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http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2012/07/16/do-not-call-the-airline-or-hotel-during-a-mistake-fare-and-is-there-strength-in-numbers-or-best-to-keep-a-deal-quiet/
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“Do Not Call” the Airline or Hotel During a Mistake Fare, and Is There
Strength in Numbers or Best to Keep a Deal Quiet?
Right after I posted an explanation of why there are very few airfare
mistakes these days, we get two in a row — first tons of premium cabin award
space available on Singapore Airlines (which looks like it’s being honored
without any difficulty) and second United MileagePlus awards that touch Hong
Kong for 4 miles (it’s too early to say for sure what will happen, though
apparently at least two people have already flown on the deal).
Both of these examples are consistent with my explanation — that ‘fat finger
’ discounts where a zero or two are most commonly left off of a paid airfare
are mostly a thing of the past. The system that airlines load their
international fares into now contains a warning screen that flags fares that
look too low. So it’s only airlines without good processes and training,
whose employees don’t understand the tools they’re given, that generally
load these types of fares anymore.
It’s mostly other types of glitches that happen — due to a currency
conversion problem or routing rules, for instance.
Or in these cases, what looks like an inventory screwup during a reservations
system cutover, and a technical problem at United.com calculating the number
of miles for an award.
And these prove that even if the old sort of lucrative “$33 instead of $3300
business class fare” mistake doesn’t happen much anymore, at least not with
North American or European airlines, mistakes are far from dead.
Which is why general principles remain important to understand in advance, so
you’re ready when something comes along.
成立這版的目的，是著重資訊的分享，但是如何處理得到的資訊很重要
以下是面對錯誤票價或者房價的處理方式
Get in on the deal right away. You really can’t wait, you don’t know
whether deals will be gone in 5 hours or 5 minutes. Don’t wait until your
spouse is out of a meeting, or try to get 5 family members all traveling
together o the same flights. Don’t spend an hour discussing what you’d want
to do while you’re in Singapore, or whether you really need to include an
additional segment to Kuala Lumpur. You have to jump right away.
賣勾但，馬上預訂、馬上出票，優惠是不等人的
These things are usually refundable. Consider how much money is at stake, if
it’s 4 United miles plus taxes then you may take the plunge even if you were
going to be out the cash if you couldn’t use the award. Most of the time,
though, even non-refundable airfares are cancellable for 24 hours. And most
often airlines have been more than happy to refund non-refundable tickets
rather than have to honor an expensive mistake. Get in right way, don’t try
to arrange the perfect trip. That’s different from how we normally plan, but
so are these opportunities.
通常是不能退款的；但是別擔心，航空公司或者酒店更寧願退你款，
不要試圖籌畫完美的行程，這是突發性的優惠
Don’t book non-refundable travel plans around your ‘score’. After the
British Airways India deal for fuel surcharges and taxes only, which wasn’t
honored, the Department of Transportation said that for travel involving the
US airlines were required to cover costs that passengers incur in reliance on
an airfare being honored. So even if a mistake deal wasn’t honored, the
airline would be on the hook to reimburse non-refundable costs. Still, I’ve
always believed it’s best to take a wait and see attitude on these things
rather than fight for reimbursement. Just give it a few days before doing any
additional planning to see if the deal is going to happen or not.
給自己留後路，不要追加一些不能退款的機票/酒店
經過US的，可能DOT會要求航空公司賠你，但沒必要賭
Don’t call during the deal. This is the one thing that will most upset your
fellow frequent travelers. Most of the time calling a customer service agent
won’t actually make a different in getting a deal pulled early, but it
might, and really there’s almost never an urgent need to contact a travel
provider right away. You don’t actually need seat assignments now, before
you even know if your tickets are going to be honored. Let the deal run its
course. Don’t be responsible, even in the remotest chance, for alerting the
powers that be about what’s going on.
最欠扁的就是打電話給客服，這個優惠都還不知道會不會實現，
你是在急什麼？有什麼要緊的事情非要通知客服？
不要害大家都沒得玩
Should you call once a deal is gone? Usually it’s best to wait and see what’
s happening, since talking to a customer service agent isn’t going to do
much good, the frontline agents probably won’t know what’s going on before
you do. And having anyone touch your reservation could present problems, a
rogue agent might cancel you and there’ll be little you can do to
reconstruct the trip. So usually just take a deep breath. That said, it’s
hard to imagine calling will do any damage for anyone (except, in the limit,
yourself). Once in a great while contact can be helpful. After the November
2005 currency conversion error at Expedia where the Hilton Tokyo was being
sold for $2 ($3 for the Executive Floor), folks that emailed in and got
written confirmation that their bookings were in order had those bookings
honored while many who had not written in had their bookings cancelled.
優惠結束後到底該不該打呢？通常打了也沒用，但是也有可能有用
自己判斷判斷吧
Don’t threaten to sue. The Department of Transportation has new rules that
more or less require airlines to honor paid fares once ticketed at the price
quoted. I actually do not like this rule as it applies to mistake fares (and
there’s not really litigation on this point yet in any case.) Getting in on
a deal like this is buying an almost free lottery ticket. If the travel
provider honors, you’ve got an amazing once in a lifetime style opportunity.
If they don’t you’re really no worse off. I generally don’t begrudge a
travel provider if they cancel right away. Once several days or a week has
gone by I start to rely on the booking and I expect it to be honored. But if
cancelled with clear communication and in a timely manner, I don’t see much
harm or foul. I get in because if someone is giving away free trips somewhere
cool, I’d love to be a part of it. But I don’t get angry if I don’t get
aamzing free stuff at someone else’s expense.
淡定，保持平常心，威脅沒啥鳥用
Should you share a deal? The more people that know about a deal, the higher
volume it is, the quicker it’s going to be noticed and get pulled. Travel
providers have people assigned to monitor Milepoint and Flyertalk, deals don’
t stay secret. (Most of the time they get pulled anyway, but the broader a
deal is shared the fast the process may get accelerated.) Personally I’ve
always taken the approach that you should book what you want for yourself. Don
’t be greedy, you aren’t entitled to the deal forever. And once you’ve
gotten what you would potentially want, share it so others can (potentially)
benefit as well.
大方地分享出來吧，這種優惠是沒有秘密可言的，遲早會被知道
你只要拿到你要的行程即可
But doesn’t letting more people in on a deal reduce the chance that it’ll
be honored? Sometimes. In my experience, more often than not Marriott will
push back against honoring a mistake rate. And the more expensive it is, the
less likely they are to honor. On the other hand, there can also be strength
in numbers, with the more people involved the more people potentially angry,
complaining, raising a stink, so the greater downside to a travel provider in
not honoring a deal. There’s really no way to know in advance how the
situation will turn out. Sometimes a deal is small and flies under the radar,
sometimes a small group is less likely to see the deal honored.
往往代價愈高，公司愈不可能承認這個優惠；但另一方面，人愈多聲音愈大，
也可能迫使公司承認
The best deals come from the least likely of sources. I got an email heads up
from a reader about the United Hong Kong issue. Apparently a limited amount
of information about intra-Asia bookings had previously been posted on
Flyetalk, with no responses, and then the content was deleted by the person
who posted it. So it didn’t get any traction there. That person had seen
reference to the issue on the Chinese frequent flyer site Flyertea. Very few
people would have seen it if the information hadn’t been posted here. I’ve
found a few good ones in my time, such as a currency conversion error for
flights departing Papeete. But for the most part the very best deals haven’t
come from experienced users in small closed communities, they’ve come from
large numbers of people searching for large amounts of travel. And the new
members often find the best deals.
Way back mistake deals would be found by a few people, and that would be
that. The internet changed the scale, because opportunities spread virally.
Technology then allowed most airlines at least to limit the frequency of
mistakes.
It’s a back and forth, but there are general principles. Stay alert. Stay
plugged in. Grab your lottery ticket when you can. Wait on the sidelines to
see what will happen. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but there
will be more opportunities that come along in the future.
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