It was practically raining cheap airfares to the US this week, when a computer glitch saw Qantas tickets from Australia to Los Angeles selling from a little as $400.
It would have been a dream come true for those researching travel on websites like Hopper.com and Skyscanner.com.au when they spotted roundtrip flights scheduled from July to September for $577. Or there was the one-way fares for just $286 on Skyscanner scheduled for flights until March 2016.
The glitch seemed very much a reality, especially after Skyscanner told Mashable the low fares were “the result of a promotion or sale running from one of our partners, an online travel agency and the fare is available only on certain dates”.
But unfortunately the dream was short lived.
Qantas revealed the low fares were in fact a glitch and certainly not up for sale.
“There was a glitch that impacted third party USA-based online booking systems this morning, as we made some fare changes effective 1 July for travel originating in Australia.”
Qantas spokesperson
The airline said the fares have been removed from sale and the glitch was fixed at 11.30am.
The spokesperson said the carrier is following up affected bookings, but didn’t reveal whether they would honor the ticket prices.