Mongolian Airlines sells tickets for ‘ghost’ flights

An airline carrier that operates flights to Mongolia has been creating “ghost” flights out of Korea to sell extra tickets, according to Seoul’s transportation ministry on Tuesday.

Starting last month, Mongolian Airlines has been increasing the number of flights, promoting ticket sales. But because those flights were not authorized by Seoul, customers were forced onto alternate flights.

According to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, Mongolian Airlines is only allowed six flights a week from Incheon to Ulan Bator, but sold tickets for nine starting last June.

Customers who bought tickets for the three extra flights were forced to wait for empty seats on authorized flights or put on multiple-layover flights.

According to the majority of customers, the carrier failed to disclose the information when selling the tickets.

An estimated 750 customers a week, or about 3,450 since June, were sold tickets to nonexistent flights, based on each flight having a capacity of roughly 200 seats.

According to ministry officials, the airline has been selling upwards of 250 tickets for each of the three flights departing up until August.

“Policies were made clear from the beginning and we even alerted the carrier of its infraction,” said an official.

“We are currently looking into legal and administrative measures like surcharges or service cancellation.”

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldm.com)