Qantas sold hundreds of discounted first class airfares to customers by mistake with flights on a popular international route offered for less than $5,000.
The national carrier sold the low cost tickets for return flights between Australia and the United States on August 22.
Around 300 customers made bookings during the eight hours that the tickets were being advertised on the Qantas website.
Flights from Sydney to Los Angeles were advertised for $2,191 while flights from Los Angeles to Sydney were available from $2,108.
The airfares were being offered for January 10, 2025 and January 30, 2025.
Daily Mail Australia understands the first class tickets were sold due to a coding error.
The fares that were advertised were up to 85 per cent lower than the normal cost of first class tickets.
The discounted prices were also around 65 per cent lower than usual cost of business class flights.
The national carrier sold the low cost tickets for return flights between Australia and the United States on August 22 (pictured)
Flights from Sydney to Los Angeles were advertised for $2,191 while flights from Los Angeles to Sydney were available from $2,108
The fares were quickly shared online, including on popular discount website OzBargain.
A customer who uploaded a post urged travellers to book while they can – even though they admitted the sale appeared to be ‘clearly an error’.
‘No guarantees it will be honoured by Qantas, but worth a try,’ they wrote.
The post claimed the flights could be booked from September 2024 to June 2025, including dates during the busy Christmas holiday period.
Social media users claimed they had managed to secure seats on some of the flights.
‘I booked two and one already got approved see you guys at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport]’ one person wrote.
‘Amazing. Just tried a dummy booking for April and the cheap fare is correct,’ another person wrote.
‘Thanks bought 10,’ a third wrote.
A Qantas spokeswoman confirmed the airfares were created by a system generated error and told Daily Mail Australia staff are assisting customers impacted by the sale.
‘Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true,’ the spokeswoman said.
‘As a gesture of good will, we’re rebooking customers in Business Class at no additional cost. Customers also have the option of a full refund.’
The latest issue comes after Qantas was ordered to pay $120million in fines and compensation for misleading thousands of customers over flight cancellations.
Qantas confirmed the airfares were created by a system generated error and staff are assisting customers impacted by the sale (stock image)
Around 86,000 customers were sold tickets for flights that had already been cancelled between May 2021 and August 2023.
The airline also agreed to pay $100million to the ACCC for breaching Australian Consumer Law.
New CEO Vanessa Hudson said the airline would work hard to revive its battered reputation.
The airline illegally sacked almost 1,700 workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and hit customers with expensive airfares.
Ms Hudson, who took over from Alan Joyce after he resigned in September last year, apologised for letting customers down.
‘We haven’t delivered the way we should have and we’ve often been hard to deal with,’ she said.
‘We understand why you’re frustrated, and why some of you have lost trust in us.’