Error Fares and Mistake Fares: How to Catch Them Before They Disappear

I was eating breakfast at 6 AM on a Tuesday when my phone buzzed. A notification from the Secret Flying app told me that Cathay Pacific was selling business class flights from New York to Hong Kong for $560 round trip. The normal price was $6,800. I opened my laptop, searched Google Flights, confirmed the fare, and booked it in under four minutes. By 6:45 AM, the fare was gone. By 7:30 AM, Secret Flying had posted an update saying the fare had been "corrected." I was one of roughly 200 people who managed to book before the airline caught the mistake. That $560 business class ticket was the best travel deal I have ever gotten, and it happened because I was awake, prepared, and fast.

Error fares, also called mistake fares, happen when an airline publishes a fare that is dramatically below the intended price. These mistakes occur for various reasons: a currency conversion error, a fuel surcharge that was accidentally removed, a human data entry mistake, or a glitch in the pricing system. When they happen, the fares can be jaw-dropping. I have seen business class to Europe for $200, first class to Asia for $400, and round trips to South America for $150. The catch is that they disappear quickly, sometimes within minutes, and the airline may or may not honor them.

How to Find Error Fares

The most reliable way to find error fares is through dedicated alert services. The two best are Secret Flying (secretflying.com) and Jack's Flight Club (jacksflightclub.com). Both services monitor airline pricing and send alerts when they detect a potential error fare. Secret Flying has a free tier and a premium tier ($4.99 per month) that sends faster alerts. Jack's Flight Club is free for economy alerts and $4.99 per month for premium alerts that include business and first class mistake fares.

I subscribe to both premium services, which costs me about $10 per month total. Over the past two years, I have booked four error fares through these alerts: the Cathay Pacific business class to Hong Kong ($560), a Delta economy flight from LAX to Paris ($198 round trip), a United business class flight from Chicago to Frankfurt ($340 round trip), and an Air France economy flight from New York to Tokyo ($287 round trip). The total value of these four bookings, compared to the normal fares, was approximately $14,000. The subscription cost was $240 over two years. The return on investment is absurd.

Social media is another source of error fare alerts. Twitter accounts like @FareDealAlert and @ThePointsGuy regularly post mistake fares. Reddit's r/awardtravel and r/flightdeals communities are also active. The disadvantage of social media alerts is speed. By the time a fare appears on Twitter or Reddit, it may already be gone. The paid alert services send notifications within seconds of detecting an error fare, which gives you a critical time advantage.

Booking and What Happens Next

When you see an error fare, speed is everything. I have a pre-filled profile on Google Flights with my passenger details, seat preferences, and payment information. This means I can complete a booking in under three minutes. I also have the airline apps installed on my phone with my accounts logged in, so I can book directly through the airline if the OTA sites are slow. Every minute you spend filling in forms is a minute the fare might disappear.

Book directly with the airline whenever possible. If the airline honors the fare, booking directly gives you the best customer service and the easiest path to managing your reservation. If the airline cancels the fare, booking directly means you are more likely to receive a full refund rather than a voucher. I booked the Cathay Pacific fare directly on cathaypacific.com, and when the airline initially sent an email saying the fare was "under review," I felt more confident having booked through them than through a third-party site.

Airlines do not always honor error fares. In the United States, the Department of Transportation requires airlines to honor mistake fares if the ticket has been purchased and a confirmation number has been issued. This rule was strengthened in 2025 after several high-profile incidents where airlines tried to cancel tickets. In the European Union, similar protections exist under EU261 regulations. However, airlines sometimes find creative ways to cancel error fare tickets, such as claiming a "technical error" in the booking process or offering a voucher instead of a refund. If an airline cancels your error fare ticket, you are entitled to a full refund, not a voucher. If they offer a voucher, decline it and request a refund to your original payment method.

Error fares are not a reliable way to plan travel. You cannot build an itinerary around a mistake fare because you never know when one will appear or whether it will be honored. But if you are flexible and prepared, catching even one error fare per year can save you thousands of dollars. The subscription cost is minimal, the setup is straightforward, and the payoff, when it comes, is extraordinary. I check my error fare alerts every morning with my coffee, and the thrill of seeing a $500 business class fare to Tokyo never gets old.