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Mistaken Airfares and Social MediaCourtney Hyland

+The Issue

American Airlines mistakenly listed airfare rates from U.S. cities to Chinese cities at $0 and $20 on St. Patrick’s day this year.

About 1,200 people purchased or put these tickets on hold.

Those who placed tickets on hold had their reservations canceled by American Airlines.

The DOT and American Airlines had to agree on a way to resolve the complaints made by customers, the DOT decided American Airlines would honor the reservations they canceled.

+The Issue

American Airlines cites social media posts as the reason for people taking advantage of the mistaken airfares. “Social media posts acknowledging or recognizing that the

fares were offered by mistake yet urging readers to rush to book them shows an intent to cheat, as many consumers knew the fares were not valid.”

+American Airlines isn’t alone

There are other airlines that have mistakenly posted rates that have been taken advantage of by consumers.

Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and others have offered round-trip flights at very low rates.

While the DOT has temporarily ruled airlines will only have to reimburse fares offered due to a glitch, they have not decided officially.

+Social Media and Travel Sites

Errors for fare postings are common enough that customers wait for the airlines to post mistaken rates and they immediately take advantage.

At some low-fare watch sites you can sign up for weekly e-mails about flight deals, or alerts low-rate fares out of your local airport.

+Questions

Even though the airline, or a third party site, is at fault for posting mistaken rates, should they still have to honor their offer?

What would Kant, Aristotle, or Mill say about the ethics of social media accounts and websites encouraging people to purchase mistake fares? What would they say about those who wait specifically to

take advantage of airline pricing mistakes?

Should people take advantage of an airline’s pricing mistake, or should they wait for the error to be resolved?

+Sources

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/the-airfare-to-china-is-0-do-you-take-it-or-leave-it-

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2015/07/25/find-mistake-fares/

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-trb-airline-mistake-fares-dot-ruling-20150511-story.html