During this year’s Spring Festival travel season, civil aviation passenger traffic is expected to reach 80 million. Recently, many airlines have adjusted their ticket refund and change rules, including expanding the scope of free ticket refunds and changes, relaxing the rules for refunds and changes due to illness, etc., which has attracted much attention from the society. For a long time, it has been criticized that it is difficult and expensive to cancel or change air tickets. The introduction of relevant regulations has made many passengers expect that the "annoyance" of ticket cancellation and change will be reduced and the experience will be better. However, a Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter’s investigation found that the stubborn problem of making free refunds and changes to air tickets still exists. (February 5, "Xinhua Daily Telegraph")
Free refunds and changes to air tickets will cause losses to airlines. For example, refunds and changes require manual services, and refunds and changes may also cause vacated tickets to not be sold in time, which will affect the airline's revenue. Almost no one will take the initiative to give up the "fat" in their mouth. Therefore, it is not only difficult to refund or change air tickets, but also train tickets and movie tickets have similar pain points.
In 2018, the "Notice on Improving Civil Aviation Ticketing Services" issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China clarified that airlines must provide free remedies for passengers who purchase tickets by mistake (such as wrong name writing, repeated ticket purchases, etc.). When defining the circumstances of a passenger's wrong purchase, the principles of reasonableness and tolerance should be adhered to. If the airline cannot prove that the passenger did not purchase by mistake, it should be regarded as a wrong purchase and free refunds and other services will be provided.
The relevant regulations are there, but free refunds and changes to air tickets are still difficult to implement. The key lies in the difficulty of breaking through the interest barriers. The "right of regret" of flight passengers cannot be discounted, and their legitimate rights and interests cannot be infringed.
The recently released "Announcement on Adjusting the Rules for Refund and Change of Tickets of China Southern Airlines" shows that: to further expand the scope of free refunds and changes due to misuse, it will address errors in filling in information such as name, ID, voyage, date, cabin class, etc. when purchasing tickets, as well as misuse resulting in repeated purchases. If certain conditions are met, refunds for incorrectly purchased tickets can be provided free of charge. However, “meeting certain conditions” in the new regulations is a fuzzy area. When interpreting relevant service terms, some airlines increase the responsibilities of consumers and reduce the responsibilities of operators. Since airlines have the "final right of interpretation", "meeting certain conditions" in the regulations becomes "must not meet certain conditions" in front of passengers. condition".
The Civil Aviation Administration of China's "Notice on Improving Civil Aviation Ticketing Services" clarifies that airlines must reasonably determine the charging standards for ticket refunds and changes, and formulate "tiered rates" for ticket refunds and changes, that is, based on different fare levels and time points, etc. Set reasonable tiered charging standards, and cannot simply stipulate that special price tickets cannot be refunded or changed. However, the "reasonable tiered charging standards" in the Civil Aviation Administration of China regulations are not detailed, which gives airlines a loophole to formulate unreasonable and unfair charging standards and formulate "overlord clauses" that increase the responsibilities of consumers and reduce the responsibilities of operators.
This requires the Civil Aviation Administration to improve relevant regulations and formulate corresponding mandatory standards so that airlines can strictly implement them. For example, it must refine the "reasonable tiered charging standards" to prevent airlines from discounting or setting up obstacles when implementing the free refund and change policy. Some airlines have formulated "overlord clauses" to increase consumer responsibilities and reduce operator responsibilities, which violates the provisions of Article 26, Paragraph 2 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law, and is an invalid clause. Relevant departments also need to strengthen supervision, urge airlines to respect the rights and interests of passengers, and punish airlines that infringe on the rights and interests of passengers in accordance with laws and regulations.
With the rapid development of high-speed rail, more and more passengers choose to travel by high-speed rail, which also puts increasing pressure on airlines. To retain passengers, we must treat them well, respect their legitimate rights and interests, and improve service quality. Therefore, considering the long-term interests of airlines, airlines must also proactively implement free ticket refunds and changes. This is not cutting their own flesh, but improving service quality, which is in line with the long-term interests of airlines.
(Yangzi Evening News)