An error fare — also called a mistake fare or glitch fare — is an airline ticket published at a dramatically incorrect price due to a technical or human error in the pricing system. The classic causes: a currency conversion that drops a decimal point (AUD 2,400 accidentally published as USD 240 instead of ~USD 1,560), a fuel surcharge that wasn’t added to the base fare, a fare code applied to the wrong booking class, or a system glitch that publishes a zero-dollar base fare that should have been $800.

The reason the legal distinction matters: an error fare is different from a promotional sale. Airlines run genuinely cheap promotional fares all the time — Black Friday deals, route launch prices, seat sales — and these are intentional, fully authorized prices that the airline is happy to honor. An error fare is a price the airline did not intend to publish, that does not reflect any commercial decision, and that the airline would have corrected immediately if caught before widespread booking.

The short answer is yes: booking an error fare is legal. You have not committed fraud, theft, or any criminal offence by submitting a booking at a price that appeared in a legitimate booking system. You made a purchase at a listed price through a normal commercial transaction. The fact that the price was listed in error is the airline’s problem, not yours.

The slightly longer answer is that “legal” and “enforceable” are different concepts in this context. Booking an error fare is legal everywhere. Whether the airline is legally obligated to honour the booking — i.e., whether you have an enforceable contract — depends on the jurisdiction and the specific circumstances. These two questions are frequently confused in discussions of error fares, and the conflation causes unnecessary anxiety among people who booked correctly and have nothing to worry about from a criminal law perspective.

To be clear about what fraud would actually require: knowingly submitting false information in a booking (fake identity, stolen card, fraudulent loyalty number) would be fraud. Simply booking a ticket at a price that appeared in a legitimate booking system is not fraud regardless of how dramatically below normal pricing that price was. The intent that fraud law requires is absent. You saw a price, you booked it, you provided accurate payment information. That’s a purchase, not a crime.

The United States has the most developed regulatory framework for error fare situations among major aviation markets. The Department of Transportation (DOT) issued guidance specifically addressing mistake fares that has shaped how US airlines handle these situations.

The 24-hour rule — and its error fare exception

The most well-known DOT consumer protection rule requires that airlines either hold a reservation for 24 hours without payment (allowing the customer to cancel without penalty within that window) OR allow a cancellation for a full refund within 24 hours of booking. This rule is designed to protect consumers who change their mind — but it cuts both ways on error fares.

The DOT’s guidance on mistake fares, published in 2014 and updated subsequently, created a specific exception for “obvious pricing errors.” Under this guidance, airlines that notify customers promptly of a mistake fare and provide a full refund are generally protected from DOT enforcement action even if they cancel bookings. The practical implication: if an airline quickly identifies an error, notifies affected customers clearly, and provides full refunds, the DOT typically considers the matter resolved without requiring the airline to operate flights at a loss.

When the DOT requires airlines to honor error fares

The DOT has repeatedly found that airlines must honor error fares in specific circumstances:

• When the airline failed to act promptly on the error (typically if more than 72–96 hours passed before cancellation attempts)
• When e-tickets were already issued and travelers had made non-refundable plans in reliance on the booking
• When the airline’s public communications acknowledged or implied acceptance of the bookings
• When the error fare was available for an extended period (hours rather than minutes), suggesting systemic failure rather than a momentary glitch

The most famous US enforcement action came after a Norwegian Air error in 2015, when the DOT required Norwegian to honor $500 round-trip business class fares to Europe that had been booked by thousands of customers before the error was caught. Norwegian initially tried to cancel all bookings; the DOT’s guidance forced them to honor the tickets for all customers who had already purchased.

The EU’s consumer protection framework for aviation is more comprehensive than the US in several areas, but its treatment of error fares is actually less favorable to passengers on the specific question of whether an airline must honor a mistake price. EU Regulation 261/2004 — the foundational passenger rights regulation — governs delays and cancellations but does not specifically mandate that airlines honor pricing errors.

Under EU contract law principles, an error fare situation involves a question of whether a valid contract was formed. The general principle in most EU member states is that a contract is formed when a clear offer is accepted and payment is made. If an airline’s pricing system published a price and a customer booked at that price through normal channels, a contract argument exists. However, airlines operating in the EU routinely include terms and conditions that allow them to cancel bookings made at “obviously erroneous” prices.

The practical experience in the EU and UK is that airlines generally cancel error fare bookings and provide refunds without significant consumer protection pushback. Passengers who attempt to enforce error fare bookings through small claims courts in the UK have had mixed results — some courts have found in favor of passengers on contract formation grounds; others have upheld airline cancellations under the “obvious error” doctrine.

The worst-case-scenario thinking around error fares is almost entirely disconnected from reality. Here is an honest assessment of the actual risks, ranked by probability:

When an airline discovers an error fare — usually because a staff member spots the pricing discrepancy or because an unusual spike in bookings for a particular route triggers an alert — they typically work through a fairly predictable decision process.

Which airlines typically honour error fares?

The track record varies significantly by airline. Some carriers have a documented history of honouring even dramatic pricing errors (Southwest has honoured several; some European carriers with strong consumer reputation have done the same). Others have a consistent policy of cancelling and refunding. Knowing the airline’s history is useful context when deciding how much to invest in ancillary bookings around an error fare ticket.

What to do if the airline cancels and won’t refund

If an airline cancels your error fare booking and fails to process a full refund within the required timeframe, you have several options:

• Credit card chargeback: If the booking was made with a credit card (which it should be), initiate a chargeback with your card issuer for services not provided. Airlines are contractually obligated to provide a refund for cancelled tickets; a chargeback enforces this when the airline fails to act.
• DOT complaint (US): File a complaint at the DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection website. The DOT tracks complaint volumes against specific airlines and uses them to trigger investigations. A large volume of complaints about a specific error fare situation has historically attracted DOT attention.
• UK CAA / EU NEB complaint: For EU and UK bookings, complaints to the relevant National Enforcement Body can prompt regulatory action on systemic failures.
• Small claims court: For individually significant amounts, a small claims action against the airline on contract formation grounds is available in most jurisdictions. Success rates vary significantly.