Error Fares Explained: What They Are and How to Catch Them

Every few weeks, a traveller posts a screenshot of a business class ticket to Tokyo for €180 or a return flight to New York for €90. The comments fill with scepticism — until dozens of people confirm they've booked the same fare. These are error fares, and they're one of the most interesting phenomena in airline pricing.

What Is an Error Fare?

An error fare (also called a mistake fare or glitch fare) is a flight price published at a dramatically lower amount than intended, caused by a human or system error in the airline's pricing process.

They happen more often than you'd expect. Airlines set prices through complex automated systems that pull together costs, fuel surcharges, taxes, and competitor data. When any part of that system misfires — a misplaced decimal, a currency conversion error, a technical glitch during a fare file update — the result can be a London to Bali return for €200 in business class.

How Error Fares Happen

Currency conversion errors. Airlines price routes in multiple currencies. A misconfigured conversion rate — say, treating US dollars as Japanese yen — can produce fares that are 100x cheaper than intended.

Missing fuel surcharges. On some bookings, fuel surcharges and carrier-imposed fees are added separately. If these fail to load during a booking session, the base fare appears without them.

Fare file mistakes. Airlines publish "fare files" that feed into global distribution systems. A typo in the base fare field — entering 150 instead of 1500 — propagates across every booking engine connected to that system.

Partner pricing errors. When airlines partner with other carriers or booking platforms, pricing data flows through multiple systems. A translation error between systems can produce absurd fares that none of the parties intended.

Are Error Fares Honoured?

This is the key question, and the honest answer is: sometimes.

Under EU261/2004 regulations, there is no explicit requirement for airlines to honour pricing errors, though the law does require airlines to be clear about total pricing. In practice, most major carriers honour error fares that have been ticketed (i.e., you received a booking confirmation and ticket number), because the cost of disputing them — customer service, legal exposure, reputational damage — often exceeds the cost of the discounted ticket.

Airlines are more likely to honour fares when:

• The booking was confirmed and ticketed
• The fare, while cheap, isn't absurdly below market rate (€150 instead of €1,500 is risky; €400 instead of €600 is more likely to stick)
• The airline has a history of honouring such fares
• The booking was made through the airline's own website or app

They're more likely to cancel bookings when the error is extreme (four-digit discounts), the booking volume is massive, or the fare appeared on a third-party site the airline can claim responsibility for.

Practical advice: Always wait for the ticket number before making non-refundable arrangements (hotels, car hire, onward connections). Book direct with the airline when possible. Don't book ancillaries you can't recover.

How to Find Error Fares

Error fares disappear fast — sometimes within hours, sometimes within minutes of detection. They require monitoring, not manual searching.

1. Use continuous fare monitoring tools. Services that check fare prices around the clock catch errors when they appear, rather than when you happen to be searching. [FairFares monitors thousands of routes continuously](/) and flags fare anomalies — prices that drop significantly below the recent baseline for that route.

2. Follow deal communities. Travel deal communities on Reddit (r/churning, r/travelhacking), Twitter/X, and Telegram have dedicated members who spot and share error fares quickly. The challenge is acting fast enough once they're posted.

3. Set alerts for routes you want. If you know you want to fly London–Singapore, set an alert for that route. You'll be notified immediately when the price drops below your threshold — error or not.

4. Check unusual routing combinations. Some error fares appear on specific date/route combinations. A fare monitor that checks price history can highlight when a route is priced significantly below its typical range.

What to Do When You Find One

1. Book immediately. Don't agonise. If the fare is real, it won't last.
2. Screenshot everything. Save the booking page, confirmation email, and ticket number.
3. Book direct if possible. Airline direct bookings are easier to honour and dispute.
4. Don't overpay for ancillaries yet. Wait until the booking looks stable before adding bags, seats, or insurance.
5. Make refundable travel arrangements. If you need to book hotels or connections, use refundable rates until you're confident the ticket will hold.

Error Fares vs. Sales vs. Flash Deals

It's worth distinguishing between genuine errors and other types of cheap fares:

• Error fares are unintentional and time-limited. Prices are dramatically below the market rate — often 50–80% off. They typically get corrected within hours.
• Sales are intentional promotions by the airline. These are reliable, often well-publicised, and last days or weeks.
• Flash deals are short-term offers used by airlines to clear unsold inventory. Cheap, legitimate, but not as extreme as genuine errors.

All three are worth catching. FairFares tracks all of them, surfacing the best prices on each route regardless of whether they're intentional or accidental.

The Risk Profile

Error fares are low-risk if you book refundable ancillaries and act sensibly. The worst realistic outcome is that the airline cancels your booking and you receive a full refund. The upside is occasionally flying business class to Tokyo for the price of a budget economy ticket.

Many frequent flyers treat error fare hunting as a hobby. They set up alerts, monitor communities, and book quickly when something appears. Over time, a handful of confirmed error fare bookings can represent thousands of euros in travel value.

[Start finding deals →](/)

Set up price alerts on your target routes and let FairFares do the monitoring. When something unusual appears — error or otherwise — you'll be first to know.