China News Service Client, Beijing, April 11 (Zhang Xu) The return of overseas Chinese and overseas students to China returned to another setback due to ticket price issues. Recently, many netizens have reported that oversold international flight tickets have returned, and even temporary price increases on the spot have allowed those with higher prices to board the aircraft first.
On the 9th, the relevant person in charge of the Civil Aviation Administration said that he would vigorously rectify the practice of occupying seats and reselling international air tickets at high prices. On the 10th, the person in charge of the Air Transport Sales Agency Branch of the China Aviation Association also stated that he firmly opposed the illegal increase in the sale of international tickets by individual passenger agents, and advised consumers to choose regular channels to purchase tickets.
The picture shows the anti-epidemic personnel deeply disinfecting the aircraft. Photo courtesy of China Eastern Airlines
International flights are oversold, passengers are forced to stay
According to a complaint from netizens, China Eastern Airlines ’flight from Toronto, Canada to Shanghai was oversold on April 4, and dozens of passengers were told to be unable to take the bus after arriving at the airport and were forced to stay at the airport.
Mr. Wang, an international student, said that he purchased China Eastern's flight from Toronto to Shanghai on March 28 at the beginning of March at a fare of less than 5,000 yuan. On March 17, he received a notice from China Eastern Airlines that the flight on the 28th was cancelled and he changed the sign to April 4 for free.
On April 3, Mr. Wang received a phone call from the self-proclaimed Eastern Airlines Toronto Sales Department, informing him that he was on the waiting list and that he needed to go to the airport to check in at 12:30 on the 4th.
"I was unable to verify the authenticity of the phone at that time. I also called the customer service of China Eastern Headquarters to confirm that the ticket was normal and could guarantee boarding. Even if I could not board, the flight would be processed on the spot." Mr. Wang went to the check-in site on April 4 and found More than 50 people on the scene were divided into waiting areas. The ground staff did not give any announcement, and eventually more than 50 people stayed at the airport.
The topic of China Eastern's international flights is on the hot search.
The reporter found that there are many complaints about the overselling of China Eastern's international flights. Some international students in Paris said that they bought a plane ticket for returning to China at the end of March. Before departure, some self-proclaimed staff of China Eastern also called to confirm whether they were on board to avoid occupying their seats and asked them to go to the airport early. But when the international student arrived at the airport, he was refused a boarding pass.
On April 9, China Eastern responded to the above situation. The relevant person in charge of China Eastern stated that the company will focus on optimizing advance notice and service communication, further guiding overseas travelers to rationally assess the prevention and control situation and the necessity of recent travel, and arrange passengers to travel in an orderly manner. The company apologizes for the inconvenience caused to some passengers whose flights have not traveled, and will actively judge the status of subsequent flights, providing free rescheduling and refund services.
Why did the booked ticket become "the one with the highest price"?
It is worth noting that in the event of oversale of international flights that caused passenger detention, there was also a phenomenon of illegal fare increase at the scene.
Some netizens said that on the flight back to Shanghai from Toronto, Canada, an elderly person bought more than 10,000 yuan of air tickets last August and was resold at a high price to a lady by the check-in manager. Another passenger asked how much the fare increase can board the plane and return to the country, the customer service responded: "If you increase 20,000, you can fly immediately."
Weibo netizens said that the phenomenon of "higher prices get" appeared on the scene.
Coincidentally, an international student in Germany told reporters that he purchased a MU220 flight from Frankfurt to Shanghai Pudong on April 7 at the China Eastern APP for 19,000 yuan on March 31. During the period, he did not receive any notice and was only three minutes away from the departure time. Hours was told that the boarding pass could not be replaced due to overselling. There were more than 20 people in the same situation, but some people at the scene claimed that they could upgrade with money.
“China Eastern ’s customer service replies that it is not possible to check in online during the epidemic. The state stipulates that the passenger load factor can only be 75% during the epidemic. As for who can board the plane, the local check-in counter shall prevail. China claims that it can be upgraded for more than 2,500 Euros, and I do n’t know what channel he has. "The foreign student said that although he could board the plane suddenly in the last hour, he still hoped that the airline could give an explanation.
An international student said that the ticket was cancelled many times and had to buy a high-priced ticket. Weibo screenshot
Civil aviation expert Lin Zhijie believes that after the Civil Aviation Administration introduced the "five one" policy, the number of international flights fell to 1.2% as usual, which will inevitably result in the cancellation of a large number of flights. According to the "five ones" policy, starting from March 29, an airline can only keep one route per country, and only one flight per week, and the passenger load factor of each flight should not be higher than 75%.
Despite being able to understand the current restriction policy adopted for epidemic prevention, the airlines did not make the relevant prompts and compensations to make passengers angry.
French student Doudou (pseudonym) said: "If 75% of the policy was oversold before the policy came out, then I have nothing to say, but after the policy came out, why can you buy Paris on April 5 on the official website of China Eastern Airlines for many days? Tickets to fly to Shanghai? "In addition, some affected passengers indicated that they only received 60 Euros as compensation, and others indicated that the airline has not provided any compensation.
Jiang Zhenxiang, vice chairman of the Bijie Lawyers Association, believes that the cancellation of airline tickets by consumers before boarding the aircraft is a typical breach of contract. "The airline's approach to boarding the plane to cancel the air tickets purchased by consumers in advance and sell them to others at a premium has violated the provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law and violated consumers' fair trading rights."
Regarding the issue of how to compensate passengers for losses, Jiang Zhenxiang said: "The unilateral cancellation of air tickets by airlines does not apply force majeure for defense. Consumers have the right to file lawsuits and ask the court to order airlines to compensate related losses."
China Eastern stated that "adopt a unified price limit policy"
In addition to the situation of canceled air tickets, overbooking and the inability to board, international students also encountered unusually high ticket prices. A Canadian student said, "On March 14, I tried to buy a ticket from Toronto to Shanghai, and I printed out a ticket for China Eastern Airlines on March 23, about 20,000 yuan. I did not buy it at the time. I refreshed it after 15 minutes. The price became 120,000 yuan. "
The only ticket left is 120,000 yuan. Photo courtesy of interviewees
Faced with many disputes, airlines had to come forward to respond. On April 8, China Eastern Airlines issued an "Emergency Announcement on Containing the Behavior of Illegal Mark-up Sales of Tickets".
China Eastern stated that the published freight rate for international air tickets is the maximum price, regardless of self-sales channels and distribution channels, a unified price limit policy is implemented; the sales agency agreement signed between the company and various relevant sales agencies clearly stipulates that sales agencies must follow the price of China Eastern Airlines For external sales, violations of the regulations will bear corresponding responsibilities.
The announcement mentioned that due to the recent changes in domestic epidemic prevention and control and overseas epidemic conditions, the contradiction between the supply and demand of seats on China Eastern's international return flights is extremely acute. There are individual illegal seats in the market and illegal acts of reselling tickets at high prices, which seriously disrupts the order of the air transport market.
In this regard, China Eastern stated that it will carry out a special operation to curb illegal scalping of tickets from now on. Anyone who purchases a ticket that pays more than the published freight rate, please report it to China Eastern Airlines and provide corresponding evidence. China Eastern Airlines will investigate and help protect the legitimate rights and interests of passengers .
Emergency announcement issued by China Eastern Airlines.
Civil Aviation Administration to combat fare violations
On April 9, Liu Lusong, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Administration and director of the General Department, said that there was a certain increase in ticket prices for returning flights, which is normal. However, in this process, individual illegal sales agents and cattle used technical means to occupy seats and increase the price of reselling, which seriously disrupted the order of the international air transport market and seriously violated the legitimate rights and interests of passengers, and must be vigorously rectified.
It is understood that on April 7th, the Civil Aviation Administration has issued a notice requesting stricter regulation of the order of the international air transport market during the epidemic to ensure that the prices of international air transport are stable and orderly, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of passengers and cargo owners.
The notice requires airlines to effectively fulfill their main responsibilities, further expand direct sales channels, strictly implement international tariff policies, strictly implement relevant regulations such as clearly marked prices, and promptly, accurately, and comprehensively publish international tariff levels and applicable conditions. For the management of sales channels, urge OTA platforms and sales agency companies to strictly implement relevant policies, and strictly handle OTA platforms and sales agency companies that violate regulations.
The Civil Aviation Administration has made it clear that all OTA platforms and sales agency companies must strictly implement the international tariff policy, and must not tamper with the international tariff rates and applicable conditions announced by airlines. The OTA platform should urge the sales agency companies on the platform to strictly implement the relevant policies. The sales agency enterprises that violate the regulations shall be dealt with strictly.
The reporter noted that recently, many domestic airline companies have successively introduced policies, announcing the suspension of global reservation systems and domestic OTA and other ticket agency channels, requiring passengers to purchase tickets directly through airline companies.
China Southern penalized 93 agents involved in violation of regulations. Pictures from the official website of China Southern Airlines
For example, China Southern Airlines issued the “China Southern Airlines Punishment Announcement on Violating Agents” on March 27, stating that 93 agents involved in recent violations will be punished: the 90 agents involved in booking violations will be blocked from the airmail configuration, and those involved in violations will be used. Three agents of the group's customer tariff stopped selling China Southern Airlines authorization. At the same time, China Southern Airlines will further strengthen the monitoring of the agent's sales behavior, once any violations are found, it will be dealt with seriously.
Civil aviation expert Lin Zhijie said that to combat illegal ticket generation, airlines and passengers must join hands. Passengers can check the ticket issuing price through the airline ’s APP or customer service to see if the ticket is redeemed for points. If they find any violation of the fare increase, they can report it to the airline. Airline companies can reward passengers with a portion of the money for penalized ticket agents to fly for free, increasing the illegal cost of "black" agents.
The Civil Aviation Administration also reminded passengers and cargo owners to choose regular channels to purchase air tickets or consignment cargo, and keep the relevant certificates to avoid being deceived. Passengers and cargo owners who find that prices are in violation of laws and regulations may promptly report to the relevant state departments in accordance with the regulations. (Finish)