Is it ethical for QF to advertise sale fares with no seats available?

[Aggi]

hi, just been looking at sale fares Qantas is advertising from Melbourne to Miami from 1 August to 14 September for $1905. Sale is on until 26 May however as at today there is not a single day within this period that I can see this fare being available. Most dates the fare is over $2600. My question is, is it ethical for Qantas to advertise a fare when there are no seats available within the advertised period?

 

[drewbles]

I can see plenty of availability for $2051 return on the MEL-MIA route. I can also, with some tweaking find close to the $1900 fares too (out on Aug 8th and back on Sep 13 shows $1926. This is including taxes etc, but not the $30 CC fee).

It's possible the $1900 fares have sold out. They don't have to have plenty of availability, just some. It sucks but that's how it works.

FWIW, it was $1005 on the outbound and $921 on the return.

 

[juddles]

hi, just been looking at sale fares Qantas is advertising from Melbourne to Miami from 1 August to 14 September for $1905. Sale is on until 26 May however as at today there is not a single day within this period that I can see this fare being available. Most dates the fare is over $2600. My question is, is it ethical for Qantas to advertise a fare when there are no seats available within the advertised period?

Have you called Qantas?

 

[drewbles]

Have you called Qantas?

Don't forget calling QF will then incur a phone booking fee (Which I believe is $50).

 

[oz_mark]

It's possible the $1900 fares have sold out. They don't have to have plenty of availability, just some. It sucks but that's how it works.

Although they should probably stop promoting it, if it has sold out!

 

[Aggi]

Yes I did call Qantas and for a departure date of 1 August and returning on the 11th of August was offered a fare of $2686 or $2250. Interestingly adding a stopover in LAS reduced the fare to $2194.
I understand that these sale fares generally have limited availability which is fine, but once the fares are sold out then Qantas should stop promoting the sale (or add additional availability).

 

[Moopere]

Mmm. Its an excellent question. I think there might be TPA law about this. The commonly seen practise being to advertise special pricing on say TV sets but only having one available at the advertised price. I'd have thought that as the advertiser you'd likely be in some trouble if you didn't pull advertising once the stock, at the advertised price, was exhausted.

 

[whatmeworry]

Yeah I think there is something in the laws about bait advertising, however it could hard to prove.

 

[whatmeworry]

I can see plenty of availability for $2051 return on the MEL-MIA route. I can also, with some tweaking find close to the $1900 fares too (out on Aug 8th and back on Sep 13 shows $1926. This is including taxes etc, but not the $30 CC fee).

FWIW, it was $1005 on the outbound and $921 on the return.

I also found a $1926 fare, the only $1905 fare I could find was in November was a departure on the 13th and a return on the 14th! The problem could be with the AA leg b/n DFW-MIA there and MIA-LAX on the way back. Another problem I found was that after you selected your dates, when you selected your flights, the sale fares disappeared.

You could always go to a travel agent.

 

[VHOEJ]

As it says with all sales, it is subject to availability. At the time of the sale, there would have been availability, legally they have to have it. As with any sale period, the availability will reduce as people snap up the fares.

The AA part of the fare might have sold out quickly but the MEL/LAX is probably where it is restricted.

 

[harvyk]

Don't forget calling QF will then incur a phone booking fee (Which I believe is $50).

I've been able to have that waved a few times when I have not been able to do the booking on the website.

 

[spudseamus]

I suppose its no different in the purveyors of scratchie tickets still advertising the "BIG WIN" when in reality it was won 18 months ago !!

 

[Kangol]

I've been able to have that waved a few times when I have not been able to do the booking on the website.

Once I rang up because the website wasn't allowing me to book (turns out it had connecting flights under MCT but were still showing as "for sale") and I was told that I would have to book a later flight which would cost more and the CC fee would be charged..
The next day I went to a TA who gave me a discount on the booking fee.
Then again this was when I was NB.