The error fares playbook

An error fare, also called a mistake fare or a glitch fare, is a ticket sold far below what the airline meant to charge. It is real, it is bookable, and it can still be cancelled. Here is everything worth knowing before you chase one.

The fare is real the moment it is ticketed. The trick is booking without making a fuss about it.

How these fares happen

Air tickets are not typed one by one. They are filed in bulk through the industry's fare systems and mirrored across airlines, agencies and currencies. That is where mistakes slip through.

• A typo while filing. A wrong digit or a misplaced decimal. The classic.
• A dropped fuel surcharge. The fare goes out without the surcharge baked in. This is the most common cause of absurd business class fares.
• A currency mix-up. A country site selling at the wrong currency rate.
• The wrong cabin. Economy rules attached to business seats. Rare, and the biggest payoff of all.
• A slow fix. The airline corrects the fare, but one booking channel has not caught up yet. This is the fifteen minute window most people catch.

Will the airline honour it?

Usually, yes. Fare hunting communities put the honour rate at roughly 70 to 80 percent. Airlines would rather fly you a little cheap than cancel a paying passenger. Nothing is guaranteed, and the rules differ by country.

• United States: the DOT allows an airline to cancel a genuine mistake fare only if it refunds you and covers reasonable documented expenses you booked in reliance on the ticket. Keep your receipts.
• UK and EU: contract law applies, with no special regulator rule. Airlines have cancelled visibly wrong fares before (British Airways' £1 Dubai glitch in 2018), though most such fares are honoured.
• Everywhere: most conditions of carriage only bind the airline once the ticket is actually issued. Book fast, and never phone an airline to ask whether the price is real. That is the fastest way to watch it disappear.

The safe booking checklist

1. Make sure you have a ticket number, not just a pending reservation page.
2. Book directly with the airline where you can. Instant ticketing, fewer hands in the middle.
3. Keep the rest of the trip flexible for a couple of weeks. Free cancellation hotels, no fixed tours.
4. Save a screenshot of the price, the date, the flight number and the confirmation.
5. Check bags and passport validity for the dates you are actually looking at. Error fares often land on odd dates, which is part of why they survived.

What the best finds look like

The most valuable mistake fares are usually premium cabins priced at coach rates, so business class for the price of a weekend break. Those are the ones worth setting an alarm for. When a fare lands that far under the route's normal price, it is almost certainly wrong rather than cheap, and it rarely survives its first hour.