Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2015-03-05

South African Airways (SAA) has apologized to customers after erroneously advertising Johannesburg to Abu Dhabi business class fares for R858.72 on its website, but said it would not honour the mistakenly discounted fares

In a letter to customers SAA said it deeply regrets the inconvenience caused by the publication of the erroneous fare to the passengers who may have thought they had booked and purchased a valid ticket for an erroneous cost.

“We apologise for this unfortunate situation,” the airline said.

According to a customer who spoke to Radio Islam, he discovered the ‘special’ on SAA’s website, which has since been removed.

“After Jumu’ah most of the guys started talking about it. A friend of mine phoned me and told me lets book it.”

 “They accepted our money and the departure and arrival dates were confirmed and after that e-tickets followed,” said the customer.

He said that after the tickets were booked customers received a cancellation letter stating the error by the airline.

SAA states the fare that was purchased was incorrect and resulted from an inadvertent error that was beyond their control.

“We advise that SAA is not obligated to provide services for compensation that is erroneously published and commercially unfeasible.”

“As a result, because the fare you booked was invalid, we have cancelled your reservation and ticket,” the airline said.

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali said that the airline takes full responsibility for the glitch and will refund customers of the faulty tickets.

Tlali said the airline would investigate the cause of the problem to prevent it happening in the future.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)