United Airlines posted on its Web site a fare of $49 round trip from New York City to Hong Kong. On the strength of that quote, 143 people purchased tickets. They were quite surprised when their credit cards were charged for the real fare, about 20 times what they had thought they had paid. It seems that for about an hour there was a bug in one of Uniteds reservation computers that caused the low prices to be quoted on some flights to Asia. The customers want to know if they can force United to honor the quoted fare.

Answer the following questions:

• Do you think a binding contract was formed, and if so, on what terms?
• Second, do you think United has any defense that it could raise?
• Finally, think about the ethical implications. Now that the customers know the posting was a mistake, should they voluntarily agree to pay the higher price?