A Qantas passenger who thought he had gotten a bargain on first class seats for a family trip abroad soon discovered it was too good to be true and was caught in an administrative nightmare.
Brisbane resident Aji Paul and his family booked their holiday to the US only to later discover that Qantas had accidentally slashed its first-class fares by up to 85 per cent on the morning of August 23.
The airline’s error led to the sale of hundreds of first-class seats and the Paul family paid about $17,500 for their tickets. As reported by news.com.au.
Qantas was able to cancel or refund the first class seats under its terms and conditions, covering it as “an error or mistake” when they realised what had happened on the website.
But the national carrier instead offered to upgrade passengers’ seats to business class as a “goodwill gesture” at no extra cost.
Still, lucky passengers got an incredible deal: Business Class seats turned out to be a whopping 65 percent cheaper than the usual cost of a business class seat.
When Mr. Paul booked his tickets to Dallas, Texas, for his family’s vacation in 2025, he chose to use the airline’s “Book Now, Pay Later” option and paid just $100 to secure his tickets.
All customers, regardless of payment method, received an email from Qantas informing passengers of the change and telling them that they did not need to do anything: their tickets would be changed automatically.
Aji Paul, who booked four first-class tickets to Dallas for his family next year, was shocked when the asking price of about $17,500 suddenly rose to $100,121 (pictured, Mr Paul’s payment reminder).
In August, a glitch on Qantas’ website resulted in all of its first class flights being discounted by up to 85 percent (pictured: Qantas First Class)
“As a gesture of goodwill, Qantas will rebook you into a Business Class cabin on the same flight at the same price you already paid,” Qantas customer service said.
But four days later, Mr. Paul realized that the price of the family’s plane tickets had gone from $17,465 to a whopping $100,121.
The father said that although he found the amount “really shocking”, he thought it must have been “another pricing error”.
Mr Paul called Qantas as soon as he saw the new amount, but it was the start of a “frustrating week” in which the father made multiple calls and spoke to several customer service staff.
‘‘It’s really scary because unfortunately every person I talk to gives me a totally different story,’ she said.
“They are not consistent in the information they give.”
The father said his frustration was compounded by the fact that some representatives promised him the problem would be fixed, but others were confused and unable to help.
When Qantas realised the error on its website, it made a “goodwill gesture” and gave customers who had purchased discounted tickets business class seats at no extra cost (pictured, stock photo of a Qantas aircraft)
After being asked to file a complaint, another Qantas employee called him and asked the father if he wanted to pay $56,000 for business class tickets.
The father was unable to obtain any resolution for two weeks, but Qantas has now promised to give the family business class seats at the originally booked price of $4,366.14 per ticket.
“We apologise to Mr Paul for the inconvenience and are in contact with him to resolve any outstanding issues with his booking,” a Qantas spokesperson said.
Qantas is understood to be unaware of any further processing errors and all tickets have been upgraded with their new business class seats, including those customers who chose to pay using the ‘Book Now, Pay Later’ option.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Qantas for comment.