Norwegians Take United for a Ride

A little known Norwegian airline website named Widerøe generated a tremendous amount of buzz and a lot of very happy customers this weekend when word got out that supposed unintentional error in their reservation system was allowing people to book international tickets on United Airlines and its affiliated carriers at incredibly low prices. As sometimes happens, however, things are not always as they seem.

To give you an idea of the types of deals we’re talking about, how about $130 round-trip from New York to Milan, Italy? That’s not the base fare before tax—that’s the total fare including all taxes and fees. Other examples include $280 roundtrip from Los Angeles to Dubai in the UAE, and $298 from Houston to Bombay, India. These are just a small smattering of the incredible deals that lucky travelers scored on Saturday and at least part of Sunday. Unheard of fares were available from across the U.S. to Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.