Travelers lose ultra-cheap first class tickets after ANA cancellation

ANA Holdings Inc. is canceling flight tickets that were sold at bargain-basement prices last week following a currency conversion error on its Vietnam website.  

Opportunists had jumped upon the mistake, snapping up tickets cheaply. Some spent just a few hundred dollars for business- and first-class seats rather than the thousands they’d usually go for. 

“For the flights which were erroneously processed, ANA will cancel and fully refund all itineraries,” the Japanese airline said in a statement Tuesday. “ANA will notify each customer affected by the error. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, and appreciate your cooperation in communicating with us.”

ANA said the currency conversion error was related to a technical issue in a fare-quote system provided by Amadeus IT Group SA. 

An Amadeus spokesperson confirmed that a technical error relating to currency conversion “temporarily led, in some instances, to incorrect pricing being displayed for specific cabin classes for ANA.” 

Amadeus said it has fixed this issue.