United Airlines glitch offers Brits a first class flight from London to Newark for £49


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A glitch on the United Airlines website saw travellers offered return, first class flights from London to Newark for just $74 (£49).

The round-trip first class tickets from Heathrow to Newark, just outside of New York City, were snatched up by lucky holidaymakers for just 491 Danish krone due to an apparent error on the site.

By registering as a customer in Denmark, holidaymakers could snap up the deal, which would normally set them back $5,618 (£3,690) and $6,778 (£4,452). 

For a brief period of time on February 11, round-trip, first class fares from London to Newark were available on United.com for just £49

For a brief period of time on February 11, round-trip, first class fares from London to Newark were available on United.com for just £49

It is unclear how the deal happened and it appears United has since made changes to prevent anyone else from purchasing the cheap tickets. 

One customer who snapped up the bargain fare said she simply logged on to United.com and changed her country status to Denmark.

She then chose her dates and made sure to select business class or first class from the drop down menu, for example March 19 to March 25.

Then, using a credit card without a foreign transaction fee, the purchase was completed and a confirmation email sent, although the customer did say she left her country as 'Denmark' when filling out her postal address.

 

 

The unbelievable fare totalled 491 Danish krone, which comes to £49 or approximately US$74

The unbelievable fare totalled 491 Danish krone, which comes to £49 or approximately US$74

Despite the low costs, two customers reported 'miscellaneous' charges when they came to play, adding up to $326 (£214) to the price of the ticket.

It is not known what these costs represent, but both customers said they were happy to pay as the price still worked out much cheaper than a full price first class ticket.

MailOnline Travel attempted to secure the same deal at approximately 16:20 GMT, but found that selecting Denmark from the country drop down menu was no longer an option.

A second customer secured first class transatlantic flights for a total of 1,356DKK - around $206 or £135

A second customer secured first class transatlantic flights for a total of 1,356DKK - around $206 or £135

The country option was then turned back to United Kingdom. 

It is as yet unclear how many people snapped up the flights during the time of the glitch and whether the airline will honour the bookings.

According to a statement provided to MailOnline Travel: 'United has temporarily suspended sales from its Denmark website because a third-party software provider applied an incorrect exchange rate and was misquoting the airline's properly filed fares. 

'This error in the application of the exchange rate primarily impacted individuals who live outside of Denmark and who were not traveling to or from Denmark but were attempting to book tickets using United's Denmark site.'



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