United: Forget the cheap ticket to Hong Kong, we goofed

— -- If you grabbed that cheap round-trip ticket to Hong Kong on United Airlines for as little as four frequent-flier miles, consider making other plans.

United says it's notifying its frequent fliers it's not making good on the deal that it says was erroneously posted on its website over the weekend.

Rahsaan Johnson, a spokesman for United, says that a "programming error" on United.com allowed customers to buy Mileage Plus travel awards tickets for any class of service below the mileage level for such a trip, usually about 12 times that in miles and "which we disclose to customers."

Johnson says the error has been corrected and that customers have the choice of going ahead and taking the trip but at the higher level of miles or canceling and putting their miles back into their accounts without having to pay a penalty fee.

Johnson wouldn't disclose how many of its customers had made the reservations at the low level of miles.

Aaron Riggins, a Washington, D.C., resident, is one of them, though.

He says he bought a first-class, round-trip ticket to Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon for four miles plus about $40 in taxes.

"I was definitely surprised," he says of when he saw the deal, "but I've seen these things happen in the past."

As of Tuesday afternoon, Riggins said United hadn't contacted him.

But not having to pay a penalty for United's error is a plus, he says.

"When you go to change a flight with United or any airline most of the time there's not a lot of compassion about fee-waiving," he says.

Many customers aren't as understanding and have taken to frequent-flier chat boards, such as FlyerTalk and MilePoint, to vent.

Some argue that United is running afoul of a new Transportation Department regulation that bans post-purchase price increases of airline tickets unless it is a result of an increase in government-imposed taxes.

The law also states that passengers have to be provided with full disclosure of the potential price increase.

The department also says that if a consumer buys a ticket and receives confirmation of the purchase either though an e-mail or on a credit card statement, "then the seller of air transportation cannot increase the price of that air transportation to that consumer, even when the fare is a 'mistake.' "

The Transportation Department did not immediately comment on the situation.

Some frequent-flier aficionados are waiting to see how this works out.

Gary Leff, a BoardingArea.com expert, bought two of the round-trip tickets. "I basically just grabbed a lottery ticket," he says.

He figured it was probably a mistake but decided to take a chance anyway. "I didn't expect them to honor the tickets, but sometimes these things work out wonderfully," he says.