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Etihad Airways are honouring tickets sold at hugely discounted rates by accident due to a computer glitch on Christmas Day.

The airline inadvertently sold flights from New York to Abu Dhabi for prices as low as $187 (£120) – lowest prices in January are normally $444 (£285) - during a 20-hour period on December 25.

News of the bargains spread like wildfire on social networking sites after they began to appear on comparison sites such as Kayak.com, TheFlightDeal, FlyerTalk, SlickDeals and Expedia.

Etihad Airways are honouring flights sold on Christmas Day for as cheap as £120 for New York-Abu Dhabi

The flights appeared on comparison websites and news quickly travelled via social networking sites 

Etihad has not revealed how many of the cut-price tickets were sold, but the majority went to tourists travelling from the United States for a winter sun break to the UAE.

'A system filing issue caused ticket prices for a promotion in the USA to be temporarily listed incorrectly,' Etihad spokeswoman Katie Connell said. 'The issue has since been rectified.'

While Etihad have done the honourable thing in honouring the sales, US law demands they do this anyway even if it is clear an error was made. 

Many of the cheap flights sold have come from US tourists seeking a wintersun break in Abu Dhabi

However, after this recent event and others like it, the US Department of Transportation is considering an alteration of the rules due to the fast-moving nature of such events.

 'We did it because it is the right thing,' Connell is quoted telling Forbes. 'We would have done it either way.'

A ticket is considered sold when the customer pays the full agreed rate for the ticket.