It is unknown how many low-cost tickets the airlines sold.
China Southern Airlines recently sold air tickets priced at as low as 10 Chinese yuan or roughly $1.40 due to a system glitch on Wednesday evening. Many people on Chinese social media platforms pointed out that flights to and from the Southwestern city of Chengdu were available between 10 yuan to 30 yuan ($ 4.11), as per a report in Insider.
A screenshot that went viral on the internet displayed a ticket from Chengdu to Beijing for just 10 yuan ($1.37), as opposed to the standard 400-500 yuan (about $55-$69) minimum price. Several screenshots showed that the discounted rates were available for almost two hours on the airline’s app and several other ticketing websites, including Trip.com. It is unknown how many low-cost tickets the airlines sold or which routes were impacted by the system outage.
On Thursday, China Southern Airlines announced on its official Weibo social media account that the tickets purchased and issued during the system outage are “all valid” and that customers can use them.
In April, several passengers could secure tickets worth $10,000 (Rs 8.2 lakh) for only $300 (approx Rs 24,000) after a Japanese airline unintentionally underpriced some business class tickets, according to a report in the New York Post. One of Japan’s biggest airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA), a 5-star airline since 2013, offered inaccurate costs for tickets to fly from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to Japan, then to New York and back to Singapore and Bali. Interestingly, one flier paid just $890 (Rs 73,000) for a first-class ticket from Jakarta to the Caribbean via Tokyo and New York and back again.
The 9,000-mile flight would cost less fortunate passengers “around 20 times as much for a first-class seat”. According to the outlet, other consumers purchased business-class tickets for a few hundred dollars, as compared to the regular $10,000 price. It is to be noted that business class tickets on the airline typically cost between $8,300 (Rs 6.8 lakh) and $10,400 (Rs 8.5 lakh) but were listed for ranging from $300 to $550 (Rs 45,000).
According to ANA, the issue occurred owing to a glitch on their Vietnam website, which featured an incorrect currency conversion. The airline said that it would not honour the flights that were “erroneously processed” and that it would cancel and fully refund them.”