They're the two best words in the world of cheap travel: Mistake fare. And over the past several years, our flight deal service Thrifty Traveler Premium has found and sent more than a dozen of them.
Every day, we scour the globe looking for cheap flights and award alerts for our subscribers … but every once in a while, prices get so low that it just doesn't make sense. Maybe the airline forgot a zero? Or left off a fuel surcharge? Or maybe some unlucky employee just entered the wrong numbers.
Whatever the reason, it results in unbelievable flight deals like $62 roundtrip to Chile or business class fares to Southeast Asia for under $600. They're rare – think once or twice a year, if that – but whenever it happens, we catch the airlines' mistake and alert travelers instantly.
Here are our favorite mistake fare finds from the past few years.
Read next: Our Complete Guide to Finding & Booking Mistake Fares
Dublin from $135 … Roundtrip!
Let's start with the latest (and arguably greatest) example.
Thanks to budget airlines like Aer Lingus and lots of competition between carriers, cheap flights to Ireland aren't all that hard to find. But “cheap” typically means airfare in the $500s or $600s … not the $100s!
Get an instant alert for the next mistake fare – sign up for Thrifty Traveler Premium!
This was our latest mistake fare from just last week, and it was a doozy. Not only could it get you to Dublin for less than most hour-long domestic flights, but it even included availability over this summer – a time when flights to Europe typically cost at least $1,000 or more.
Deals this good never last long: This one evaporated in a matter of hours. But it lasted long enough for hundreds (if not thousands) of travelers in Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) to book an insanely cheap trip to Ireland this year.
Paris Nonstops from $228!
We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw $228 roundtrip fares to Paris – flying nonstop, to boot! But this one was real, too.
Nonstop fares from New York City (JFK) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) typically cost $700 or more. But this mistake fare from last year dropped the cost to just $229 roundtrip, giving our subscribers an amazing chance to fly to France for under $250!
It's the cheapest fare we've ever seen to Paris. And lucky for our members who booked it, American Airlines decided to honor their mistake, giving travelers a chance to plan the cheap trip of a lifetime.
Biz Class to Southeast Asia Under $600!
Any mistake fare is rare, but business class mistake fares are incredibly rare. They're also one of the few ways to score a truly cheap business class ticket.
And they don't get much cheaper than this. Way back in 2018, someone at Hong Kong Airlines must have missed a zero … because business class fares to several cities in Southeast Asia that normally cost $6,000 were selling for about $600 or less! Best of all, the airline decided to honor the fares!
This wild mistake fare gave Thrifty Traveler Premium members a trip to Bangkok (BKK), Shanghai (PVG), or Ho Chi Minh (SGN) in a lie-flat seat for less than it costs to fly economy.
Japan as Low as $199!
Many mistake fares are one-offs, available between just one or two cities at most. But every now and again, travelers luck out with a nationwide mistake fare.
That includes this stunning deal to Japan from a few years ago.
I can confidently say these are the cheapest fares you'll ever see to Japan. Residents of St. Louis (STL) can hardly fly anywhere in the U.S. for under $200, and yet they could get to Tokyo for that price.
This one was not to be, sadly. This mistake fare cropped up during the early days of the pandemic for a trip to Tokyo in 2021 – long before Japan re-opened for international travel. Still, it's one worth remembering: Nothing will ever top these exceptional roundtrip fares to Japan.
Chile & Back … for $62!
Mark my words: You will never see anything cheaper than $62 roundtrip fares to South America.
And no, I didn't make a mistake here – Delta did. Your round of beers at the airport might cost more than this flight!
This was perhaps the most stunning mistake fare we've ever found for Thrifty Traveler Premium members. It was part of a broad error that resulted in sub-$200 fares to both Chile and Peru from several cities nationwide.
But seriously, $63 for a roundtrip all the way down to Santiago (SCL) in Chile is just absurd. Mistake fares don't get much better than this.
Two Biz Class Fares to London from $899
United Polaris business class is one of our favorite ways to cross the Atlantic Ocean, but the fares are typically closer to $5,000 roundtrip, sometimes more.
Check this out.
We called it a mistake fare, but to be honest, we're not sure. Was it an error? Or was it just a really good deal?
Let's be honest: When you can get to Europe in a lie-flat seat for $1,000 or less, does it really matter? These United Polaris fares, bookable through Lufthansa, were some of the lowest roundtrip, transatlantic fares we've ever seen. This is what most travelers expect to pay for a cramped seat in economy!
Boston (BOS) got the best of it with these $899 roundtrip business class fares to London.
London (LHR) was also the beneficiary of one of our other favorite mistake fares from a few years ago, this time flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class to London for $900 roundtrip.
The flights on this one were priced at only $520 roundtrip, with $380 in taxes and fees. It was a truly stunning fare deal that led to some magnificent savings flying business class across the pond.
Air France Biz Class to Europe for 5K Points (Or Less!)
Mistake fares are rare. Business class mistake fares are even rarer. And business class mistake fares bookable with points and miles are rarer still.
Yet late last year, we found not one but two consecutive mistake fares to book Air France business class over to Europe … for as few as 5,000 points!
It's one of the funkiest deals we've ever found: For just 5,000 Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles – which you could transfer from all the major credit card points – you could book these lie-flat seats that typically cost 50,000 miles each way. But it was only departing from a few major Canadian airports … and it required taking a connection from Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) onward to Southern France … by train.
But it led to some unbelievable savings.
And that one cropped up only after we found some more ridiculously priced business class fares to Croatia and Greece, too: Just 14,000 miles each way! There were briefly some business class fares bookable for 1,500 miles!
Unfortunately, Air France agreed that these fares were too good to be true and canceled almost all of them a few days later. That's the way it goes with mistake fares: You win some, you lose some. Fortunately, Air France made an effort to reverse some points transfers for travelers who sent their credit card points to the airline in order to book this defunct deal.
Cathay Pacific First Class for $987
From the ultra-wide seats to caviar starters and vintage champagne that costs $300 or more a bottle, Cathay Pacific First Class is one of the best ways to fly.
So go figure it typically costs like $15,000 or more for a roundtrip fare to Hong Kong (HKG), right? Wrong. How about under $1,000 for a roundtrip in Cathay's first class seats instead?
This was a weird one, too. Rather than departing from the U.S., you could only book at these jaw-dropping rates by departing from Vietnam, flying to the U.S., then returning to Southeast Asia. But for Thrifty Traveler Premium members who could find a one-way to Vietnam or work it into an existing trip, this deal was arguably the best on the entire list.
A Trip to Iceland from $228
Let's wrap this up with one last classic of the mistake fare genre: Roundtrip flights to Iceland in the $200s.
These prices still stand as the cheapest Iceland we've ever found. And they're particularly impressive considering it was flying Delta Air Lines over to Reykjavik (KEF) … including summer travel!
Bottom Line
Every day, we scour the globe looking for cheap flights and award alerts for our subscribers. But sometimes, fares get so low that it just doesn't make sense. That's a mistake fare.
From a recent $135 roundtrip fare to Dublin to record-setting prices to Chile and Japan to deeply (and I mean deeply) discounted business and first class fares, these mistake fares are the holy grail of all flight deals. And our Thrifty Traveler Premium subscribers have had a shot at booking them all.