United Airlines website sells tickets at random prices

Computer glitch or daring new business model?

Some websites allow air travellers to name their own price, but a computer glitch at United Airlines has taken the concept a stage further, with the web server choosing prices all by itself. A bug on the United Airlines website allowed thousands of users to buy flights to India for a fraction of the usual price. 123 travellers landed the round-trip ticket from Chicago to Bombay for $140, US newswire Cnet.com reported. Prices quoted for the same journey on United's website today were over $4,000. United Airlines has said that it will honour all tickets sold at the wrong price. In May, a decimal point problem on the United site let people buy $2,500 tickets for 25 cents.