A Japanese Airline Accidentally Sold $10,000 Business-Class Tickets for Just $300
Typically, business-class or first-class airline tickets will set you back thousands of dollars. A number of lucky travelers were able to get their hands on those seats for just a few hundred, though.
Thanks to a currency conversion gone wrong, All Nippon Airways accidentally sold premium seats for way less than they would normally cost, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. One of the most expensive tickets, a roundtrip flight from Jakarta to Aruba with stops in Tokyo and New York, would normally sell for an average of $16,300. But someone was able to snag it for just $890, 20 times less than the usual price. Another passenger booked a $10,000 round trip from Jakarta to New York with stops in Singapore and Tokyo for a paltry $300.
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On Wednesday, All Nippon said that the mistake was due to an error on its Vietnam website and that it was “investigating the cause of the bug and the size of its damage,” according to Bloomberg. It didn’t disclose how many discounted tickets were sold before the problem was identified.
Initially, a spokesperson for the airline said that the cheaper tickets would be honored by All Nippon, but later the carrier changed its tune and said a final decision hadn’t yet been agreed on. For now, discounted tickets will be valid until an announcement is made later this month.
Most of the premium tickets unintentionally sold at economy prices were from Jakarta to Japan to New York, then back to cities in Southeast Asia, according to people whom Bloomberg spoke with. One traveler, Johnny Wong, said he nabbed a business-class fare from Jakarta to Honolulu with a layover in Tokyo for just $550. The same ticket is now selling for $8,200.
“I never thought I’d catch such a deal,” Wong told Bloomberg.
This isn’t the first time an airline has accidentally sold premium seats for much less than they’re actually worth. In 2019, Cathay Pacific sold similar tickets from Vietnam to the United States for a mere $675, when they would have typically gone for as much as $16,000. That airline decided to honor the reduced prices.
The All Nippon travelers are likely hoping for the same. But they shouldn’t get used to such cushy travel at that more accessible price point.
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