British Airways Bait and Switch page 3

When does lazy sloppy web programming become deliberate bait and switch? BA has the technology to accurately show the actual true lowest available fare in each of the three months, and presumably the $288/$313/$491 numbers have to come from somewhere.

Oh, and in case you wondered, if one clicks on the links on the numbers, one is not taken to a page with the promised fare on it.

This situation is discussed and analyzed in our article British Airways Fare Sale : Lazy Website Programming? Or Bait and Switch? - these screen shots are merely the proof of the reality gap between promise and reality.

So, what do you think? Bait and switch? Or an, ahem, innocent mistake?

The Screen shots were all taken on Tuesday 15 March, mid morning Pacific time.

This is the third of three pages of screen shots, following through the steps I took to check every date in March and April for the low fares as advertised/promised. It makes best sense to follow through the logic from the first page.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

7. So, now we are hunting the $313 fares in April. Will they prove as elusive as the $288 fares in March? The last screen shot on page 2 showed us the first few days in April, with nothing priced anywhere in the $300s; let's keep looking. Hmm, still nothing for less than $400, let's keep moving through April.

8. Gulp - prices are getting worse not better. But there's still the promise of a $313 fare. Let's keep moving forward in April and tell ourselves that this not only promises to save us money, but will get us better weather in London, too.

9. Hmmm - still not seeing any fares at all below $400! Let's look at the one remaining week in April, shall we.

10. So, here it is, the last week of April. Still promising a $313 fare, and still not showing anything under $400.

So, to wrap up April, the initial sale offer said there'd be $288 each way fares through 12 April and $351 fares for the second half. The web pages of availability promised us a $313 each way fare.

And the actual fares? The lowest fare was outbound for $434, available on three days only, but the last of which (25 April) had no matching return fare at the same price, and return for $434 on a very few dates to match the other two outbound dates - $868 roundtrip as the lowest possible fare in April.

$868 is a lot more than the three promises for $576 (2 x $288), $626 (2 x $313) and/or $702 (2 x $351).

What gives, BA?