Have you heard of error fares, mistake fares or glitch deals? These fares happen when an airline sells tickets to amazing destinations for ridiculously low prices, either on purpose or by accident. They are an amazing way to travel on the cheap, especially if you are flexible.

Delta once had an error fare to Vancouver from Los Angeles for $45. Did you read that? Was it a typo? Nope. Forty-five dollars ROUND TRIP!

How do you hear about these error fares?  You should be following me on my FB fan page because I post fab deals as soon as I find out about them. 

So what should you do when you see a glitch deal or error fare? Here are my top 5 tips to snag a great deal!

How to use Error Fares

 

1. Do Not Contact The Airline

Please don’t call/tweet/or contact the airline in ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM and ask if this deal is real.

It is.

And if by some chance it isn’t, you will get your money back. So chill out, back away from your phone, and buy your ticket. If the fare was posted by accident, once they know, they will delete it. It is in your best interest to hang up that phone!

2. Do Not Hesitate

When you see a glitch deal or error fare, do not hesitate. These deals disappear quickly. Either all the seats sell or the airline realizes there is a glitch and they fix it. You DO NOT have time to sit and think about it for hours or look at the deal the next day. Time is not your friend. 

3. Share

Don’t keep a fab deal to yourself! If you have friends that travel, please share the deal with them. Wouldn’t you want your friends to share with you? 

4. Buy it even if it’s not your normal airport

When the Vancouver deal dropped someone said to me, “I wish the deal was from my airport! I never get the deals!” Looky here…when there is a fantabulous deal imma (yes, I said imma) need you to get it no matter where it is in the country, ok? 

Why?

Let’s say you live in Dallas and you wanted to get the deal to Vancouver… why would you pass it up? You can almost always find a great deal on a low-cost airline to anywhere in the country. If the Vancouver deal was $45 and you had to pay $200 for a ticket to get to the departing airport, wouldn’t that still be worth it? Yes, yes it would.

Make sure to check and see what deals you can get in your destination.

5. Save Your Confirmation Number

Once you have purchased your ticket, keep your confirmation number in a safe place. The airline may call you to discuss any issues with your ticket and you need to have your confirmation number in order to do that.

Now, there are two rules of thought about dealing with the airlines after buying error fares. Some say to never call them back and just continue with your trip as planned. Others say call back and find out what they want.

Which you do is up to you (because I don’t want to tell you to do one thing and then it backfire. You would be mad at me, wouldn’t you?). Use your best judgement if you get a message like this:

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For this particular deal, I haven’t heard of anyone that has had any issues with Delta not honoring their ticket. However, if an airline does decide to cancel your ticket don’t get snarky or rude. Instead, ask to speak to a manager. It isn’t your fault they had a computer glitch and were offering a flight at a price they are now not happy with, is it? But remember to be cordial and nice. No snarky talk, ok?

And there you have it, 5 simple tips to help you navigate your way with a error fares. I hope you get one soon! If not, make sure to check out my other tips for How To Afford To Travel.

Have you ever used error fares? Where did you go?

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