Super Cheap Mistake Airline Fares!

Delta apparently posted some "mistake" fares that a few lucky people snatched up.

Delta is in the news today. Apparently, they posted some mistake fares. Some round trip fares that normally cost about $400 were as cheap as $25. But was it really a mistake?

I remembered another airline doing this, just a few months ago. I looked it up, and yeah, United did the very same thing back in September.

Both airlines have promised to honor the "mistake" fares that were offered. That sure is nice of them, isn't it? Or maybe it isn't. Color me skeptical, but I don't believe these fares were a mistake at all.

Airlines surely have a rigorous process for setting their prices. It would be incredibly easy to, at the very least, set reasonable limits for fares that could not be crossed. Maybe they could make a mistake by dropping a $400 fare to $300. But to $25? I doubt it.

More likely, they are simply offering this gimmick fare to get some free publicity. Well, it's not totally free, but you get the idea. Let a few people get a cheap ticket, and for a few thousand dollars, you get a headline on every newspaper and web site. Set a limit to the number of tickets that can be sold at the gimmick price, and your liability is very limited.

Plus, because they are honoring the fares, they come across as the good guy. 

And because word of mouth spreads so fast about the great deal, tens or even hundreds of thousands of consumers navigate to travel web sites in search of the deal (which they won't find). How much is all that web traffic worth? How many consumers, in search of the gimmick deal, will buy a ticket anyway?

Hmm...millions of eyeballs and some goodwill with the public. Seems like a bargain for Delta - but not consumers.