Australians who got their hands on very cheap Etihad Airways tickets to Europe have been left devastated after the flight was cancelled.
Popular travel booking website SkyScanner listed tickets from Sydney to Berlin in July for the regular price – however, when customers clicked through to the checkout, they were only charged for the flight’s taxes, which were about $336. A handful of Aussies managed to snag the tickets before they were removed.
However, those customers have now been informed that their tickets are cancelled and told that they will receive a refund.
“A number of tickets on Etihad flights were sold incorrectly due to a glitch in a data system supplied by a third party,” an email to customers read.
“We are working through bookings made and will be cancelling tickets issued and refund the amount you actually paid for the taxes back to your credit card.”
“Whilst the correct price was shown in the initial booking process at the time of payment, you were only asked to pay the taxes which was charged to your credit card.”
“We welcome you to make a new booking at the correct fare that should have been collected at the time of booking.”
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Tickets for the same route in July 2023 are currently priced at around $3,000.
Interestingly, a similar glitch occurred in 2014, when Etihad sold tickets from New York to Abu Dhabi for $349, and the airline honoured the low price.
“A system filing issue caused ticket prices for a promotion in the USA to be temporarily listed incorrectly. Etihad Airways will honour these fares”, a spokeswoman for Etihad said at the time.
Many customers who bought tickets for the Sydney to Berlin route have been left disappointed over the cancellation.
“They’ve honoured it (glitches like this) before – they clearly have a blatant disregard for their customers. I’ve flown them before, but I never will again,” William Wright told Daily Telegraph.
“It’s pretty upsetting – I spent my long weekend planning what sites and attractions I want to see around Europe,” Edward Sisson said.
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