Recently, the Weibo topic "1800 yuan for air tickets and 1500 yuan for refund fees" has been on the hot search, causing netizens to discuss.
A passenger complained that she was going to buy a ticket for an airline from Melbourne to Shanghai on January 13, but because she looked at the wrong time, she mistakenly bought a ticket for January 30 and contacted the airline to request a refund.
A full month in advance of January 30, it will not affect ticket sales, but the airline still has to charge her a refund fee of about 1,500 yuan, and the full amount of her ticket is only 1,800 yuan. Subsequently, she chose to change, and after many communications, she still made up a high change fee of 960 yuan.
On the Black Cat complaint platform, the airline has 912 complaints in the past month, and many complaints involve high refund fees for wrongly purchased tickets.
In addition to the complicated cancellation and change rules, the headache is that the processing fee for changes can sometimes be even more expensive than refunds.
An international student who is about to go to Australia to study for a master's degree said that although the idea of changing the ticket came up late, three days before the flight, she couldn't figure out why the original price of about 5,000 yuan for an Eastern Airlines ticket to be changed to a flight that was delayed by a few hours needed to pay a handling fee of 30,000 yuan. "It's better to refund the ticket and rebuy it, but it's too troublesome. ”
Previously, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Air China and other airlines have successively issued new regulations on ticket refunds and changes for airlines, one is to reduce the refund and change rates, and the other is to expand the scope and application scenarios of free refunds and changes.
However, in practice, the airline's claim of "free cancellation and change if certain conditions are met" has developed into "must not meet the conditions for free cancellation and change" in many cases. A passenger interviewed by ** said that an airline she had met before said that "certain conditions" meant "having a major illness that can provide cases", but this is often a standard that ordinary passengers cannot meet.
Some experts, who did not want to be named, said that different airlines do not have a uniform and consistent specific standard for "tiered rates", and each airline's cancellation and change regulations are often formulated based on their own economic interests, so the higher the ticket discount, the higher the proportion of refund and change fees. Whether this provision is within the scope of the supervision of the Civil Aviation Administration, and whether the Civil Aviation Administration should come forward to stop the airlines' customized refund and change rules, there are ** civil aviation experts, and many experts have said that it is inconvenient to respond.
The airline did not announce what the conditions are, and the "final interpretation right" protects the interests of the company, but does not consider the rights and interests of passengers.
In this regard, Xinhua Daily Telegraph commented that the matter of a ticket is "on fire", and behind it is the fire in the hearts of the masses. Some airlines say that they will expand the scope of free cancellation and change, but in fact, they "pick words" and "ambush" in the cancellation and change rules, set up various obstacles, and use the "final interpretation right" to seek profit and hurt the people, which is neither the way of business nor the heart of the people.
Travel on the road, suffer from high refund fees for a long time! In view of the difficulty of ticket refund and change, what are the fires of the masses?
First, the rules are unclear. Some people say that they "pick out words" when they come to complain, why is "meeting certain conditions" always "definitely not meeting conditions"? "Sometimes the airline cancels the flight due to its own reasons, but it doesn't pay a penny! ”
Second, the conditions are harsh. Some people say that they can only change their tickets for free if they find out within two hours of buying the wrong ticket, but how many people can "find out in time"? Why is the standard two hours? "We should give the people a reasonable arrangement for cancellation and change, and we can't affect everyone's enthusiasm for travel. ”
Third, the cost is abnormally high. Some people say that it is only 1,800 yuan to buy a ticket, and they dare to charge 1,500 yuan for the refund fee alone.
The airlines have explained the cancellation and change rules clearly, and the public can understand them, but they can't keep saying "enthusiastic service" before buying tickets.
This year's Spring Festival, civil aviation passenger traffic is expected to reach 80 million. At present, the Spring Festival is getting closer and closer, the Spring Festival has entered the peak period, and the impact of rain and snow weather has made many people's return to their hometowns more difficult, and it is inevitable to refund and change tickets. The ticket is difficult to change, the road is not smooth, and the heart is difficult to peace.
Only when the rules are clear can disputes be settled. The airline's refund and change rules, "free refund if certain conditions are met" should specify what the conditions are, otherwise there will be no rules to follow next time a passenger buys the wrong ticket.
Bay Area Financial Comprehensive Xinhua Daily Telegraph, 21st Century Business Herald, Beijing Business Daily report.
Editor: Xiaoya.