Skip to main content

Chinese airline to honour US$1.30 flight tickets sold during glitch

A China Southern Airlines Airbus A380-800 takes off from Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, in October 2020. (Loren Elliott/Reuters/FILE)

 A China Southern Airlines Airbus A380-800 takes off from Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia, in October 2020. (Loren Elliott/Reuters/FILE)
Share

Chinese carrier China Southern Airlines said on Thursday it would honour the sale of tickets priced as cheaply as US$1.30 during a two-hour technical glitch on its mobile phone app and some ticket-booking platforms late on Wednesday.

Consumers began reporting on Chinese social media at around 8 p.m. on Wednesday that many flights to and from the southwest metropolis of Chengdu were available at 10, 20 or 30 yuan (US$1.37-US$4.12) on China Southern’s app.

One screenshot circulating online showed a ticket from Chengdu to Beijing priced at only 10 yuan (US$1.37), compared to the normal minimum price of 400 to 500 yuan (about $55 to $69). Other online screenshots indicated the cheap prices were offered for about two hours on the carrier’s app as well as across several ticket-booking platforms, including market leader Trip.com.

On top of that price, buyers were required to pay at least an additional 110 yuan (US$15) in airport fees and fuel surcharges.

"Passengers can use them as normal," Guangzhou-based China Southern said, on the proviso that tickets were already paid for and issued.

Reporting by Sophie Yu and Casey Hall; Editing by Bernadette Baum

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

BREAKING

BREAKING Jury begins deliberations in Jacob Hoggard's sexual assault trial

The jury tasked with determining if Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard sexually assaulted a young woman in northeastern Ontario eight years ago began deliberating Friday after nearly two weeks of testimony that saw the singer and his accuser give starkly different accounts of what happened.

Local Spotlight