(Update 9/13: United said it would honor tickets purchased during the approximately two hours Thursday that a mistake pegged ticket prices at $10 or below).
Christmas had not come early. Gas had not fallen to 5 cents a gallon. A billionaire had not given away free airline tickets. It was all a mistake.
But for a while on Thursday, customers looking for cheap fares on the United Air Lines website got a bargain beyond belief – because it was.
Customers told The Associated Press that they had been able to purchase tickets on United for as low as $5. It was even worse for United – a glitch had the airline loading a price of zero for some flights. The few dollars that showed up were automatic airport fees and other surcharges tacked onto flights by airports around the country.
Word of the tiny ticket charges spread quickly around the web. In the past, some airlines have honored tickets sold at unusually low prices caused by technical problems.
United pulled the plug on its website, which went dark for a portion of the morning. It was back up and running around 12:45 p.m. Pacific time after an unspecified period offline.
United also hung up the phone – telling its call centers to shut down while it investigated the problem and to prevent any more tickets from being sold.
United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy told The Associated Press that the almost-free flights were not real – but due to an error in loading fares into its computer system. The airline was investigating how many tickets were sold and to whom. It had no number as yet on how many people were able to land the super-duper low price flights.
McCarthy says United has not yet decided whether it will honor the tickets that were purchased or how it will notify those who purchased the flights to tell them they will need to rebook.
The Associated Press and Register staff writer Mary Ann Milbourn contributed to this report.
