Cape Town - Passengers booking online tickets with South African Airways could not believe their luck when they were able to book a return business class ticket from South Africa to Abu Dhabi for only R900!
The buyers' luck, however, turned out to be the result of a glitch on the airline's online site.
The disappointed buyers now await a refund from the airline, who were unable to honour the bookings made in the glitch.
Netwerk24 reports that 640 tickets were sold to passengers before authorities released the massive mistake. SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said that the airline takes full responsibility for the glitch, and will refund buyers of the faulty tickets.
Tlali apologized to the buyers who responded to the offer, saying that the airline will investigate the cause of the problem to prevent it happening in the future.
SAA had to contact every buyer to inform them of the glitch in the system, saying their tickets were duds. Many passengers were upset about this, as they had already received confirmation emails for their flights booked.
According to the report, airline help-desk operators told suspicious prospective buyers that the ticket prices were correct. Tlali told Netwerk24 that this matter would also be looked into.
Tlali also stated that the money for the faulty tickets will be repaid as soon as possible.
Return tickets like the ones in dispute, are estimated at a value of R35 000, one way.
Passengers might have confused the low ticket prices as being part of the ticket special South African Airways was running last week.
Traveller24 reported of the three-day sale SAA launched, which offered travellers some of the lowest fares in the past five years.
Also see: SAA announces dramatic ticket price cuts
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