Cathay Investigates Mispriced Tickets - Again

Cathay Pacific says it's investigating a glitch that meant the carrier offered premium tickets for a fraction of their face value. And it says it will honour the cheap fares for the "very small number" of savvy travellers who took advantage of the bargains when they were listed online on Sunday morning. It's the second time tickets have been offered too cheaply in a matter of weeks.

Sharp eyed online shoppers noticed that the carrier was offering first-class flights from Lisbon to Hong Kong - via a connecting flight through London with a partner airline - for just US$1,512. A similar first-class journey via Frankfurt costs about US$16,000.

An airline spokesperson was quoted as saying the error was due to an "input issue".

On New Year's Eve, the carrier's website also offered first and business class tickets from Vietnam to the United States and Canada for as little as US$670. That compared with the usual US$16,000 for a round-trip flight on first class, and between US$4,000 and US$6,000 for business class.

The error comes at a bad time for the airline, which has been struggling in the face of tough competition from mainland carriers. It's also angered customers in Hong Kong after it took months to admit to a massive data breach after hackers made off with the data of 9.4 million customers, including some passport numbers and credit card details. (AFP)