United Airlines experienced a computer glitch and as a result, each of the people that bought these tickets, is being given them for free. While in some cases, they would have been cancelled, everyone who purchased them at the right time is rewarded in this situation. In a very embarrassing mistake, the airline had plane tickets available for free and people jumped at the opportunity immediately, paying only $5 or $10, due to fees. It doesn’t get much better than that! People looking to get a plane ticket bought these up as fast as they could, as the glitch lasted for just a few hours on Thursday.
The airline eventually shut down bookings for the website until it could fix the problem. Mistakes like this one have happened before, often when an airline dropped a digit when entering fare into the computer system, mentions CBS News. Airports and airlines can be such a pain sometimes, maybe it is good for things like this to happen once in a while to reward people for the hardship that the airlines cause on so many other occasions.
United Airlines, based out of Chicago, did not say how many free tickets were issued, but it was revealed that the mistake happened when a group of fares were being filed and not because of a computer glitch, according to the Chicago Tribune. The free flights were only available for a couple hours before the site shut down, so you can be sure that the news traveled fast.
The airline is not willing to reveal how many tickets were issued, but it must have hurt their business to some degree. Their business is likely to continue to struggle if things like this happen as well, with a dwindling reputation already. What if a computer glitch had happened, causing a negative effect on its passengers? They need to prevent things like this from happening again, or people will be outraged after a mistake that could damage their flight plans.
People flocked to twitter immediately to tell everyone they knew and others who watch for flight deals were very pleased with finding news like this. People continued to respond after the fact on twitter, wishing they would have been able to get in on the action as well.
RT @grantkmartin Error In Booking Engine Puts #United Airlines Tickets at $0 http://t.co/LTIrLBNtcE
— MarySchiavo (@MarySchiavo) September 13, 2013
Where was I when this glitch happened! #United Airlines Says It Will Honor Mistake Fares | http://t.co/MwGTB2yLV4 http://t.co/qJRF7Eg6UE
— ABurckhardt (@aburckhardt) September 14, 2013
United Airlines also replied to the many tweets with their own news that they would be honoring the free tickets. It was obviously their fault and it is right of them to do this, although airlines are not required by the government to honor their fares when mistakes like this happen and in many cases, they are actually cancelled.
We’ve reviewed the error that occurred yesterday and based on these specific circumstances, we will honor the tickets.
— United (@united) September 13, 2013
Image via Wikimedia Commons
