It wasn’t a publicity stunt or a magic event on par with sighting a unicorn that had United Airlines offering free, $5 and $10 fares. It was just one of those things where somebody probably made a mistake and typed the wrong thing, but the truth remains that some lucky travelers were able to scoop up miraculously cheap tickets.

For a short time yesterday, United Airlines was basically giving away airplane tickets for free, with passengers saying they bought tickets for $5 to $10. The airline admitted it even filed some fares for $0, with airport charges raising that slightly for a total cost on par with a fast food meal.

United quickly pulled the booking system offline while it fixed the glitch, in order to prevent too many cheap or free tickets from flying off the proverbial shelves. It’s not clear how many tickets were sold during the snafu.

“One of our filings today contained an error which resulted in certain fares displaying as zero,” said United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy, via the Associated Press. “We have corrected this error.”

But will the airline honor the tickets snatched up during that brief time? Maybe. Maybe not.

“As always, we will do what is appropriate,” McCarthy said.

UPDATE: United says they will be honoring the tickets.

United Airlines accidentally posts $0 to $10 fares [Associated Press]

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