United to void absurdly cheap 1st-class mistake fares

Ben Mutzabaugh | USA TODAY

United Airlines sold first-class trans-Atlantic tickets for as little as $51 Wednesday morning in an mistake pinned to a third party software provider. United halted he sale of those cheap tickets by late morning.

Unfortunately for fliers who were lucky enough to snag one of those fares, it appears as though United will not honor them.

In a statement to Today in the Sky, United says:

"United is voiding the bookings of several thousand individuals who were attempting to take advantage of an error a third-party software provider made when it applied an incorrect currency exchange rate, despite United having properly filed its fares. Most of these bookings were for travel originating in the United Kingdom, and the level of bookings made with Danish Kroner as the local currency was significantly higher than normal during the limited period that customers made these bookings."

Indeed, customers who bought the mistake fares started getting cancellation emails from United on Wednesday evening.

"You purchased a ticket through the Danish version of united.com during the time when the prices were incorrect. As a result, we are not able to honor your ticket at the price that you paid. We have voided your reservation and will not process your payment," United said in the e-mail, which also reiterated an "error with a vendor's currency exchange rates."

"If you would like to book your travel at the correct price, please visit united.com," United advised the mistake-fare customers.

That confirmed the fear of many who wondered via frequent-flier and deal sites about whether United would actually honor the absurdly low fares.

As for the mistake, it all apparently began after a third-party site software provided bungled the currency conversion process that affected the British pound and the Danish kroner. The result: fares for flights departing the U.K. were mispriced on United's booking page for Denmark.

That meant though the fares were almost literally a steal, U.S. passengers had to jump through a series of hoops to get them. For starters, flights could only originate in the United Kingdom. .The sale fares appeared to cover flights in business and coach class as well, catching the attention of frequent-flier sites like FlyerTalk and View from the Wing.

Perhaps the most complicated portion of the mistake fares is that they showed only on flights that listed Denmark as a point of sale. Many U.S. fliers were able to take advantage of the mistake by setting their home country to "Denmark" as they booked on United's flight-booking page. The flights priced in Danish kroner, with first-class fares on routes like London to Honolulu (connecting via the mainland U.S.) at about 1275 Danish kroner -- or about $193. Other routes -- such as Newcastle to Newark -- converted to as little as $51.

Some customers who tried to snag the fares were sent back to a U.S. point-of-sale page that re-priced their fares at more-typical prices. Others, however, reported via social media that they successfully bought the fares. Customers who did not log in to their frequent-flier accounts apparently had better luck, as did customers who left Denmark as their home country when entering their credit card information – even if it did not match their home address.

United said the fares were filed correctly, but an incorrect exchange rate caused the fares to misprice on United's Denmark site.

United acknowledged earlier Wednesday that "a third-party software provider applied an incorrect exchange rate and was misquoting the airline's properly filed fares. This error in the application of the exchange rate primarily impacted individuals who live outside of Denmark and who were not traveling to or from Denmark but were attempting to book tickets using United's Denmark site."