‘Is American now partnering with SpaceX!’ Silicon Valley exec tried to change his AA flight from Seattle to Palm Beach and one of the options came up as a ticket for over $2Billion
- American Airlines quoted a man $2,147,483,647 for a trip from Seattle to Florida
- Software developer Shaun Walker tweeted out an image of the sky-high sum and joked that American Airlines had partnered with SpaceX for a lunar layover
- Walker speculated that a glitch in the American Airlines system led to the price
A Florida software developer was quoted a ticket price of celestial proportions while trying to change an American Airlines flight.
Shaun Walker, a developer who has worked for numerous Silicon Valley technology companies including Microsoft, said the American Airlines app offered him a more than $2billion flight while look at alternatives for a trip from Seattle to Palm Beach.
Walker tweeted out a picture of the ludicrous sum – showing a flight option costing $639.31, and another costing a staggering $2,147,483,647.00 – and jokingly wrote ‘perhaps American Airlines is now partnering with SpaceX ;).’
The developer went on to speculate that a glitch in American Airline’s pricing algorithm caused the problem, but not before quipping ‘the second option includes inflation.’
A SpaceX rocket before a flight. Walker jokes American Airlines had partnered with the commercial space flight company
‘I was looking for alternatives to change an American Airlines flight today… and was presented with these options!’ Walker wrote, displaying a screen grab of the two flight options.
The $639 flight included two stops in Indianapolis and Charlotte over the course of an 11-hour and 23-minute trip, while the $2billion option had just one stop in Dallas Fort Worth and came in at a total of seven hours and 42 minutes.
Walker’s included a request from American’s app inviting him to offer ‘feedback to help us make improvements.’
‘I actually live in Jupiter, Florida (slightly north of Palm Beach)…’ Walker wrote. ‘Maybe American Airlines thought I wanted to fly to the planet Jupiter.’
He also joked that the flight included a zero gravity layover and included a picture of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, before joking ‘Apollo 11 actually cost less.’
Twitter users were quick to jump in, with one quipping ‘The peanuts cost extra,’ and others joking that American was asking Walker to buy the aircraft for the flight, and even the entire airline.
‘So do they let you be the co-pilot for that amount?’ one user wrote.
‘Does Microsoft Flight Simulator count as pilot experience?’ Walker replied.
American Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
