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What Are Airline Mistake Fares? The Ultimate Travel Hack

Looking for the best travel hack to get cheap flight deals? Discover airline mistake fares, also known as error fares.

What is an Airline Mistake Fare?

At its core, an airline mistake fare is exactly what it sounds like: an error in the pricing algorithms or human entry that lists airfare at a significantly lower cost than intended. This can be due to several factors, such as currency conversion mistakes, technical glitches, or simply a typo. Whatever the cause, the result is a price tag that looks too good to be true.

Mistake Fare/Error Fares Examples

airline mistake fare or error fare to china — 1st Class/Business Class Mistake Fare To Beijing China

Mistake Fare - Paris to New York Round Trip For $8

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Mistake Fares/Error Fares Have Many Names

Error fares are known by several other terms, each mostly meaning the same thing depending on who you ask, the bottom line is that the price is a mistake regardless of how it happened.

Error Fare: This term is widely used and directly points to the accidental nature of the fare.
Glitch Fare: Highlights the technical or system-related errors that lead to these unusually low prices.
Fat Finger Fare: Refers to the idea that the fare was caused by a typing mistake, such as a misplaced decimal point or incorrect digit.
Mistake Rate: Another straightforward term indicating an unintentional pricing error.
Fare Glitch: Similar to "glitch fare," emphasizing the error or hiccup in the pricing system.
Mispriced Fare: A general term indicating that the fare does not match the intended price.
Pricing Error: Broadly describes any kind of mistake in the pricing process.

At Jetsetter Alerts, when we send them to our members we keep it simple and just call them "Mistake Fares", because our members could care less about the reason for the mistake.

How Do Airline Mistake Fares Happen?

Human Error: A simple keystroke error—a misplaced comma or decimal—can reduce a $1500 ticket to $150 in an instant.
Currency Conversion Errors: Fluctuations in currency values or errors in setting exchange rates can lead to unexpected bargains.
Technology Glitches: Airlines use complex automated systems to manage their pricing. Sometimes, these systems malfunction, leading to unexpected prices popping up.

How Do You Find Airline Mistake Fares?

Finding mistake fares requires nothing more than luck if you're not an expert or using the help of technology to assist you. For the average person the best way to find mistake fares are to:

Sign Up for Alerts: Services like our cheap fight alerts at Jetsetter Alerts provide any cheap flight deals we find for our members, which also includes mistake fares.
Follow Travel Hackers: Some travel bloggers and websites specialize in finding and sharing these deals. Keeping tabs on their posts can be highly beneficial.

Will Airlines Honor These Errors?

Historically, most airlines honor the fares as a gesture of goodwill or to avoid negative publicity, although they are not required to. Airlines simply do not have the man power for their customer service agents to try and chasing down customers over an error fare, and them putting so much time and resources to such matters just would not make financial sense. In our experience, even business class and first class mistake fares are honored at a rate over 90%.

Here is an article talking about United Honoring Free Flights.

If the airline chooses not not to honor the fare, you will be given the option to purchase the ticket at the intended price or get refunded in full. An airline will never allow you to show up for your flight and it not be honored! In the event you book an airline mistake fare, you will always be notified via email within 24-48 hours that there is an issue with your flight and either give you a chance to pay the difference or issue you a full refund regardless of the cancellation policy.

How Does Jetsetter Alerts Find Mistake Fares?

Our computers are scanning so many variables and sources 24/7 looking for price abnormalities. Without the assistance of modern technology, it's honestly just luck and the odds intentionally being able to find a mistake fare is extremely low.

The only types of mistake fares that you can have a higher probability of finding would be fuel dump price glitches, which is more or less intentional manipulation on the person booking, rather than the airline making a mistake.

The other would be manipulating currency conversions, and where you are from that can cause the prices to change dramatically as well. Most are unaware but airlines charge people of different nations entirely different prices on their flights.

Here's an example of a price glitch caused by currency manipulation:

In the two photos below you will see a massive difference in price for three business class lay flat seats using Skyscanner.com and Expedia. The only thing that was changed, was the country that we told Skycanner we were from.

The flight was from Copenhagen to Kenya.

Searching as if we are in Sweden:

Same 3 Round Trip Business Class Flights for $1,871 Total

Searching as if we are in the United States:

Mistake Fare -business class to Africa — 3 Round Trip Business Class Flights to Kenya For $28,760 Total

Pretty crazy right? Believe it or not, the 28K is what the total for those three business class flights actually cost.

When I told the system that I am located in the United States, but wish to be quoted in Swedish currency and there was a massive mistake in the calculation of the currency conversion.

On Skyscanner if you click the world icon up at the top right you will see the options to change these things as you see in the photo below. Very few websites allow you to have such control over both of these settings at the same time.

But since Skyscanner partners with pretty much every travel website and airline, as well as servicing global travelers, you can change these settings on their site and then get referred to the website in question with these settings still active.

It is also true that airlines will can and do charge different amounts based on where someone is from based on what they think you can afford to pay. This is an easy way to save $50-$300 on an international flight with enough tinkering with with the variables, but it's not a constant in that you can't simply put that you are from a poor country, and that you want to pay in a currency from that nation. There really is no set science to it, but it's without a doubt something that is common, and you will just have to play with it a lot.

If you book a mistake fare, don't do this!

Never Contact The Airline to ask "Are you going to honor this price I booked". You're just admitting you know what you paid is not accurate, and a sure way to get your ticket canceled if the agent wants to be a jerk about it. And if the mistake has not yet been corrected, you will ruin it for anyone else who hasn't booked. However, mistakes normally last only minutes, hours to 1 day max.

So just relax, grin and know the the vast majority are honored.

Do International Flights Get More Mistake Fares Than Domestic Flights?

Mistake fares are more common on domestic flights, primarily because there are far more domestic flights than international ones. However, these errors often go unnoticed because domestic flights are typically less expensive to begin with, and therefore go unnoticed unless it's drastic.

This flights from New York To LAX in the photo below is obvious, but say it was $89 instead of $25 and one might just think it's the most amazing deal ever when the truth is those fares were probably meant to go for close to $200, but the airline isn't going to even blink an eye at that mistake, and the traveler know no different.

On the other hand, mistake fares on international flights are very noticeable most of the time.

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