united-states consumer-protection
Is it a bait and switch if someone pays for something, then they say it&#39;s unavailable?
<p>I recently paid for a major airline ticket, and it got processed saying that the payment worked (on the website, and printed out the PDF). A moment later they canceled my order. Is this a bait and switch, or illegal false advertising for not confirming that it was available at that price (i.e. they changed the price after I clicked submit, and it said &quot;confirmed&quot;)?</p>

<p>It is not a bait and switch, nor false advertising. It might be a violation of contract, depending on the exact wording of the TOS or other agreement with the site. Probably not.</p>
<p>&quot;Bait and switch&quot; refers to the tactic of advertising a specific product at a good price to draw one into a store (or to a site) and then claiming to be out of the advertised item, and attempting to sell the buyer a different item, usually one that is not as good a bargain. Even then, this is only illegal in most places if the seller did not have enough stock to meet reasonably anticipated demand. A notice such as &quot;quantities limited&quot; or &quot;while supplies last&quot; generally makes this legal. If no attempt is made to &quot;switch&quot; the customer to a different product, there is also usually no illegality.</p>
<p>Whether this is false advertising depends on exactly how it was advertised. If the TOS or ads contained wording such as &quot;no purchase is final until confirmed with airline&quot; then there is probably no false advertising, but the exact definition depends on the specifics of local law, and the details of the facts will matter a good bit.</p>
