British Air errs with $40 fare, to pay passengers

British Airways jets taxi past each other at Heathrow Airport west of London November 13, 2009.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Airways Plc will compensate consumers for cancellation penalties and other expenses stemming from an erroneous $40 fare offer between the United States and India, the U.S. government said on Monday.

The Transportation Department said in an enforcement order the offer was posted inadvertently on the carrier's website only for a matter of minutes on October 2. However, the deal remained on outside travel sites for about two hours.

More than 1,200 trips were booked covering more than 2,000 passengers. British Airways cancelled bookings and offered passengers a $300 voucher for discounted travel on U.S.-India flights.

The agreement with regulators went further, requiring British Airways to compensate passengers for fees and other charges.

British Airways apologized to customers for the mistake in a notice posted on its website.

(Reporting by John Crawley; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)