Glitch Watch - Lower than low fares at Aer Lingus
April 25th, 2008 by Nigel Cheshire. Posted in Glitch WatchGlitch Watch is a bit abbreviated this week by virtue of the fact that I am on the road which severely limits the amount of time I have available to sort through the mail bag. However, one story did catch my eye this week. Irish airline Aer Lingus inadvertently advertised €5 (about $8) business class seats from Ireland to Boston. The normal business class seat price is apparently €1,775 (about $2,765) each way.
Between 7:30 am and 9:00 am when the “glitch” was discovered, about 700 tickets were sold, including some to Aer Lingus employees themselves, and the airline now has the problem of what to do with them. Initially, they canceled the tickets, on the basis that it was clearly a mistake. But in the PR firestorm that ensued, the airline backpedaled and offered the customers economy class tickets. Still not a bad deal!