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  Etihad Airways

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  EY/ETD

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Abu Dhabi International Airport

  Year Founded:

  2003

  CEO:

  Tony Douglas

  Country:

  United Arab Emirates

What do you do if you see a bargain, but deep down, you know it's too good to be true? And if you snare that bargain, do you keep it to yourself or jump on social and make sure the world knows all about your cleverness? Let's take a look at what happened to the lucky few who bagged an Etihad roundtrip from Europe to Australia for under $200.

What actually happened?

Late last week, an unknown number of people, probably mainly Australians, thought they had struck it lucky. They discovered they could get return tickets from Australia to Europe for around AU$300 ($196), and not just with any airline, but with one of the world's best carriers, Etihad Airways. Even the ones who knew it was too good to be true felt safe knowing that Etihad had previously honored so-called error-fares and thought they would do it again. Here's how it was reported in Australia:

Last Thursday, a person booking an Etihad flight on Skyscanner found that when they got to the payment part, the fare dropped from around A$3000 ($1,960) to just over AU$300 ($196). A 'how to do it' message was posted on Facebook, and the news spread like a proverbial wildfire. The route involved was from Sydney Airport (SYD) to Germany's Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER). Later that night, the cheap flights disappeared, and Skyscanner had removed all of Etihad's flights from its app and website.

On Sunday, Etihad sent this message to the customers who had booked tickets, which in part, said:

"A number of tickets on Etihad flights were sold incorrectly due to a glitch in a data system supplied by a third party. We located all bookings that were made as a result and your booking is associated with this. Whilst the correct price was shown in the initial booking process at the time of payment, you were only asked to pay the taxes which was (sic) charged to your credit card. Our Conditions of Carriage set out the steps which are followed in such situations.

We are working through bookings made and will be canceling tickets issued and refund the amount you actually paid for the taxes back to your credit card. We welcome you to make a new booking at the correct fare that should have been collected at the time of booking."

Various media have reported that these customers are "outraged" and planning to take legal action, but it would be closer to the truth to describe it as a storm in a teacup. In fact, various people have said they knew it was some sort of error but were also aware that a similar event happened to Etihad in 2014, and the tickets were honored. One told Sky News he wasn't too worried over the risk his European holiday could be called off because "it's happened before, and Etihad honored their mistake."

Etihad provided Simple Flying with this response

Earlier today, Simple Flying contacted Etihad Airways about this incident and has just received the following response:

"A number of tickets on Etihad flights have been sold incorrectly due to a glitch in a third-party data supplier system. Etihad filed the original fares correctly, and they were displayed properly in the search on Skyscanner. However, because of the glitch, consumers were only asked to pay the taxes for the fares when they clicked through to buy them.

Unfortunately, it is not sustainable for Etihad to operate those flights on that basis. The airline will cancel the bookings and refund the taxes, with customers invited to re-book at the correct price. Etihad is contacting all those customers who bought the mispriced flights."

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As for legal action, Australian consumer law is very clear in situations like this, which are not in the least uncommon. The law says that "If a product has been sold at a lower cost by accident, the company can ask the consumer to pay the difference, honor the low-cost or issue the customer a refund."

And that's precisely what Etihad has done by refunding what was actually paid, so there is not really much for people to be outraged about. In Australian terms, "they tried it on and got caught out."

Source: SkyNews