Australian Airline Selling First Class for 25 Million KRW at 4.5 Million KRW "Admits Mistake, Advises to Take Business Class"

Australian National Airline Qantas Ticket Price Error
Over 300 Passengers Purchased... Airline Mistake
"Full Refund or Upgrade to Business Class"

Australian state-owned airline Qantas mistakenly sold first-class tickets worth over 25 million won at a roughly 85% discounted price of 4.5 million won, only to eventually cancel them. On the 27th (local time), CNN reported, "On the 22nd, first-class tickets from Australia to the United States were listed on the Qantas website for $3,400 (approximately 4.54 million won)." The original price of the tickets was $19,000 (about 25.37 million won), meaning they were sold at about an 85% discount.

[Image source=Screenshot from Qantas Airlines website]

The price was not quickly corrected and remained for about eight hours. During that time, around 300 passengers purchased first-class tickets, and the airline, realizing the issue late, hurriedly began to address it. A Qantas spokesperson issued a statement that day, saying, "Unfortunately, the tickets were sold at a price too good to be true," clarifying that it was an airline error.

They then referred to the terms and conditions and announced that the tickets would be canceled. According to Qantas' terms and conditions, if there is a clear error or mistake in the fare price, the airline can cancel the reservation and provide a full refund. However, they also offered, "We will either provide a full refund or allow rebooking to business class without additional cost." The business class fare for the same route is around $11,000 (about 14.7 million won), meaning the airline would absorb a loss of about $8,000.

Qantas has had previous issues related to tickets. Between May and July 2022, Qantas was accused by Australian authorities in August last year of selling tickets for over 8,000 flights that had already been canceled and failing to properly notify customers who had already purchased tickets, causing harm. Due to these so-called 'ghost tickets,' more than 86,000 passengers were stranded and suffered damages. In response, Qantas agreed with authorities in May to pay a fine of 100 million Australian dollars (about 90 billion won) and compensate customers with 20 million Australian dollars (about 18 billion won). This is known to be the largest fine ever imposed in the Australian aviation industry.