It occasionally happens that airlines publish offers that were not intended as such. A pretty obvious error was, e.g. the business class flights from Indonesia to the USA for around €300 earlier this spring. Consequently, ANA promptly cancelled those tickets. Most customers understood, although their understanding was dampened by the airline’s unprofessional behaviour – in some cases, the cancellations were made months after booking.
Now, a different piece of news is more surprising. On August 13, we reported on a good deal from Oman Air: Business class flights from Milan to Bangkok were available starting from €1,052. Within a few hours, the sale was over and was subsequently forgotten. However, Oman Air has now unexpectedly announced that the deal will not be honoured.
Oman Air Demands an Additional €1,000, or else the Tickets Will Be Cancelled
In the email we received, it states, among other things:
We regret to inform you that an unfortunate error occurred during the fare filing process, which resulted in the wrong fare being filed for your reservation. Given that this was an error, please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused.
More important than the apology is the following part. Oman Air informs customers that they cannot travel with their booked tickets at the originally agreed price. Instead, three alternatives are offered, although they are not really alternatives:
- Full refund and cancellation of tickets.
- Downgrade to economy class at no additional cost. Additionally, a difference in taxes between business and economy class would be refunded (likely a few euros).
- Keep the tickets for an additional payment of €1,000. This supposedly corresponds to a discount of €400 compared to the normal price.
Furthermore, it is stated that a refund will be automatically initiated if there is no response within 7 days. Unfortunately, Oman Air’s proposed solutions (except for the refund) are all rather ridiculous. Economy tickets from Milan to Bangkok are currently available for around €600, including baggage. Even Oman Air offers them starting at €729. So, why would anyone pay over €1,000 for that?
The option of paying an additional €1,000 to fly in business class is not much better. In total, you would be paying over €2,000 per ticket. Etihad offers the same price, and no one would likely travel to Italy for such a “deal”.
Not All Customers (Yet) Informed
So far, the comments section of the original deal has remained absolutely quiet. Apparently, only customers who booked directly with Oman Air have been notified so far, and probably not all of them. It seems that the list of bookings is being processed manually, one by one.
I personally booked the offer at that time (as a travel agency) and haven’t heard anything from Oman Air yet. However, I would assume that now all bookings will indeed be cancelled, not just a selected few.
What Happens Next?
It’s uncommon for a flight booking to be cancelled after such a long time. If an airline decides not to honour an error fare, communication usually takes place within a few days after booking.
That’s why we advise waiting to book connecting flights, hotels, etc. for potentially critical offers until the situation is clear. A warning of this kind was actually included in the deal on August 13 – even though we never expected a cancellation.
If anyone knows a good Italian lawyer for passenger rights and insists on flying with the tickets, it might be worth a try. More stress-free would probably be accepting the cancellation, avoiding Oman Air in the future, and waiting for the next offer.
Conclusion
The lines between flash sales and error fares are becoming increasingly blurred – and as a customer, it’s difficult to discern what is an error and what is not. Business flights to Thailand for €1,050 are by no means an obvious error. For instance, Lufthansa offered flights from Scandinavia to Bangkok for €1,375 in June.
Whether an error or not, a cancellation after 2 weeks without prior notice reflects very poorly. Other airlines show how it can be done better: For instance, Cathay Pacific sold first-class tickets across the Pacific for less than €1,000 roundtrip during New Year’s Eve 2018/19. In this case, the error was clearly recognizable. Nevertheless, Cathay publicly announced that the error would be honoured – and used the message’s spread as self-promotion.
Cover Picture: u278 (Public Domain), Fotomontage Travel-Dealz
Comments (9)
European rules by cancelling or refusal of boarding are the same.
Aflight starting from a european airport (by any airline) falls under European regulations.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_4944
I don’t have any skin in the game, I didn’t book this one, but it’s about time airline customers were afforded the same contractual protection that other customers have.
Allowing airlines unlimited scope to cancel contracts at no penalty, while customers get screwed the moment they attempt to change anything on a flight seems quite off balance.
Hi Guys in case need lawyer assistance could contact Mr. Pastore of Pastore & Partners association group that exclusively dealing with airline matters and dispute, his mail studio@pastorepartners.it and wish very good luck.
Brgds
N.Riva
I received the email from Oman air yesterday & immediately replied, questioning their reasoning & asking for more details. No reply ever since.
To me the exact amount of 1000 EUR to pay for “discounted BC fare” seems super suspicious. Could it be that they have been hacked?
And there is no other official info about it…
Following
TBH this is quite a dodgy one.
If its a real error it is understandable having it cancelled at day of booking or max 1 day after booking – but 2.5 weeks is from my perspective just unacceptable.
Maybe it is there new pricing strategy?
I fully agree with you. It’s the combination of 2 factors that’s making for a really bad move:
a) a price that’s not an obvious error (the airline wouldn’t lose money when honoring these tickets)
+
b) Waiting 2 weeks before telling people that it was an error
Dear,
In regards to the ‘error’ fare not being honored 2,5 weeks after booking, I sent an email to the Milan sales office to confirm that this is indeed the case and to alert them about the impression this is making on first time bookers with Oman Air (as myself). So far my booking (booked directly on the Oman Air website) is still active and I didn’t receive an email yet. I’m not getting my hopes up though. It baffles me that they would need more than 2 weeks to decide they made ‘an error’.
Rgds,
Stijn Denotté
Belgium
anyone who booked on the Oman air website and took screenshots as they went would notice that the fares clearly said SALE on them…..combining that with the fact that over the past 3-4years there have been a fair few EU to Asia sales flights between €950-1200 on the likes of Qatar, Emirates etc….then how on earth would a customer think this was an error ?
€500 euros, yeah ! but over €1,000 just seems like the type of sales fare we’ve seen pop up now and then on gulf airlines.
and that’s ignoring some of the pricing on Saudi which for a perfectly good business class seat can be cheaper than €1,000 Euros.
I think that waiting over 2 weeks to cancel them is an utter disgrace as people would have quite reasonably booked accomodation and maybe even cruises or further flights
….
…will Oman reimburse people for those ?
unless someone is getting error fares sent to them by a pay service or the like then a customer wouldn’t have any clue that these might not be honoured.
What does EU law say about cancelling flights after weeks of being booked and relevant compensation/expenses for additional out of pocket expenses already spent ?