Cathay Pacific sold $16,000 first-class tickets for $675 — and honored every one

On New Year's Day 2019, Cathay Pacific accidentally sold business and first class tickets from Vietnam to North America at a fraction of their normal price due to a ticketing error. Business class seats that normally cost $6,000 were listed for about $675. First class seats worth $13,500 or more were listed for about $1,000. The error was first shared by travel deal site Thrifty Traveler, and hundreds of tickets were sold within hours.

Two days later, on January 2, 2019, Cathay Pacific announced on Twitter that it would honor every ticket issued from the mistake. The airline's statement read: 'Yes — we made a mistake but we look forward to welcoming you on board with your ticket issued.' The decision was notable because it came shortly after a major data breach in 2018 that had damaged the airline's reputation — honoring the mistake helped rebuild customer trust.

The financial impact was significant — potentially millions of dollars in lost revenue since the tickets covered flights across nearly all US and Canadian gateways for many months. However, the goodwill and positive press were arguably worth more. The story was covered by media outlets worldwide, and travelers praised the airline for putting customer experience over short-term profit.

The mistake fare is often cited as one of the best examples of a company turning a costly error into a PR win. The alternative — canceling the tickets — would have generated negative headlines and further damaged a reputation already bruised by the data breach. Honoring the tickets cost money but earned a kind of loyalty that no advertising campaign could have bought.