Earlier today, Delta was having some pricing issues which resulted in some major mistake fares for almost all of their domestic markets.
They were offering transcon flights from anywhere between $20-$50 including taxes and fees as well as flights to Hawaii for super cheap as well.
Literally any domestic flight was available for a fraction of what it would normally cost and most of the flights were offering the same price for First or coach.
It all started, thanks to this Flyertalk Thread in the Mileage Run Forum, which is a great place to search for cheap flights.
This Wall Street Journal Article sums up what happened:
Amid the craziness of holiday travel, some customers scored a big win on Thursday when they found incredibly low fares on Delta Air Lines Inc.s website.
Delta said the fares—which included round-trip, cross-country flights for $25—were errors. But the airline said it would honor the fares.
The glitch, which appeared around 10 a.m. EST, caused some domestic flights to be offered for below $5, not including taxes and fees, according to Delta.com screenshots from Airfarewatchdog.com, which tracks airline pricing.
United Inc. experienced a similar error earlier this year when it offered mistake fares—including some that were virtually free not including taxes and fees. In that case, United also honored the mistaken fares.
George Hobica, founder of Airfarewatchdog.com, said some airlines have language in their booking contracts that allows them to not honor fares posted by mistake. “But they do honor them typically,” he said.
Bottom Line
By the time I had found out and booked a flight, the site was already down, which is why I didn’t post earlier however I did luck out on a First Class flight from to Hawaii for only $30, so expect a trip report on that to follow.
Were you able to book any cheap flights as part of this mistake fare? If you were able to get in, the good news is that Delta has to honor these according to the new DOT rules, and has stated that they will be honoring them.
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Awesome! I was too late. BTW, how did you book if the site was down.
Grabbed 1st class RT from LAS to OGG (connecting in LAX) for $82.67!
@Heather, I booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards portal when Delta.com wouldn’t load.
I book 8 tickets in F. DCA-HNL rt in F for $175 thanks to the British site after DL crashed was prob the gem
Nice! Which island are you going this time? 🙂
@Marcela- Maui and Oahu
I was changing my daughter’s return flight to Kenya when I got caught up in the computer glitch. Ended up with no return fare, which I caught – and the original return bumped up to first/business class. She is now taking the original flight back in first class, including KLM’s newly refurbished 747-400. Wish it were me.
It did take several hours on the phone to correct the reservation as she was booked on two flights on two different days, all on one record and only the original flight remained ticketed. I am glad I checked or she would have shown up the next day with no valid ticket and an agent telling her her flight was for the day before.