Airline sells $14k seat for $450 in big blunder

An airline ticketing website accidentally sold a $14,000 business class seat for a mere $450 after a technical glitch.

A currency conversion blunder saw quick-thinking travellers snap up tickets on Japan’s All Nippon Airways’ fanciest cabins at heavily discounted prices. Picture: facebook

An airline ticketing website accidentally sold a $14,000 business class seat for a mere $450 after a technical glitch.

A currency conversion blunder saw quick-thinking travellers snap up tickets on Japan’s All Nippon Airways’ fanciest cabins at heavily discounted prices.

One passenger paid just $1320 ($US890) for flights in first class from Jakarta to the Caribbean, via Tokyo and New York, and back again, according to Bloomberg.

A ticket like that would normally cost 20 times as much on the airline.

Japan’s All Nippon Airways had a currency conversion glitch that saw travellers nab heavily discounted airfares. Picture: AFP photo/Toshifumi Kitamura

It didn’t take long for news to spread on social media with others nabbing business class tickets for a couple of hundred dollars instead of the roughly $14000 or $US10,000.

In another example, a $A12,350 ($US8300) flight from Jakarta to Bali cost a mere $A520 ($US350).

The error, according to All Nippon Airways (ANA), was caused by a typo on its Vietnam website, which displayed an incorrect currency conversion.

It was then immediately picked up by travel sites and forums such as Secret Flying, which encouraged customers to take advantage of the deal.

“Congratulations to those of you that managed to book the All Nippon Airways Business Class #ErrorFare earlier today,” Secret Flying posted on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

“It’s best to hold off making any further plans (e.g. positioning flights, hotels) for at least 2-3 weeks to see if the airline honours the deal or not.

“If your booking is still confirmed and valid after this time when logging into the airline’s “Manage my Booking section, it would appear the airline has honoured the fare.”

Hundreds commented on the post with some lucky travellers able to nab the deal.

“Crazy like a dream, my friend got the ticket for himself!!” one person wrote.

Some were able to nab luxury cabin tickets for just $450 – ANA said it will make a decision on whether the deal would be honoured by the end of the month.

“It looks like they tried to fix the issue and have just put all of the fares WAYYYY up until they can fix it. Flights now for the IAH to Jakarta are running 11k-18k,” added another.

Meanwhile, one passenger paid just $1320 for flights in first class from Jakarta to the Caribbean. Picture: Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP)

On Wednesday, a spokesman for ANA told Bloomberg said it was “investigating the cause of the bug and the scope of its damage”.

It also didn’t specify exactly how many people purchased the discounted tickets while the glitch was live.

On whether it would honour the deal, the spokesman initially said it would, but later explained a final decision would be reached by the end of the month.

The discounted tickets will still be valid for the people who fly before that decision is made.