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Louise Thomas

Editor

Qantas is offering refunds or business-class seats after hundreds of passengers were mistakenly sold first-class flights that were significantly reduced in price due to an apparent coding error.

The airline had flights between Australia and the US displayed on its website on Thursday, but instead of advertising the usual rate for these journeys, an error made the flights appear to be up to 85 per cent less than the usual first-class prices.

Around 300 people were able to book the return flights between Australia and the US while the unusually low prices were on display for around eight hours.

Many travellers believed they had found a golden opportunity to snap up a Qantas first-class ticket for less. These tickets include access to airport lounges, champagne recommended by a somelier, a large seat and bedding on the aircraft, a chance to peruse a pillow menu, and other amenities.

However, the cheap first class tickets ended up being a mistake. A spokesperson for the Australian airline said: “Unfortunately, this is a case where the fare was actually too good to be true.”

The airline cited a coding error, but it is unclear what the details were and what led to the mistake.

Qantas terms and conditions state on their website that if mistakes are made and incorrect fares are displayed that are “reasonably obvious”, they can cancel the booking, provide the customer with a refund or offer a new ticket at the correct fare price.

In this case, Qantas said they would give customers the option to still fly in a higher class, but just not at the first-class level they were hoping for.

"As a gesture of goodwill, we’re rebooking customers in business-class at no additional cost. Customers also have the option of a full refund," Qantas said in a statement.

The passengers who will now be flying business-class instead of the first-class tickets they thought they bagged would still be paying 65 per cent less than usual for their ticket, the airline said.

The mistake gained traction after a post started to circle on OzBargain, an online bargain-hunting community forum, which speculated it was likely an error but might be worth a try.

One customer, William Fowler, heard from a friend about the supposed deal and said he is happy that he managed to end up with a business-class flight for less.

“I’m excited. It’s a great price for business; it would have been an unbelievable price for first class,” he told news.com.au.

Qantas was this year forced to pay a penalty of AUD$100 million (£52.7 mliion) to settle a legal battle with an Australian competition watchdog for selling thousands of tickets for flights they had already decided to cancel.

The airline was accused of advertising and selling more than 8,000 flight tickets that it had already cancelled in its internal system.

The airline apologised to its affected customers in May and said it was focused on making the “remediation process as quick and seamless as possible for customers”.

The airline also agreed to pay around AUD$20 million (£10.5 million) in compensation to nearly the 87,000 victims of its so-called “ghost flights” policy.

The Independent has contacted Qantas for comment.

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