3 May Update: Managed to check in online for my flight on 4 May and get mobile boarding pass!

4 May Update: Successfully got my boarding pass at the airport for my second booking flight to Vancouver!

8 May Update: Successfully check in for my flights back to Singapore

When it arrives, we pounce! A surprise ANA presents elevated tons of Monday blues last Monday. There was a glitch in the system and ANA is selling Business Class fares from Indonesia to North America for around 400 SGD. This is from the ANA Vietnam ticketing office. It certainly reminds me of the Cathay present back in 2019. The deal was alive for more than half a day and there are huge numbers of people that took advantage of this. I got and issued 3 tickets. This is an error sale as such tickets go for a min of 10,000 SGD. Let me share how I got to fly ANA in business class from Singapore to Los Angeles for around 400 SGD. I will even get a huge load of miles and even a Star Alliance Gold Status. In total, I paid about 1200 SGD for 30000 SGD worth of tickets. This does not even include the secondary benefits that I will get such as miles and status! I am currently writing this while flying at 39,000 ft in the air to LAX.

Monday 17 April

This is hands down the most epic and impromptu booking that I did. What makes it even more unbelievable is that I made the bookings onboard Singapore Airlines SQ286 while flying back from Auckland using the onboard wifi. I was scrolling Telegram and found the error fares deal on a travel forum. This is epic and I figure that it should not be missed. I issued 3 tickers and charged them immediately. The e-ticket was immediately sent to my email. Thankfully they did not require OTP but I was prepared to use my Citibank Mobile Token if needed. The lovely crew join me in the joy! I issued 3 tickets, two to the USA and one to Canada for around 1200 SGD. This would have a retail price of at least 30000 SGD. At the same time, I will also earn a year of KrisFlyer Gold and at the very min 60000 – 70000 KF miles.

P.S. I have to credit the complimentary unlimited onboard wifi from Singapore Airlines for making this possible!!!

Tuesday 18 April

As if we didn’t have an epic day yesterday. ANA decided to turn up a notch! Somehow, I was alerted by a travel forum that we can change our routine. This includes both origin and destination. Depending on what you change, you could even be in for an epic refund. There are cases where ANA issue refunds of up to 5000 SGD per ticket. This is due to the fare class if you book the full flex ones and change it to a business lite or something, it will be cheaper. I didn’t get one of the craziest refunds but managed to change it to route from Singapore. This is a win as the lack of the need to be based in Jakarta makes it even better and safer. I got refunds ranging from 1M VND to 10m VND which means that one of my tickets is free. As of this moment, the amount did not appear on my credit card. I don’t expect to receive them but a change to Singapore is a win for me.

With this, I went ahead to apply for my ESTA. The 20 dollars or so non-refundable expenses are worth the risk. I can always use it to travel to the USA sometime later. My ESTA was approved on the same evening. Times like this makes me feel very honoured and appreciative of being a Singaporean where we have one of the world’s most powerful passport. I also booked my hotels in LA and found some that allow me to still cancel if I can’t check in and fly on Sat.

Wednesday 19 April to Friday 21 April

This is the period where you constantly check on the news, hit up fellow travellers, seeing whether the error fares will be honours. I have never seen an error fare of this scale and there are just so many rumours out there. Everyone is guessing this and that saying that they have insider news from ANA. One of the theories being put out there is that those who didn’t change their routing will have their tickets honoured, and those who did ask for refunds will be cancelled. When it hits 24 hours before my flight, online check-in is open but I didn’t manage to check in for my flight. This got me a little worried but I feel better flying out of Singapore. If it doesn’t work at the airport, I will just head home.

Saturday 22 April

I wasn’t able to get the check-in done online. That usually isn’t a good sign but I shall try my luck at the airport. This is another reason why it is safer to depart from Singapore instead. Well, it shit hits the fan, I could just head to Mcdonald’s for breakfast and take the direct bus home. I arrived at the airport at around 4am for my 6am flight. I didn’t manage to check in straight away as the system was still showing my old itinerary. The one where I am due to depart from Jakarta. After some back and fro, the station manager did some checks and managed to find my new ticket itinerary, the one that I changed. Finally, I got my boarding pass and this is a clear indication that I will be flying to LAX for 400 SGD or perhaps even free!

Monday 24 April

Full Mileage Earned and Elite Miles credited into my KrisFlyer Account! The miles earned are worth more than my fare itself!

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24 April Update

Full Mileage Earned and Elite Miles credited into KrisFlyer!

25 April Update

ANA will not honour the error fares. You will be fully refunded! Let’s hope I don’t get stuck in LA!

28 April Update

Managed to fly back to Singapore with my ticket! No issue on the return leg!

1 May Update

Got all my miles from the return leg credited and no charges on my credit card yet.

Conclusion

While I am kinda sceptical and feel that I might face the same issue on the way back. We will just have to see how then. Fingers crossed that all things go smoothly when I am flying back from LA. By the time you are reading this, I should be in the air heading to LAX. With error fares, you do not know what is the outcome. You got to be prepared and flexible. I am prepared to go home from the airport earlier, to get stuck in Japan and even get stuck in LA. Never make non-refundable plans until you are very sure that you can fly. In this situation, I had a refundable hotel reservation till I check in in Singapore. Unless of course in a situation like Cathay where they come out and publish to the world that they are honouring it. There have been a couple of error fares recently. Qatar Airways had an error fare via an OTA although that didn’t get honoured. I did manage to fly on the Cathay Error Fares and Gulf Air Error Fares. I even did Scoot to Greece for 200 SGD. When it becomes a reality, you feel like you are at the top of the world. I regretted not buying First Class to try The Suite. For now, I am just enjoying my time flying in ANA business class for 400 SGD or Free to LAX! Full reviews of the flights will be coming very soon. HMU in SoCal!