Utilize Error Fares & Social Media for Cheaper Travel

Using Social Media to get cheap flight tickets has now become common knowledge amongst travellers. However, not many are aware of the concept of “Error Fares” and how it can be used to book tickets at literally throwaway prices. Using a combination of social media and “Error Fares” you can save hundreds of dollars on your travel budget.

Error Fare is a term familiar to most people who have been on the hunt for cheap flight tickets. Travel portals like Expedia and ebookers offer good deals from time to time, but they never offer something that is extremely cheap. Flight tickets from Europe to the US typically range from 360 to 450 Euros throughout the year. The sole exception is the so called “Error Fare”. You would have encountered this magical term when you have seen flight tickets that seemed too low to be true.

What is an Error Fare?

Error Fares are basically faulty airfares that sneaks into the airline system from time to time due to complex software and huge systems in the back-end. Usually, tax and other additional fees are not included in the fare that is shown on the booking pages of Expedia and Priceline. This is a very common ploy employed by the travel sites to entice the customer to travel further into the checkout funnel. With Error Fares, you get to travel at least 40-50% below this displayed price.

The destinations that has more chances of displaying an error fare varies greatly. The common observation is that they show up on on typical routing that connect main hubs across continents. Open Jaw Flights are typically know to be more affected by Error Fares compared to regular flights. For those unaware of the term, Open Jaw Flights is simply a round trip ticket where the passenger does not depart from the same city where he landed and/or does not arrive to the same city of departure. So you have more chances of finding an error flight ticket if you start your trip in Berlin and end it in Milan or Prague.

Can the airline cancel your ticket?

Yes, and it happened recently with Oman Air when several passengers booked an error fare were denied a seat. However, if you have your booking reference code, you will be able to board your flight without any hassle. This is no guarantee on this, so use an error fare only for an impromptu trip where you just want to pack your bags and leave without any planning.

Where do I find an error fare?

As to be expected , Error Fares are extremely short lived due to the combined effect of the airlines effort to quickly fix the bug and the rapid bookings. Error Fares are also not easy to find. You will have to use a combination of blog subscriptions and social media following to track Error Fares. There are several Twitter profiles by deal authors and certain travel blogs that display Error Fares – but you have to be quick, these deals spread like wildfire and and the flight dates gets sold out within minutes.