 |
Yesterday, a little after 12:30pm EDT our system received its normal distribution of airfares (we are one of the handful of companies in th world that receive the raw airfare and rule information from ATPCO) and our email alert system processed the information and we noticed it sending out tens of thousands of price drop email alerts for a decrease in price. Lately all we have seen is increases so this was certainly a welcome but odd occurrence. With further investigation we noted the amount of drop was quite large ($130rt for the most part — more on this shortly). |
We looked up the records in our rule system and saw that United had actually changed their surcharge rule on domestic airfares to say the following:
“If the passenger is an INFANT IN LAP charge $65 each way, Otherwise charge nothing.”
Yes those poor flying couples with newborn twins were being singled out — well not really it was pretty clear at this point that they had got the rule backwards, they meant to Not Charge LAP INFANTS the fuel Surcharge (they are basically riding free anyway). We then contacted United to try to get confirmation and the press department said they would get back with us. So we decided to post the information.
Later they came back and said the mistake was a “clerical error” and would be fixed shortly (not so fast …)
Airfare distributions for domestic U.S. occur at 10:00am, 12:30pm and 8:00pm EDT (approximately) and take up to 5 hours to load on reservation systems (airline and online travel agencies), since this mistake occurred at 12:30pm EDT the next chance they had to correct it was 8:00pm which is loaded after midnight on reservation systems.
United noted they were trying to work with people to fix the issue before Midnight, but it is unlikely the folks at online travel agencies would be very amenable since their systems are automated — they might have been able to work with the folks on their reservation quoting systems but it still would have been a monumental task to fix it before the normal automated cycle.
Below is a sample report our internal system generated minutes after the filing — that clearly shows the breadth of the mistake — this airfare report details how many domestic city pairs had changes and at the price difference (broken down by the advance purchase requirement on the airfare).
|
Airline Code |
Advance Purhcase |
Price Difference |
Number of City Pairs |
|
UA |
7 |
$ (140) |
1,642 |
|
UA |
14 |
$ (140) |
1,635 |
|
UA |
21 |
$ (140) |
1,636 |
|
UA |
30 |
$ (140) |
1,608 |
|
UA |
0 |
$ (140) |
1,389 |
|
UA |
1 |
$ (140) |
565 |
|
UA |
0 |
$ (130) |
13,085 |
|
UA |
3 |
$ (130) |
8,853 |
|
UA |
7 |
$ (130) |
10,870 |
|
UA |
14 |
$ (130) |
9,804 |
|
UA |
21 |
$ (130) |
8,970 |
|
UA |
30 |
$ (130) |
2,151 |
|
UA |
3 |
$ (102) |
1,950 |
|
UA |
7 |
$ (102) |
1,943 |
|
UA |
10 |
$ (102) |
1,592 |
|
UA |
14 |
$ (102) |
1,997 |
|
UA |
21 |
$ (102) |
1,656 |
|
UA |
0 |
$ (102) |
1,990 |
|
UA |
0 |
$ (40) |
477 |
|
UA |
0 |
$ (30) |
462 |
|
UA |
7 |
$ (30) |
401 |
One wonders how long this would have been around if you decided not to contact United…
Comment by Brian — May 16, 2008 @ 9:45 am
They had already caught the mistake because we saw them doing work on correcting it in the interim on ATPCO.
I choose not for example to publicize the the 0$ Denver to Ft. Myers airfare that we noted when it happened (same day) and let the folks at Flyer Talk run with it.
We felt this mistake needed the widest possible distribution because it was definitely only going to last until midnight.
Comment by Rick Seaney — May 17, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
Rick-
I have been tracking EWR to SJD non stop on Continental.
I am going Jan31-Feb14. Do I buy the tickets (they have been going up…of course) now or wait until after the summer?
Barbara
Comment by Barbara Jones — May 21, 2008 @ 8:31 pm
Serves the greedy CEOs right for making their staff overwork and wear two hats while all they do is sit and get their 6figure salaries; honestly i am not surprised that the airlines have been rated low in customer service; all that the CEOs want to do is cut jobs, make people wear two hats and pay them salary which doesnt keep pace with inflation while they make 6figures
And the customers stop complaining they are getting what they want - they want cheap ticket - well it comes with a price
Comment by Hus — May 21, 2008 @ 10:27 pm
Well, their loss and my gain! You guys saved me a bundle. I checked back to day and the fares went from $568 on Thursday to $730 today. Thank you!!!!!!
Comment by hawaiifan — May 22, 2008 @ 1:14 am
Yes, the mistake was most definitely obvious! No one with one functioning brain cell would have thought United meant it costs more to have your baby on your lap that in its own seat. So you want to make them pay through the nose for an honest mistake? Why? As a passenger, I hope to be treated honorably. I don’t always get that wish, but is a nasty “Ha ha! Gotcha!” the only response anyone can think of making to someone else’s error? Sheesh!
Comment by Jan Gleiter — May 22, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
Sheesh, i wish i caught em while they were low.
Comment by RPO — June 25, 2008 @ 5:09 pm