Glitch gone wrong: Japan's largest airline cancels $10,000 tickets sold for $300

Source: Business Insider

Japan's largest airline is canceling the $10,000 first and business class tickets it mistakenly sold for $300

Japanese airline All Nippon Airways will not honor the deeply discounted first and business-class tickets mistakenly sold in a currency glitch last week, the airline announced Tuesday.

On April 19, some travelers discovered ANA, which is Japan's largest carrier, sold premium seats at rock bottom fares, with many lucky travelers snagging $10,000 roundtrip tickets for just $300.

While the airline initially told Bloomberg it would honor the price, it has since decided to cancel the bookings.

"For the flights which were erroneously processed, ANA will cancel and fully refund all itineraries," the carrier told Bloomberg on Tuesday. "ANA will notify each customer affected by the error. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your cooperation in communicating with us."

ANA had previously told Bloomberg in a statement last week that anyone flying through the end of April would have their fares honored, but it is not clear if that is still the case.

The carrier did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

According to ANA, last week's glitch was due to a currency conversion error on its Vietnamese website. Hong Kong resident Herman Yip told Bloomberg he purchased $250,000 worth of tickets for just $17,000, saying they were for himself as well as friends and family.

"I didn't even bother to ask them whether they were able to make it or not, as I needed to book really quickly," he said.

One of the roundtrip flights was a $16,300 first-class ticket from Jakarta, Indonesia, to Aruba via Tokyo and New York. Yip only paid $890 — a 95% discount.

Technology company Amadeus IT Group SA, which provides the fare-quote system for bookings, confirmed the pricing error to Bloomberg but said it has since fixed the issue.

ANA unveiled its new business and first-class suites in 2019, dubbed "The Room" and "The Suite," which feature sliding doors and resemble a small hotel room.