Qantas passenger who thought he had bagged an astonishingly priced first class seat finds himself in a $100,000 nightmare

A Qantas passenger thought he had made a bargain by purchasing a first class seat for his family’s overseas trip. It soon turned out to be too good to be true. He found himself in an administrative nightmare.

Brisbane resident Aji Paul booked a vacation to the US with his family, only to discover that Qantas had accidentally slashed first-class fares by as much as 85 percent on the morning of August 23.

The airline’s mistake resulted in hundreds of first class seats being sold and the Paul family paying about $17,500 for their tickets, news.com.au reported.

Qantas was able to cancel or refund the first class seats under its terms and conditions, which covered the company for “an error or mistake” when it discovered what had happened on the website.

But the national carrier instead offered to rebook passengers into business class seats as a “goodwill gesture” – at no extra cost.

Lucky passengers still got a great deal: the business class seats were a whopping 65 percent cheaper than the usual cost of a business class seat.

When Mr. Paul booked his tickets to Dallas, Texas for his family’s 2025 vacation, he chose to use the airline’s “Book Now, Pay Later” option, paying just $100 to secure his tickets.

All customers, regardless of payment method, received an email from Qantas inform passengers of the change and tell them they don’t need to do anything: their tickets will be changed automatically.

Aji Paul, who booked four first-class tickets to Dallas for his family next year, was shocked when the selling price of about $17,500 suddenly jumped to $100,121 (pictured is Mr. Paul’s payment reminder)

An error on the Qantas website in August saw all first class flights discounted by up to 85 percent (pictured: Qantas first class)

“As a goodwill gesture, Qantas will rebook you to business class on the same flight for the same price you already paid,” Qantas Customer Care said.

But four days later, Mr. Paul saw that the price of the family’s plane tickets had dropped from $17,465 to a whopping $100,121.

The father said that while he found the amount “really shocking,” he believed it was “another pricing error.”

Mr Paul called Qantas as soon as he saw the new amount, but it was the start of a “frustrating week” that saw the father make multiple calls and speak to multiple customer service agents.

‘“It’s really horrible because unfortunately everyone I talk to tells a completely different story,” he said.

“There is no consistency in the information they provide.”

The father said his frustration was further compounded by the fact that some representatives promised him the problem would be resolved, but others were confused and unable to help him.

When Qantas discovered the error on its website, it made a “goodwill gesture” and gave customers who had purchased the discounted tickets business class seats at no extra cost (pictured is a stock photo of a Qantas plane)

After being asked to file a complaint, another Qantas employee called him and asked the father if he wanted to pay $56,000 for the business class tickets.

The father was unable to find a solution for two weeks, but Qantas has now agreed to give the family business class tickets at the originally booked price of $4,366.14 per ticket.

“We apologise to Mr Paul for the inconvenience caused and will be in touch to resolve any remaining issues with his booking,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

Qantas is reportedly not aware of any other processing errors and all tickets have been updated with their new business class seats, including for customers who opted to pay via ‘Book now, pay later’.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Qantas for comment.