Qantas Error Fare: First Class to Los Angeles from Sydney $4,299 return @qantas.com (several dates incuding xmas holidays)

[emirates777]

What’s a normal J sale fare to LAX? $6k? They’re not losing too much on that metric and saving themselves some adverse publicity.

About $12-13k for the.cheaper ones. $6k would be oneway

 

[SydneySwan]

People who purchased being offered/rebooked into business class. Still a reasonable deal.

Astonishing for Qantas. I can’t believe that this would have been approved if AJ had still been in charge.

 

[henrus]

I can’t believe that this would have been approved if AJ had still been in charge.

Don’t worry the $9 million saving a few weeks ago will fund this “coding error”.

 

[dsotm]

I got offered 2 x J MEL-SYD-LAX return. The ticket status on my booking has changed from F to J, but Qantas says under my “pay-later” payment method I have to pay $45,907.40 for the two J tickets. Hopefully this will update. It’s all a big balls-up really.

 

[cjd600]

What’s a normal J sale fare to LAX? $6k? They’re not losing too much on that metric and saving themselves some adverse publicity.

About $12-13k for the.cheaper ones. $6k would be oneway

lol recent sale SYD-LAX Business $7299 return....
$12-$13k crikey...!

 

[henrus]

lol recent sale SYD-LAX Business $7299 return....
$12-$13k crikey...!

You’ve got to remember this first mistake fare covered dates over holiday periods. I’ve looked at the alternative dates for what I’ve booked next year and J is $14k return.

 

[cjd600]

You’ve got to remember this first mistake fare covered dates over holiday periods. I’ve looked at the alternative dates for what I’ve booked next year and J is $14k return.

Question was what's a normal J sale fare for the route. Reply was quite outlandish.

 

[kamchatsky]

Doubt it, I’m wondering what class they’ll rebook this into… I guess time will tell.

Wouldn't that count as "involuntary downgrade" by QF?

 

[muppet]

I bought this fare and have been offered business.

I think it is pretty good considering everything.

Australia has zero consumer protections in this regard. Qantas makes a mistake and can legally just refund, consumer makes a mistake and the cost is unlimited. So Qantas offering business for the same price is pretty good considering the legal options it has. (I don’t agree airlines should have no liability for anything, but in Australia they don’t so we have to work with that)

Also, and separately, many on other platforms reported having their PNRs cancelled … I’m curious as to why many on here have alternative business class flights but others have been cancelled.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I bought this fare and have been offered business.

I think it is pretty good considering everything.

Australia has zero consumer protections in this regard. Qantas makes a mistake and can legally just refund, consumer makes a mistake and the cost is unlimited. So Qantas offering business for the same price is pretty good considering the legal options it has. (I don’t agree airlines should have no liability for anything, but in Australia they don’t so we have to work with that)

Also, and separately, many on other platforms reported having their PNRs cancelled … I’m curious as to why many on here have alternative business class flights but others have been cancelled.

Quite a few on my Facebook group have also been offered J.
Some of them are members here on AFF but not all.
I think it will turn out that QF have offered J to everyone.

 

[lovestotravel]

Quite a few on my Facebook group have also been offered J.
Some of them are members here on AFF but not all.
I think it will turn out that QF have offered J to everyone.

I agree, I generally take OzBargain comments with a large grain of salt, a few saying fares were cancelled/refunded... I doubt they even booked...

 

[CaptJCool]

Current J & F

price from Sydney to LAX


Noting even with the J sales pricing
Vancouver is $5,999 return and LAX is never THAT low

 

[PlaneCrazy]

Not the worst outcome but not as generous as when Cathay honoured a similar first class fare that I paid $1.6K for.

 

[earlyriser]

Not the worst outcome but not as generous as when Cathay honoured a similar first class fare that I paid $1.6K for.

Now that was the deal of a lifetime (assuming you are talking about the Vietnam/NY error fare).

 

[p--and--t]

I think it will turn out that QF have offered J to everyone.

Maybe anyone with status?

 

[dsotm]

Maybe anyone with status?

I put $50 on pay-later MEL-LAX and got offered J. The price hasn’t updated yet. I’m bronze

 

[henrus]

Maybe anyone with status?

I've got Platinum on QF and was offered J. Those on reddit/ozbargain mentioned they had no status and also offered J so it seems everyones got the same offer.

Whilst my booking is yet to be updated to J my booking has had some text comments added to it (I've removed the "KIQ"? code/line with dates times and my email):

"---INVALID USA FIRST CLASS FARE REFER TO KIQ (xx_x)"
"--- LAX FIRST CLASS FARE ERROR EMAIL SENT TO (email here) ON 23 AUG 2024 ---"

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I bought this fare and have been offered business.

I think it is pretty good considering everything.

Australia has zero consumer protections in this regard. Qantas makes a mistake and can legally just refund, consumer makes a mistake and the cost is unlimited. So Qantas offering business for the same price is pretty good considering the legal options it has. (I don’t agree airlines should have no liability for anything, but in Australia they don’t so we have to work with that)

Also, and separately, many on other platforms reported having their PNRs cancelled … I’m curious as to why many on here have alternative business class flights but others have been cancelled.

That’s the thing, no consumer protections per se, but you could have a case in contract law, depending how ‘obvious’ the mistake was.

While OzBargainers and AFFers know this was a mistake, it’s entirely possible a completely non-informed consumer would see this, and being 4x the price of economy, might actually have thought this *was* pricing for first class. But i doubt there are many people in that category.

 

[equus]

That’s the thing, no consumer protections per se, but you could have a case in contract law, depending how ‘obvious’ the mistake was.

This. I think the reason Qantas are offering business very quickly is that even their own Conditions of Carriage only apply if the mistake is "reasonably obvious". This is no $100 fare - you are still talking $4200+.

Someone who really wanted to push this could argue that the mistake is not "reasonably obvious", as Qantas offer classic first rewards return SYD-LAX for 325,600 points plus about $1,300 in cash. Using points in a points-plus-;pay Qantas offer around 0.7c per point. Calculated out, Qantas offer fares on this route for around approx $3,600 on some of their valuations. Given this, it could be argued that this fare is not so far out of line with price points that Qantas offer as to be deemed "reasonably obvious" as a mistake. As Qantas imposed this condition into the Terms of Carriage without the ability of the consumer to choose, the ability of Qantas to just interpret this condition to their advantage will be limited under contract law.

I suspect that someone who really wanted to push this (and to risk getting on the QF blacklist) would have a fighting chance of getting the fare honoured.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

This. I think the reason Qantas are offering business very quickly is that even their own Conditions of Carriage only apply if the mistake is "reasonably obvious". This is to $100 far - you are still talking $4200+.

Someone who really wanted to push this could argue that the mistake is not "reasonably obvious", as Qantas offer classic first rewards return SYD-LAX for 325,600 points plus about $1,300 in cash. Using points in a points-plus-;pay Qantas offer around 0.7c per point. Calculated out, Qantas offer fares on this route for around approx $3,600 on some of their valuations. Given this, it could be argued that this fare is not so far out of line with price points that Qantas offer as to be deemed "reasonably obvious" as a mistake. As Qantas imposed this condition into the Terms of Carriage without the ability of the consumer to choose, the ability of Qantas to just interpret this condition to their advantage will be limited under contract law.

I suspect that someone who really wanted to push this (and to risk getting on the QF blacklist) would have a fighting chance of getting the fare honoured.

Good point! I hadn’t thought about the comparison to classic award pricing!