China-Singapore Jingwei Client, April 6th (Zhang Yanzheng) "Fly with your heart", "Fly without limit", "Fly with joy", "Fly if you want to fly", "Blind ticket box"... Since last June, China Eastern Airlines first launched "Fly on weekends" Since the product, major airlines have successively launched free flying products with different "games", which not only aroused attention and panic buying, but also caused a lot of controversy.

In the morning of April 6, "Women's 14 voyage changes after buying China Southern Airlines Happy Flight" appeared on Weibo's hot search.

Under this hot search, many netizens said that it is difficult to fly with Xpress products, "My happiness is flying away."

  New longitude and latitude in China Southern Airlines data map, photo by Zhang Yanzheng

"Women have encountered 14 changes after buying China Southern Airlines Happy Flight" rushed to the hot search

  According to the Boiling Point Video report, on April 5, CCTV exposed a number of airlines' "flying freely" package issues. Netizen Ms. Dao said that she also encountered some similar troubles.

Ms. Dao said that it felt good to buy "Happy Flight 1.0" before, so she went on to buy "Happy Flight 2.0". From January 7 to now, she has encountered 14 flight changes, which has affected her itinerary several times. , There was a case where the flight changed three times.

On April 1, her flight back to Beijing from Urumqi was cancelled, and she was notified of the cancellation again on April 5.

Subsequently, related topics rushed into the hot search on Weibo. As of press time, more than 170 million people have been read.

  Many netizens also questioned the opacity of airline ticketing rules under hot searches on Weibo, and made flight adjustments at will. Some netizens said that "fortunately did not buy it."

  @囧喵囧喵囧: The rules for issuing tickets are not transparent. We often put more seats for flights that no one changes, less seats for many people, and fewer seats on weekends.

  @为有书香来: The airline sells such a happy flight to fill the occupancy rate of individual flights at a low price, but after finding that it can't fill it, they change it at will.

  @壹小寒: You don't understand the meaning of this product.

Happy flying is the happiness of airlines, not yours.

  @Afternoon people: I talked about it during the promotion, and there are various restrictions when it is used.

  Is the aforementioned experience of Ms. Dao true?

What are the reasons for the 14 flight changes of "Happy Flying"?

Under what circumstances will flight adjustments be made?

On April 6, the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client called and wrote to China Southern Airlines. As of press time, the other party has not responded.

  According to the information on China Southern Airlines official website, Happy Flight 2.0 version of China Southern Airlines is divided into two types: a travel package priced at 3,899 yuan and a Changyou package priced at 3,999 yuan. Both packages can be exchanged from January 11 to June 30, 2021 ( (Except from February 4 to February 22, 2021) China Southern Airlines domestic flights (except Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) at any time each day, but the number of redemptions for each route and the number of segments that can be redeemed at the same time are different.

  According to the product rules of China Southern Airlines Happy Flight 2.0, the list of fixed-point routes that can be selected for this package is updated from time to time. The actual query result at the time of purchase shall prevail. Once the fixed-point round-trip route is selected, it cannot be changed.

China Southern Airlines also promised to provide no less than 20,000 economy class seats for "Happy Flying 2.0" passengers on daily flights. Travel packages and Changyou packages share inventory. The number of redeemable flights and redeemable seats is subject to actual enquiry, and the number is limited. , While stocks last.

  Regarding ticket refund and modification regulations, China Southern Airlines stipulates in the product rules that once a ticket is issued, it cannot be changed or signed to an airline that is not operated by China Southern Airlines; refunds must be processed through China Southern Airlines APP 96 hours in advance, and only taxes and fees will be refunded; If you do not actually take the flight after 3 bookings and you do not apply for a refund before the specified time (except for flight changes), the purchased product will become invalid.

According to the official website, the activities of the two Happy Flying products of China Southern Airlines have ended.

  New latitude and longitude in passenger travel data map, photo by Zhang Yanzheng

Airlines have been repeatedly complained about restrictions on "flying as you wish"

  In fact, many airlines' "Fly with Heart" products have caused a large number of consumer complaints before.

According to the "Top 10 Consumer Rights Protection Hotspots in 2020" recently released by the China Consumers Association and People's Daily Online Public Opinion Data Center, the restrictions on "flying as you wish" introduced by airlines are often named.

  According to previous reports from Jiemian News, in terms of time restrictions, Spring Airlines “fly when you want to fly” requires passengers to book tickets 7 days in advance, while other airlines can book tickets 5 days in advance; on the redemption date, many airlines exclude the National Day holiday. That is, passengers from September 30, 2020 to October 8, 2020 cannot redeem it.

Secondly, "Fly with your heart" products have restrictions on the number of seats and the number of redemptions. For example, China Eastern Airlines stipulates that flights can only be redeemed when there are vacant seats; Hainan Airlines limits the number of seats that can be reserved for each flight to 20; China Southern Airlines is "happy." "Fly" package stipulates that the same departure airport to the same arrival airport can be redeemed up to 2 times.

  The Consumers Association stated that the harsher conditions of use of such products infringe the rights of consumers to a certain extent. In addition, the focus of product promotion falls on "unlimited times", which creates a large gap between the promotion content and consumer experience. The author left the feeling of false propaganda by the enterprise.

  China-Singapore Jingwei checked multiple airline apps and found that China Eastern Airlines’ “Fly on Weekend” products have been sold out, and airlines such as HNA and China Airlines have removed related products on the shelf.

  Senior civil aviation expert Qi Qi pointed out to the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that

the essence of "flying as you wish" is that consumers have purchased a package of rights and interests service products "packaged" by airlines. It is different from ordinary ticket purchases in non-standard consumption. And non-timeliness

.

This is the most fundamental reason why "flying as you wish" has become "flying at heart" in individual consumers.

  In Qi Qi's view, consumers have magnified the value of the "Fly with Heart" product to airlines to a certain extent, and artificially "ignored" the positive significance of the product itself in reducing consumer aviation travel costs.

"As an insider in the civil aviation industry, I urge consumers to carefully read and understand the exercise instructions before purchasing relevant equity products. Disagreements can be confirmed with the relevant airline before purchasing. As for airlines, it is recommended to reassess The consumer satisfaction of its already-launched "XiXinFei" products and the feasibility of adding related products, actively adjust or make more clear the relevant exercise terms."

Can "fly as you wish" really boost the performance of airlines?

  Looking back at the airline's performance in 2020, it seems that it is difficult to save the declining performance with XFei products.

According to the calculations of China-Singapore Jingwei reporters, in 2020, the three state-owned airlines Air China, China Southern Airlines and Eastern Airlines will have a combined loss of 37.082 billion yuan and a daily loss of about 101 million yuan.

Among them, China Southern Airlines achieved revenue of 92.561 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 40.02%; Air China achieved a revenue decrease of 48.96% year-on-year; Eastern Airlines achieved a year-on-year decrease of 51.48%.

  Civil aviation expert Li Xiaojin said in an interview with the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that,

in the context of the most serious COVID-19 epidemic last year, airlines have launched free-flying products mainly to encourage users to travel and alleviate the airline’s survival difficulties. In fact, this The income of such products does not cover the cost expenditure

.

In addition, because airlines launched such products for the first time, lack of experience, frequent disputes on the usage rules, and related complaints have greatly affected the reputation of the airlines, so many airlines have stopped selling such Xpress products.

  Li Xiaojin pointed out that from a historical point of view, Xpress products have played a positive role in promoting the recovery and development of airlines, ensuring the integrity of the airline network, and at the same time providing passengers with high-quality and low-cost products.

With the gradual recovery of the aviation market, the aviation capacity began to be tight, and these products sold six months ago squeezed the airline's profitability.

“In response to after-sales incidents such as Happy Flight, the airline must first uphold the attitude of honest operation and earnestly fulfill the contract requirements. Second, when the airline responds to the risk of force majeure and self-rescue, the products and policies launched must be forward-looking. Learn from experience and lessons."

  Qi Qi also pointed out that in the face of an external environment where the domestic epidemic tends to be controllable, starting from the Ching Ming holiday, the demand for air travel in the coming May Day holiday and summer holiday season will be relatively clear, and the average ticket price of tourist routes tends to return.

In pursuit of higher economic returns, domestic airlines often tend to use more flight seats for sales rather than redeem sold rights

.

(Zhongxin Jingwei APP)

All rights reserved by Sino-Singapore Jingwei. Without written authorization, no unit or individual may reprint, extract or use it in other ways.