So you’ve probably seen or heard of websites claiming to have access to mistake fares, insanely cheap flight tickets that leave you scratching your head because they seem too good to be true. But do mistake fares really happen? And if they do, should you trust these websites, or is it all just a scam? Let’s break it down so you can make an informed decision.
What Are Mistake Fares?
Mistake fares are airline tickets that have been priced significantly lower than what they are usually priced at, and are caused due to an error in fare filing. In some cases, travelers will be able to book these flights but it’s both rare and will be corrected quickly by the airline.
Why Do Mistake Fares Happen?
To understand why mistake fares happen, let us first understand the history of how airlines file their fares. The airline industry has mainly adopted to using ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company) which is the central system to file, manage, and distribute airfare pricing and rules to travel agencies, booking websites, and airline reservation systems. The reason airlines use ATPCO is because it simplifies the work required from the airline to update every travel touch point separately.
In the past, airlines manually updated ATPCO, which sometimes led to mistake fares due to human errors. Airlines had fare analyst and pricing teams who would manually enter these fares into ATPCO. They would input the base fare, fare classes, routing restriction, and ticketing rules one by one. Incorrect format such as typos, missing digits and incorrect fares would lead to unintended low prices, which would then be distributed to the booking system.
How Airlines Update ATPCO Today?
Today, airlines have access to advanced revenue management and pricing systems which are able to generate and update fares dynamically and automatically. These systems will automatically adjust fares in real time based on demand, competitor pricing, and historical data before transmitting them to ATPCO, hence the term Dynamic Pricing.
With access to this technology, airlines also now have access to built-in safeguards which help prevent incorrect or mistake fares. Some of which include the ability to have minimum and maximum price thresholds to flag unusual fares, historical price comparisons to detect extreme pricing shifts, and also many other business rules to ensure the integrity of the fares.
Do Mistake Fares Still Happen Today?
Mistake fares can most certainly still happen, but are much rarer in today’s world than in the past. With the advancements in automated pricing systems and safeguards, airlines are much better protected today when it comes to posting erroneous fares.
Will Airlines Cancel Mistake Fares?
Yes, airlines will cancel mistake fares if they catch them quickly, or if the prices are marked too low where it was an obvious error. In some cases however, airlines will honor them out of goodwill as to not upset customers but the likelihood of this is becoming lower.
Are ‘Mistake Fare’ Websites Legit or Just a Scam?
As mentioned, mistake fares can most certainly still happen, but I’d be highly skeptical of any websites or services that claims to find many or even multiple of these fares a day across various routes. In my opinion, it’s best to stick to Google flights, Skyscanner or vetted forums like Flyertalk for the best deals. You should never have to pay a website any fees or subscription services to book a flight as everything is already available for free. Plus, in many cases, airlines won’t even honor mistake fares once they realize the error, so it’s best to save your money rather than pay for these services.
Cheers and happy travels!