If youโve found this page, youโve most likely at least heard the term error fare (or mistake fare). But what exactly are error fares, and more importantly, how do you find and book an error fare? Weโve done the hard work for you, so read along, and soon youโll be flying up front for a fraction of the cost of a regular fare.
What is an Error Fare?
Error fares, mistake fares, glitch fares. Whatever you want to call them (weโll call them error fares for the sake of this article), they are the holy grail of flights. Error fares occur due to a number of reasons, like currency conversion mistakes, tax omissions, and just plain old human error.
Whatever the cause, they mean people like you are able to buy seats on flights for hugely discounted prices.
Weโre talking Vietnam to New York return in First Class for $1,200, Sydney to Los Angeles return in Business Class for $1,000, Oslo to Boston in Business Class for $450, etc. The list goes on and on, but those examples are just flights Iโve personally taken. Theyโre not as frequent these days as they used to be, but they still happen on a pretty regular basis and make for a great journey for not much money.
How Do I Find Them?
The world of travel hacking can be confusing at best, and downright secretive at its worst. The premier source of error fares exists in the Frequent Flyer mecca that is the FlyerTalk forums, more specifically in its Mileage Run Deals and Premium Fare Deals threads. With hundreds of new threads and posts added every day to these forums, it can quickly get overwhelming. Having said that, itโs a pretty friendly place for the most part so if you fancy getting involved, please do. Just donโt ask the wrong question in the wrong place or youโll be unceremoniously told where to shove you question!
How do I book an error fare?
So youโve found an error fare, what now? The first thing you need to do is NOT CALL THE AIRLINE. The minute you do that, youโre alerting them to the fact that thereโs some askew, and theyโll quickly take steps to rectify the problem, meaning not only do you miss out on the fare, but everyone else does too.
In case I havenโt made it obvious already, error fares are not something airlines want you to book. The booking window to get one of these fares usually only last a few hours at most, which means you need to live by my golden ruleโฆ
Book first. Figure everything else out later.
If I come across an error fare, I will usually book multiple flights on different dates that I think might work for me, and then cancel the ones I donโt want to use after the deal has been confirmed. 99.9% of the time, airlines are more than happy to take your cancellations as it means less loss of revenue for them.
If you donโt have the cash handy to book multiple flights, youโre going to need to get your dates right (which requires you to shape your trip around your fare), because generally changes made to mistake fares will require reticketing and will be done so with a fee that reflects the ticketโs normal price.
Purchasing the flight with a credit card will not only earn you points on your purchase, youโll be more protected if the airline refuses to honour the booking and takes your payment (which is highly unlikely).
For example on
Generally speaking, if youโre able to book the flight deal on both the carrierโs website and an Online Travel Agent (like Expedia or Webjet) then book with the airline directly. There have been instances in the past where airlines have only honoured fares booked directly with them, and cancelled fares booked through
Do airlines have to honour mistake fares?
The simple answer is no. However, part of the fun when booking an error fare is whether they will honour it. In Cathay Pacificโs case, purchasers of their New Yearโs Day error fare, found out the very next day via one glorious tweet, which got an abundance of positive press.
Most of the time youโll either have your ticket honoured or cancelled within 72 hours. In some cases, however, youโll have to wait more than a week.
Fares that touch US soil generally have a higher chance of being honoured due to tighter Department of Transport laws, and Middle Eastern and Asian based airlines are traditionally more likely to honour error fares.
Interestingly, Iโm not aware of any error fares originating from an Australian carrier being honoured โ but thatโs just classic Australia isnโt it!
So now you know what an error fare is, how to find them, and how to book them. If you want to learn more about the ins and outs travel hacking, read my beginners guide here โ and you too can fly First for the cost of Economy.
