ANA to cancel tickets erroneously sold at bargain prices; first, business class bookings affected

SINGAPORE: Travellers who snapped up All Nippon Airways (ANA) tickets at erroneously discounted prices last week will have their bookings cancelled and refunded fully, the airline said on Tuesday (Apr 25).

In a notice posted on its websites, ANA said that there had been a “technical issue with the currency conversion” on its Vietnam website on Apr 17 which resulted in tickets being sold at incorrect prices.

“Due to this error, some customers were able to purchase certain tickets at discounted amounts from standard rates, and the ANA Vietnam website was temporarily closed in order to address this issue,” the airline said.

“This is now fixed and was related to a technical error in the fare quote system provided by Amadeus, a travel technology provider.

“Customer service is ANA’s top priority, and we strive to maintain safety and quality in our operations every day. We truly regret that this issue occurred, and deeply apologise to our customers for any inconveniences.”

The notice then went on to say that the ANA would cancel and refund the tickets sold at the incorrect prices.

“For the flights which were erroneously processed, ANA will cancel and fully refund all itineraries. ANA will notify each customer affected by the error,” the airline said.

“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, and appreciate your cooperation in communicating with us.”

The airline added that affected customers do not have to take any additional steps.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that some travellers were able to purchase ANA first and business class tickets at fractions of their usual prices.

Most of the heavily discounted round-trip tickets were for flights from Jakarta to several locations in North America and the Caribbean with stopovers Tokyo.

They were purchased for a few hundred dollars – significantly less than the US$10,000 typically paid for such tickets.

The discounted fares were available for at least half a day, one customer told Bloomberg.