers, knows that most “base fares” are bogus, and instead focus on total price with fees and taxes. You’re always seeing stuff like 1 pound base fares on Ryannair, 1 rupee or even zero rupee base fares on Indian carriers, etc. I wouldn’t have automatically considered a $40 base a pricing error; I would have more seen it as your typical European/Asian carrier marketing gimmick. I certainly don’t hold myself out as an airfare expert, but I would surely think that those who are would be thinking the same way.

@Chris I think to state that it is illegal is a bit off base; stating it’s of poor moral character in your opinion is fine, we all have our own opinions, but there is nothing illegal about it.

Orbitz has still done nothing for customers who purchased non-refundable hotel. They refuse to respond to emails or deal with that issue.

Do these companies need to post a disclaimer that states, “DO NOT book any onward travel, hotel, car for 72 hours or longer while we decide if the fare you purchased is legitimate.”

Maybe all airlines need to give customers 24 hours to cancel their ticket with no charge and they have 24 hours to correct any fare mistake, after that period both sides are stuck with the tickets.

@Chris, I too am surprised by your “bottom feeder” comment. These people, who have “nothing better to do with their time” than chat on frequent flyer forums, are very similar (if not the same) to the kind of people who read your blog.

Let me tell you something more about these bottom feeders. Many of them are more passionate about going back home for a visit than about travelling itself. Such visits cost a lot more than the cost of airfare, are much more significant than say a vacation to Hawaii, and involve considerable amount of planning from the get-go. So, do me a favor, and let them at least be upset about having their entire plans thrown into a disarray after 3 days without communication o warning and by an airline that wouldn’t even take a moment to sincerely apologize. Speaking on behalf of these bottom feeders, I can tell you that there’s a right and wrong way to go about doing this. If it was done in the right way, I would consider sucking it up but, since it is being handled in such an abrasive way, BA will have to answer a judge as to why they think they don’t have to honor a contract. By the way, BA must know that that’s a rhetorical question.

@David Z

Of course its a marketing gimmick! BA doesnt give too hoots about these poeples issues with they’re tickets. They just dont want to seem like jerks. But to the people who were effected, as long as they’re able to get they’re money back, what does it matter?
From the sounds of it, the travel industry is trying to get back into everyones good books. they know if they dont they go bankrupt. So They’re trying to make up for they’re lousyness by making themselves seem like an awesome company that cares about its costomers.
I’m noticing it alot. the last few weeks, alot of problems have been fixed with little to no influence from Christ Elliott… one or two times, probably a fluke, but happening alot, like it has been, its a new trend. Now alot of the airlines that have been in here in the past few weeks. seem to have employees that realize that if they dont change they’re act they can kiss they’re jobs goodbye, so they seem to have a new apprieciation for they’re costomers and are working alot harder to fix they’re legitimate issues… but it also looks like alot of other airlines are just jumping onto the bandwagon of trying to look like the good guys.

Who were you talking about then, Chris? It seems obvious to me that your opinion on this matter is the minority perspective. Actually, I can’t find a single comment that backs up your way of thinking. Can you?

Maybe you are the one who is wrong?

@Scott

I think what this shows is that the airlines and booking agencies cannot be trusted with our credit cards until they are capable of delivering on their offers. Why should I have to give BA my credit card info before I am sold a product? The real lesson here may be that airlines should figure out if they can give what they offer first *and then* start asking for payment.

Chris with due respect; I am sure you receive many perk offers; also althoughIsuume you are always nice maybe your face and name recognition ; may i assume you recieve most favorite customer attention at times as in the case of your being put over 24 others on a wait list; also quite a bit of your traveling is business related thus tax deductible .Iam sure you do not need fat fingers , if there is such a thing in the travel world.

I think I might have misread the original blog. I thought that the fare was advertised as $40. Had that been the case, then anyone would know that was an obvious error. The fact that some no frills airlines like ryanair offer super cheap fares is unpersuasive. British Airways and Ryanair are not the same type of airline. That like the person who tried to convince me tha the $2 per night fare at the Ritz was a believable nightly rate in New York. BS to the max.

Now, having said that, I do believe that if someone makes an error and catches it in a reasonable time, then they should be able to fix it, whether its BA or the customer.

American Airlines allows it, sort of. If you purchase a ticket, you have about 2 hours to cancel the purchase. I can’t speak for other airlines, but it take American Airlines a few hours to actually ticket the purchase. Until then the average agent can and will cancel and refund our money.

On another subject, I disagree with Chris’s characterization of people who hang out in frequent flier websites as bottom feeders. But I understand why he choose those unfortunate words. Go over to Flyertalk.com. The mantra there is get whatever you can, regardless. For example, if there is a fat fingering fare, the protocol is to post it for the entire world to see. People will make multiple bookings in order to secure huge benefits at the expense of the hotel or airline. That’s hardly ethical behavior, but its the norm at some of these websites.

@Chris – No, the fact is, besides the taxes, how much money is BA putting in their pocket? You and I know it’s not $40. So, if you repeatedly bringing up $40, then some of your uninformed readers may think that BA is only getting $40 out of it, when the fact is they are getting 10X that amount. At $554, it’s still a nice fare, but by no mean it’s a give away.