Civil Aviation Administration will issue new regulations to control the chaos of ticket refunding and endorsement. Sometimes it is a very common phenomenon that you can't buy your favorite ticket, but the handling fee will be too high, so it's very embarrassing. The new rules restrict airlines, OTA platforms and sales agents against unreasonable fees for refunds and endorsements
For the frequent complaints of passengers, the Civil Aviation Administration is about to issue a new version of the regulations to protect the legitimate rights and interests of passengers.
On July 13, the Civil Aviation Administration of China held a regular press conference. Yu Biao, deputy director of the transportation department of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that in response to the focus of passenger complaints, the Civil Aviation Administration will soon issue the notice on improving civil aviation ticketing services (hereinafter referred to as the notice), which will put forward specific improvement measures for ticket sales, refund and endorsement services, and restrict airlines and OTA platforms (online travel agency level) And sales agents.
Display of investigation report on refund, change and endorsement of air tickets for consumers in Jiangsu Province
30.7% of consumers have experienced the situation that they have changed their visa early but are still required to charge a high fee for the change
23.5% of consumers have experienced the situation that the refund cost is higher than the ticket price
22.7% of consumers have experienced the situation that the refund fee charged by the website of booking tickets on behalf of others is higher than that charged by the official website of airlines
According to the statistics of the internet ticket sales platform, the issues of ticket refunding, changing and signing that consumers care about mainly involve three aspects:
1. Refund and endorsement rate is higher than air ticket price
At present, there is no uniform refund fee rule in China, which is decided by each airline in actual operation. At the same time, some air ticket agents do not strictly abide by the refund and endorsement fee rule of the airline.
2. Early change of signature is still required to charge a high fee
Some agents induce consumers to buy at low prices, and charge high fees and tying sales to make profits when passengers return or change their tickets.
3. Special ticket cannot be refunded or changed
When airlines sell tickets, they often adopt differentiated sales policies, and the special tickets are basically not returned or exchanged. If the ticket must be refunded, the same service charge as the ticket price will be charged or only the airport construction fee and fuel surcharge will be refunded.
measures
New regulations require airlines and other three parties
Recently, the civil aviation department will issue new regulations to further regulate the ticket sales, refund and endorsement services. On July 13, Yu Biao, deputy director general of the transportation department of the Civil Aviation Administration, said that the new rules for refunding and changing tickets would be introduced in the near future.
According to the report, the Civil Aviation Administration formulated the notice on improving civil aviation ticketing service on the basis of extensive consultation, and put forward specific improvement measures. The content includes the requirements for airlines, OTA platform (online travel agency platform) and sales agents to standardize the system and improve the service.
In addition, Yu Biao said that during the formulation and promulgation of the notice, airlines and OTA platforms have also actively taken some improvement measures in regulating ticket sales, refunding, changing and signing services. For example, China Southern Airlines and other airlines recently launched a full channel retreat service in APP and the official WeChat public. Any domestic airline ticket purchased by any channel can query the charging standard through this channel, and provide one-stop service under the condition of passengers' involuntary refund and change of signature, which has changed the traditional way of "where to buy tickets to go back", and airlines can provide full automatic refund. Ticket or rescheduled service, refund can also be quickly to the account. Some OTA platforms have also introduced service improvement measures, especially in the case of abnormal weather, etc., to actively provide services such as refund, change and endorsement for passengers.
Present situation
High cost of refunding and changing the contract
In April this year, Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission published the investigation report on the refunding, changing and signing of air tickets for consumers in Jiangsu Province, which involved 7 internet ticket sales platforms such as Ctrip Travel, Feizhu travel and Yilong travel, as well as 8 domestic large-scale airlines such as China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Air China.
According to the survey results of seven internet ticket sales platforms, due to the different refund standards of agents, there was a situation that 925 yuan was refunded but 3000 yuan was refunded. Some consumers said that they were charged a maximum of 3000 yuan when refunding tickets, accounting for 42% of the ticket price, while the maximum fee for changing tickets was 6000 yuan, which is the same as the price of new tickets.
Among the eight Airlines surveyed, the policies for refunding and changing tickets are different. For different airlines offering the same itinerary and ticket price, the refund fee may vary by twice. And the special ticket is basically non refundable and non exchangeable. If you want to refund the ticket, you can either charge the same service charge as the ticket price, or only refund the airport construction fee and fuel surcharge.
The reporter noted that of the 1250 consumers who participated in the online questionnaire survey, 995 had the experience of returning or changing their visas, accounting for 79.6%. According to the report, 30.7% of consumers said they had changed their tickets early but were still required to charge a high fee for changing their tickets. 23.5% of consumers had experienced the problem that the refund fee was higher than the ticket price. 22.7% of consumers had experienced the situation that the refund fee charged by the website of booking tickets on behalf of others was higher than the refund fee charged by the official website of airlines.