On March 14, after the railway department issued the policy of free ticket refund, the civil aviation industry also followed up. According to an OTA platform to the reporter of Securities Daily, China Eastern Airlines has received a notice that Chinese tickets with a ticket date before March 20, 2022 (inclusive) and a flight date between March 14, 2022 (inclusive) and April 17, 2022 (inclusive) are exempted from change or refund fees.
If the company has not received the corresponding notice from the above-mentioned platform, it shall inform the other companies at the same time; Another airline company told reporters that at present, the airline company has not issued relevant notices, but “probably will”.
It is worth mentioning that during the repeated epidemic, complaints about the return and change handling fees occur from time to time. According to the rough statistics of the reporter of Securities Daily on the black cat complaint platform, there were as many as dozens of complaints about civil aviation in the past three days (March 12 to March 14).
disputes arising from the policy of withdrawal and reform
On March 12, some consumers complained on the black cat platform that they had to change their itinerary due to the epidemic situation. Some airlines also launched the refund policy of reducing the handling fee according to the epidemic situation, but China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) does not support the refund of handling fee free and does not answer the calls of consumers.
For the consumption disputes in China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) case, the reporter of Securities Daily tried to call the hotline of China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) investors. The relevant staff told the reporter that customer service staff should be consulted for such problems, but the hotline of China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) customer service has not been answered.
This is not the first time that China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) has been involved in a ticket refund dispute. According to the reporter’s access to public information, there have been many complaints on the above complaint platform that China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) flight departure or arrival involves epidemic prone areas, but China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) does not reduce the handling fee refund.
China Express Airlines Co.Ltd(002928) is not an isolated case. On the complaint platform, the reporter noticed that China United Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and other aviation companies were also involved in the complaint disputes due to the inability to travel due to the epidemic. In addition, OTA platform was also complained for relevant reasons. The reporter learned from the black cat complaint platform that “no full refund”, “arbitrary deduction of refund fee” and “overlord clause” have become the “high-frequency words” of civil aviation complaints.
“The core reason for the increase in complaints about ‘unreasonable refund’ is that the recent rebound trend of the epidemic is relatively obvious.” Qi Qi, a civil aviation expert and associate professor of Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational and technical college, told the Securities Daily, “usually the ticket refund behavior of passengers will be caused by the change of epidemic prevention policy at the place of departure or destination.”
industry calls for flexible retirement and reform policies
“In fact, Ota is only the policy executor of the aviation department.” OTA has the final say, “a free ticket can be refunded or refunded after all, or is the airline’s final say”?
“The impact of the epidemic is based on the corresponding policies issued by the local government. For example, in Hangzhou, Shanghai and other cities, some sporadic cases will occur every day, but the government thinks it is within its own control, so it will not send a notice. In this case, the airline company will not send a notice generally.”, Another OTA staff member who asked not to be named told reporters.
The staff member said that from the perspective of users, as long as they hear about the epidemic and feel that there may be a risk, they should give a full refund, because this is a force majeure factor. However, both the platform and the aviation department follow the announcement and notice issued by the local government.
In addition, relevant staff of the civil aviation industry told reporters that since the emergence of the epidemic, there has been a targeted, complex and perfect process for ticket refund and reform. Large airlines will be more skilled in the implementation of refund and reform. It cannot be ruled out that the refund and reform process of small and medium-sized Airlines is not perfect.
The aforementioned civil aviation industry staff also said that from the current situation, both the epidemic prevention policy and the withdrawal and reform policy are becoming more and more refined. “But it is undeniable that even if the policy is gradually refined, disputes still exist.”
For example, the staff member said that, for example, some communities in some cities are closed and managed in a small range, but the overall epidemic prevention and control in the city is progressing well, and there are no problems with health code and travel code, so the airline company may not implement the free return and Reform policy for the corresponding airline company. However, for residents living around relevant communities, they may have fear because of seeing the surrounding epidemic, so they reduce travel. Disputes may occur at this time.
In addition, relevant insiders told the reporter of Securities Daily that the inconsistency of epidemic prevention standards around the country has increased the travel difficulty of passengers. From the perspective of the airline company, it is also expected that the airline company can launch a more flexible refund and reform policy.
“We may have to treat the cases of passenger complaints objectively.” Qi Qi told reporters, “the so-called unreasonable is actually compliant to a large extent. It is difficult for us to judge who is responsible for individual complaints. Because of the epidemic situation, many policies and rules change frequently, which should be analyzed in combination with individual cases”.
Qi Qi suggested that before refunding tickets, consumers should also understand the relevant requirements of purchase at that time, and pay more attention to policy changes. “If the itinerary is not implemented as planned due to the epidemic, it is not entirely recommended that passengers make information changes at the first time. At this time, airlines may launch refund policies for the epidemic, such as exemption of refund fees. Passengers can apply for refund after the final landing of the policy, which can avoid some losses.”
