BA cancels passengers' cheap flights after discovering pricing 'error'

British Airways has cancelled the tickets of passengers who managed to buy cheap flights after a glitch on the airline’s booking system.

A number of customers bought heavily reduced fares, many to Tel Aviv, including a ￡167 return ticket, from third-party agents, but BA voided the tickets when it discovered the wrong fares had been published.

Ash Dubbay, from London, paid ￡195 through agent Travel Up for return flights to the Israeli city, but now has to pay as much as ￡1,000. A spot-check on flight comparison website Skyscanner for travel next month shows return flights to Tel Aviv costing from ￡307 with Easyjet, ￡567 with Turkish Airlines and ￡1,144 with British Airways. On the BA website, flights start from ￡351 return in the summer and ￡291 later in the year. 

BA has apologised for cancelling the tickets and offered full refunds and a ￡100 voucher, but Mr Dubbay said it was “no help” because of how expensive the new flights were.

“I’m very disappointed and let down by British Airways,” he told the BBC. “If I wanted to cancel my tickets I wouldn't have been able to but it seems like they can just do what they want."

Another customer, Esther Vadia, had six tickets to Tel Aviv, bought at ￡167 each, cancelled by the airline. She said she will now lose ￡1,000 on non-refundable accommodation.

At a glance | How does a 'mistake fare' happen - and how to spot one?

“If go to a supermarket and buy something for cheap, they cannot come after you later and say you have to give it back,” she said.

"So how can an airline do that? Besides, I don't think the tickets were so cheap as to be unbelievable."

Such pricing errors are known as “mistake fares” and are not uncommon. Human error or IT mishaps can drop the price of flights by up to 99 per cent, with long-haul tickets being sold for less than ￡5.

However, airlines are not obliged to honour the fares, and it is estimated around 40 per cent are cancelled.

Jack Sheldon, founder of flight deal newsletter, Jack’s Flight Club, said he has seen ￡150 flights to Toronto honoured by a carrier.

“It’s a big PR hit for an airline to cancel a ticket so they have to make a decision on that,” he said. “But if the mistake only cuts the fare in half, it’s likely they will say it’s valid.”

This has not been the case with British Airways. Mr Dubbay said he thought his tickets were cheap but “not far-fetched”, and called on BA to honour the flights, which he said were advertised for several hours.

secrets of air travel

Another passenger, Hanna Simon, also said she did not believe the fares to have been “excessively cheap”.

Guy Anker, deputy editor of Money Saving Expert, said BA should do the “right thing and let them fly at the price they booked”.

“They've bought these tickets in good faith at a believable price - it's not as though the tickets cost ￡5, which would clearly have been a glitch,” he said. “Many have budgeted accordingly and booked accommodation and now face big fees to go ahead with their holiday.

"While this may have been a 'rare' error, it's not the passengers' error.”

A spokesperson for BA said the airline had contacted the travel agents “who were able to access the incorrect fare for the short period it was available to advise them and apologise”, adding: “We are fully refunding the tickets that were booked. We have apologised to customers and offered a gesture of goodwill.”

The spokesperson said that errors like this are “exceptionally rare” and “if they do occur, under contract law, there is no binding contract between the parties”.