A computer blunder led to every flight between Dundee and London rocketing by hundreds of pounds, The Courier can reveal.
Commuters trying to book late-November flights on the CityJet service to London City were faced with a lowest return journey cost of £535, more than three times the average cost.
The mistake was only noticed when an incensed Dundee mother, who now lives in London, contacted the firm after trying to book a flight to visit her brother next month.
Debbie McLaren (36), a legal secretary, said: ”I came back from Dundee last week from visiting my mum with my son Theydon and it was £250 return.
”My brother is due to become a dad in November and I want to come home and see him. I looked at the November flights from London City to Dundee and there was nothing cheaper than £535 return”
”The price had more than doubled, I couldn’t believe it. I hope anybody who booked the flights at that price gets a refund.”
The error was fixed at the end of last week after Ms McLaren complained about the price hike.
The cheapest return journey on the November dates is now £168.
Ms Mclaren said she was particularly annoyed at the error, as she recently had to cancel a Boxing Day flight on the service for her 16-month-old son and her mother.
She said: ”That was supposed to be at 4pm and get in at 6pm, which was perfect.
”I then got an email six weeks after I paid, saying the flight had been changed to 8.30pm and would get in at 10pm. There is a no-fly zone over Dundee after 10pm so if the flight is late then it will go to Edinburgh, which has happened to me before.
”In the end, I just cancelled it and got an earlier flight into Edinburgh on another airline for under £100.”
A spokeswoman for CityJet said: ”We do apologise to the passenger as there was a problem with our filing system and therefore our lowest fares were unavailable to purchase online. The issue is now resolved.”
”Regarding our changes in schedule, we have had to adjust our schedule during the two-week Christmas period as the demand during this period of time is drastically different.
”Unfortunately, these adjustments were unavoidable, but we hope to reassure the passenger in that we would never make adjustments to the schedule that would lead to major disruptions in our passengers’ travel plans, for example diversions or cancellations.”
The route is the only direct service from Dundee to London and is most famously used by TV presenter Lorraine Kelly to commute between the capital and her home in Broughty Ferry.
The company said earlier his year it was ”as committed as ever” to the route, insisting it would continue to thrive.
Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce has held talks with CityJet over the frequency and cost of its flights, although it has also urged the local business community to support the link to London City.
The company withdrew early morning, start-of-the-week flights in 2011 because of low demand, leading to the company’s depute chief executive Michael Collins visiting Dundee to urge the air travelling community to support the route.
CityJet increased the number of flights between Dundee and London earlier this year. Its 30-seat Dorners were replaced by 50-seat Fokkers to give more capacity but reduced frequency, and passenger levels improved.