A passenger, Ms. Feng, booked a plane ticket online for over 6,000 yuan but mistakenly selected the wrong departure date. About an hour after booking, she applied for a refund, but the merchant deducted almost the entire ticket price, only refunding 600 yuan for the insurance. Ms. Feng's experience has recently attracted considerable attention.

A report released by the Black Cat Complaint Platform in July showed that in the first half of this year alone, the platform received nearly 27,000 complaints about airports and airlines, of which more than 13,000 were about "high refund and change fees," accounting for nearly half. The report mentioned that consumers generally reported that even when applying for a refund more than 7 days or even more than 10 days in advance, the platform still deducted more than 40% or even 90% of the ticket price as handling fees.

Why are ticket refund fees so high? How can we address the issues raised by passengers? A reporter interviewed relevant officials from the China Air Transport Association (hereinafter referred to as "CATA").

Airline tickets and flight seats are characterized by three main features: high time sensitivity, non-storability, and exclusive resource availability. The operational resources of civil aviation flights are allocated in advance according to predetermined flight plans. Aircraft scheduling, fuel reserves, crew scheduling, air traffic control, and airport ground support all incur costs, and these costs are not reduced due to empty seats. Once a flight takes off, empty seats lose their usability and resale value, constituting an irreversible consumption of resources.

According to a representative from the China Air Transport Association, domestic airlines generally implement a tiered refund policy. The earlier a passenger applies for a refund, the more time the airline has to release the vacant seats back into the market and complete resales, resulting in relatively lower refund fees. Passengers with uncertain or changeable itineraries are advised to choose full-price tickets or premium cabins with flexible refund and change options to better enjoy their travel benefits. Passengers with fixed and definite itineraries can choose discounted tickets and adhere to reasonable refund and change restrictions to maximize their travel value.

Some passengers have reported difficulties understanding the refund rules. An official from the China Air Transport Association explained that the tiered refund fee system does have some shortcomings in its actual implementation: insufficient transparency in rule disclosure. Some online platforms and sales agents have issues with hidden rule displays, such as small font sizes, concealed locations, obscure technical terminology, and default folding/non-displaying. International flight refund and change systems are complex. Some foreign airlines do not disclose their fee rules or have opaque rates, and sales platforms do not provide adequate explanations. The industry lacks standardized regulations. While domestic airlines all follow the tiered fee logic, there are differences in details such as specific timeframes, fee percentages, and thresholds for free refunds and changes.

In response to the pain points of ticket refund and change services that passengers are concerned about, the China Air Transport Association has taken the lead in coordinating and promoting the upgrading and optimization of ticket refund and change services, and has launched a number of measures.

The China Air Transport Association (CATA) is leading the development of a special group standard for ticket refunds and changes, which is planned to be officially released and implemented this year. The standard will clarify refund and change requirements. All ticketing platforms and official airline channels must proactively disclose refund and change rates, restrictions, and free refund and change scenarios to passengers before they pay for their orders, using prominent fonts, mandatory pop-up prompts, exclusive logos, and upfront notifications. This will address the issues of hidden, incomprehensible, and uninformed rules, ensuring passengers' right to know and right to choose.

Promoting high-quality and beneficial policies and guiding the industry to upgrade its services, China Eastern Airlines recently took the lead in adjusting its domestic ticket refund and change rules. It clarified that for domestic tickets sold from August 6th onwards, all cabin classes can be voluntarily refunded or changed free of charge more than 14 days before the flight's departure, breaking the traditional restriction that discounted tickets cannot be refunded or changed free of charge.

Strengthen industry compliance training and standardize service delivery procedures. Conduct regular specialized training for frontline customer service staff, ticket agents, and online platform personnel to standardize the interpretation of refund and cancellation rules and dispute resolution procedures.

To tackle the challenges of international airfare services and achieve transparency in cross-border rules, we will urge domestic airlines and sales platforms to refine their international flight refund and change policies and provide proactive risk warnings. We will proactively engage with foreign airlines, strengthen coordination efforts, and promote the standardization and transparency of cross-border and inter-airline refund and change services.

(Source: People's Daily)