Heartbreak Over Hong Kong
By now you may have heard of United’s mistake fare over the weekend — first class award tickets routed through Hong Kong were pricing at 4 miles + taxes. (A mistake fare is when a ticket is unintentionally priced far below the intended price, usually due to leaving off a few zeros or inputting the wrong currency)
I grabbed two sets of tickets, including one at the end of the year for Jeanne and I to actually SEE the harbor and grab some great Portugese food in Macau.
(Foggy Hong Kong in February)
There was only a slight chance it woould be honored but I was hoping, and as Monday went on and nothing was heard, I allowed myself to get excited. Almost harking back to the days when I was 10 and would submit my entries into the Publisher’s Clearinghouse and dream about how I would spend that $333,000 a year in winnings. Only to come crashing down a few hours later when they issued this statement on the travel forums. 
United doesn’t owe anyone the fabulous 4 mile tickets they might have booked. It was showing the right number of miles under the itemized list of charges, it was a purchased ticket (tax doesn’t count), etc, etc. But I long for the good ole days when mistake deals happened more frequently and were honored.
Some of my favorites I’ve taken advantage of…
2006 $33 + tax biz class fare on Alitalia from Toronto to Cyprus with unlimted stopovers in Italy.
 
2007Â $1,100 + tax business class fare on United from Los Angeles to New Zealand,
the #1 place I most wanted to see.
2009 Hilton Moorea overwater bungalow that went for 1/10th of the intended rate
— $140 a night including breakfast and dinner.
I would love to add Hong Kong to my list of favorites. Here’s hoping my itinerary somehow falls through the cracks for follow up 🙂
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Heels First is the travels and tribulations of two twenty-something frequent fliers jumping into the world of travel. Join Keri and Jeanne as they tackle mileage runs, elite status, and of course–the perfect travel accessories.
Wow, that is awesome. I started getting into these mistake fares in 2009, but I had no idea about some of the old ones. All 3 of your trips sound awesome. The best ones I did was the Expedia Canada free trip in November 2010 and the Delta $287 trip to Spain in March 2011. I was really hoping that this Hong Kong one would come through.
You guys are terrific. Great “heartbreak” article.