Qantas has promised to refund or rebook the flights of hundreds of customers, after the airline mistakenly sold first class flights at majorly reduced prices.
On 22 August, some first class fares on flights between Australia and the US were listed online up to 85% lower than usual for first class.
The flights were listed at less than $5,000 return, about $15,000 cheaper than usual. Prices were also about 65% cheaper than the business class fare on offer.
About 300 customers made bookings during the eight hours the mistakenly reduced flights were on offer.
In a statement, a Qantas spokesperson said this was “a case where the fare was actually too good to be true”, citing a coding error.
“As a gesture of good will, we’re rebooking customers in business class at no additional cost,” the spokesperson said. “Customers also have the option of a full refund.”
One such customer, posting to an online forum, shared what appeared to be the response from Qantas customer care.
“We have identified that your booking was affected by this error and are contacting you with an important update about your booking. We sincerely apologise for this error,” the message read.
In a statement, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said that businesses should always aim to advertise their prices and offers correctly, “but mistakes can happen.”
“Under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) a business should not engage in conduct that is false or misleading in the sale or marketing of goods and services,” the spokesperson said.
“If a business becomes aware of a genuine error, it should fix the mistake immediately.
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“Businesses are entitled to withdraw an offer or product from sale to correct inaccurate pricing or other incorrect information. The ACL doesn’t require businesses to honour incorrectly advertised offers.”
But the ACCC said businesses should provide a remedy where consumers made a purchase “based on the erroneous offer that is subsequently withdrawn.”
“For example, allowing the consumer to cancel their purchase and receive a refund of the amount paid.”
It comes two months after Qantas dropped out of a ranking of the top 20 best airlines in the world, ranking 24th this year in Skytrax’s world airline award after the airline’s $100m fine for allegedly selling flights that didn’t exist.
In June, a Qantas spokesperson said the airline had been “listening to our customers and our people and have been acting on this feedback with significant investment already underway”.
“We want our customers to feel the difference from the changes that we have put in place and, in recent months, we have seen customer satisfaction levels improve,” the spokesperson said.