(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) "3 · 15" Investigation: Why is the air ticket during the epidemic so difficult to return?

China News Agency, Beijing, March 15th: "3 · 15" investigation: Why is it so difficult to refund air tickets during the epidemic?

Author Wang Qingkai

"Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, a large number of air ticket refund orders are pending, and there is a lot of backlog ..." The staff member of Flying Pig, a Chinese travel ticketing platform, told a reporter from China News Agency that processing refunds has become one of their most important businesses. "Some refunds were indeed delayed and some complaints were generated."

Wang Nan, who works in Zhuhai, Guangdong, told a reporter from the China News Agency that he purchased a Tianjin Airlines ticket from Zhuhai to Xi'an on January 28 at Flying Pig, but due to the epidemic, he applied for a refund on February 2, originally scheduled for February Tickets were returned to the account on the 14th, but have not been credited to date.

In response, Flying Pig staff responded to reporters that this was because Tianjin Airlines delayed the refund. As long as the platform receives the refund fee from the airline, the passengers will be returned as soon as possible; the reporter called Tianjin Airlines, and the relevant staff also said that there are currently a large number of refunds pending. When can the passenger fees be refunded, they do not have an exact date.

The reporter learned from the China Consumers Association and the Black Cat Complaint Platform that recent complaints about air ticket refunds have skyrocketed, mainly focusing on "late refunds due to delays", "deductions for unknown reasons", "ticket sales platforms" Mutual shirk responsibility with the airline company ".

Why is my refund late?

A passenger told reporters that the refund service was started on the morning of the New Year's Day, and it was not processed until the evening, but the refund has not been returned to the account. Some passengers said that for 500 minutes a month of talking to customer service for refund, it was still not resolved. problem.

Industry insiders believe that the core reason that affects the speed of refunds is that "involuntary refunds" are special. For "voluntary refunds", the third-party ticketing platform has its own operation authorization, without the approval of the airline, and can directly deduct the handling fee according to the prior disclosure standard. Rather than voluntary refunds, they only occur in the case of illness retreat and flight changes. Passengers are required to submit proof materials and review them manually.

A senior expert in civil aviation told a reporter from China News Agency that, in general, airline tickets within the scope of the China Civil Aviation Administration's regulations for refund refund fees are generally paid within 7 to 15 working days.

"But if you buy tickets on other platforms, it may take a little longer." The expert said that some airlines will introduce their own specific regulations under the general framework of the Civil Aviation Administration. "The epidemic is very unfavorable to airline operations. The current refund There has been a 'run' and this cycle will be longer. "

"Another reason is that some passengers do not understand the refund policy in place or have doubts in the implementation." Li Xinxin of Hainan Airlines told reporters that this also slowed down the refund and triggered a large number of complaints.

Take Wang Nan as an example. The Tianjin Airlines flight he purchased from Xi'an on the 4th of February on the afternoon of January 28 in Zhuhai. However, due to the recent fever of random children, the local residents' committee in Zhuhai asked them to be isolated at home.

On February 2, Wang Nan had to process a refund. The original price of 1,435 yuan (RMB, the same below) will be deducted from the refund fee of nearly 1,000 yuan. However, on February 4, the flight was cancelled due to the epidemic.

In this regard, Wang Nan believes that he should belong to the special situation of "involuntary refunds" and should not deduct so many fees. He then called the airline and the Flying Pig platform several times, "the two sides shirk their responsibility back and forth." After no results, he filed a complaint.

"The long-standing unresolved problem of the regulation of air ticket sales channels for civil aviation was exposed during this epidemic." Zhang Qihuai, chief expert of the China Aviation Legal Service Center and a lawyer of Beijing Lanpeng Law Firm, said that ticket sales agents except the first-level agent who obtained the license , There will be secondary and tertiary agents below. Agents at every level want to get profits, and many orders will be peeled off.

Tens of billions of air tickets to be refunded

Xiong Jie, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that the new crown pneumonia epidemic had a huge impact on China's civil aviation transportation production.

Previously, in order to do a good job in the joint epidemic prevention work, the Civil Aviation Administration of China adjusted the free refund measures three times, requiring civil aviation passengers who have purchased tickets before 08:00 on January 28, 2020, and whose flight date is after this time limit, such as during flight departure Before applying for a refund, each airline and its ticket sales agent shall apply for a free refund for the passenger within the validity period of the ticket, and shall not charge any fees.

A large number of short-term refund operations caused "runs" on airlines and their ticket sales agents.

A ticket agent told reporters that from January 21, the Civil Aviation Administration issued the notice that "transport airlines, for passengers who have purchased tickets for Wuhan flights, if they have a refund request, they will apply for free." Pressure on the refund business.

"I thought it was only Wuhan, but in the later period, the Civil Aviation Administration issued three consecutive instructions, and domestic and international flights within a specified period of time must be refunded free of charge. We can't handle it."

According to data from the China Air Transport Association, as of March 2, domestic and foreign airlines had processed a total of 24.545 million tickets, with a total face value of 27.1 billion yuan. During the epidemic, domestic airlines have waived refund fees of several billion yuan. (Finish)