Airline sells flights for £1 by mistake but says it will honour tickets

A system glitch was to blame for the bargain tickets

China Southern Airlines has said it will honour all tickets bought for as little as £1.12 (10 yuan) during a system glitch on the evening of 9 November.

Tickets to the southwestern city of Chengdu, which lies almost three hours away from the Chinese capital, Beijing, suddenly appeared at the reduced prices on the mobile app and some booking platforms, and were available for around two hours.

Reuters reports that consumers began sharing screenshots of the low fares at around 8pm local time (12pm GMT). The photos show fares as low as 10, 20 or 30 yuan (between £1.12 and £3.37); the usual minimum price for these flights is around 400 to 500 yuan (£44 to £56).

But the airline said it would honour the mistake fares.

“All flight tickets that have been paid and issued during the system glitch will be valid and travellers can use them normally,” China Southern Airlines told Bloomberg.

The Independent has contacted China Southern Airlines for further comment. 

The incident happened during China’s busiest online shopping period, which takes place every year in November. Known as ‘Singles Day’, this Black Friday equivalent peaks on 11 November. Reuters reports that the total value of goods sold in this period last year was around 1.15 trillion yuan (£129bn).

Southern China Airlines recently rolled out an ‘all you can fly’ scheme for frequent flyers that is valid for journeys to other countries in Asia.

This most recent ticket blunder follows similar incidents around the world. In April, All Nippon Airways, a major Japanese carrier, suffered a glitch on its Vietnam website that meant one passenger grabbed a flight worth £13,000 for just £715.

The same glitch meant that one man was able to buy $250,000 worth of tickets for just $17,000. It was later reported that the airline decided it would not honour the accidentally discounted tickets.