With the summer travel peak underway, bookings for both domestic and international routes continue to climb. However, as passenger traffic increases, the difficulties in getting refunds and the low refund amounts have once again drawn public attention. In fact, the difficulty in getting refunds is not a new problem, so what exactly makes it so difficult?

Ms. Feng, from Hainan, planned to take her child on a trip abroad on June 17th and booked airfares for a total of 6351 yuan through a third-party platform. Due to a momentary oversight, she mistakenly selected July 10th as the departure date. Less than an hour after placing the order, Ms. Feng discovered the error and contacted customer service to request a refund.

Consumer Ms. Feng: The customer service told me that they would escalate my feedback and promised to reply to me within 48 hours. I waited as agreed, but after 48 hours, the reply I received was still that the airfare would not be refunded.

Ms. Feng then contacted the ticket agent again, and the reply she received was still, "Tickets are non-refundable after issuance. If it is confirmed that you cannot travel, you can only try to apply for a tax refund."

Consumer Ms. Feng: I applied for a refund about an hour after placing the order. It was still early before the flight took off. The airline agent had not incurred any actual operating costs. The total price of 6,351 yuan included 600 yuan for insurance. The merchant only refunded the insurance and confiscated the remaining 5,700 yuan of the ticket price. The rights and obligations of both parties are seriously unequal.

If you place an order but discover an error and request a refund within an hour, only to be refused by the platform and agent, what are their grounds for refusing a refund?

The screen recording of the ticket purchase page provided by Ms. Feng shows a light gray text message at the top of the page: "Refunds and changes are not supported." There were no further prompts or pop-ups regarding the non-refundable and non-changeable nature of the tickets during the subsequent payment process.

Consumer Ms. Feng: The ticket purchase page did not use any pop-up windows or red highlights to inform me that this was an almost completely non-refundable ticket. The strict refund and change restrictions were all hidden in these small print.

Ms. Feng believes that the merchant's actions do not comply with relevant provisions of Chinese law.

According to a 2025 online tourism consumer satisfaction survey report released by the Tianjin Consumer Association and other organizations, overall satisfaction with after-sales service was low. Refund issues were particularly prominent, accounting for 85.58% of public complaints.

Data from the Black Cat Complaint Platform shows that in the first half of 2026, there were nearly 27,000 complaints about airports and airlines, with over 13,000 related to ticket refunds and changes, accounting for nearly 50% and making it the leading issue in the industry. Many of these ticket refund and change complaints stemmed from consumers not paying attention to the refund and change policies clearly stated in small print on the booking page.

Why is it so difficult to get a refund for a plane ticket? In real-world consumption scenarios, why are consumers' rights so hard to protect?

In May 2023, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Administrative Supervision and Management Measures for Contracts," which made specific provisions on the obligation of businesses to inform consumers. When operators use standard terms to enter into contracts with consumers, they should notify consumers in a prominent manner, such as by providing separate notification, using bold text, or displaying pop-up windows.

Su Haopeng, Professor of the School of Law and Director of the Consumer Protection Law Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics: If the notice is not reasonable or prominent enough, or if there is no notice, or if it is not given in a reasonable place and in a reasonable manner, or if there is no explanation when the consumer makes a request, the consumer can argue that such a clause is not legally binding on the consumer.

In addition, Article 816 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China also makes clear provisions on ticket refunds. If a passenger is unable to travel at the time recorded on the ticket due to their own reasons, they shall apply for a refund or change within the agreed period. If the application is made after the deadline, the carrier may not refund the ticket price and will no longer bear the obligation of transportation.

Su Haopeng, Professor of the School of Law and Director of the Consumer Protection Law Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics: Passengers who are unable to take transportation at the pre-set time due to their own reasons can apply for a refund according to the time agreed with the merchant. This is clearly stipulated, and refunds are possible. There is no problem with it.

Experts point out that this regulation takes into account both the rights and interests of consumers and the interests of businesses, reflecting the legislative principle of equal rights and obligations.

Su Haopeng, Professor of Law and Director of the Consumer Protection Law Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics: Because consumers cancel their tickets in advance, businesses usually have ample time to resell them. Only when tickets cannot be resold should a reasonable deduction be made. Therefore, from this perspective, deducting the entire amount or a very high deduction percentage is clearly not in accordance with legal requirements.

Experts believe that as a business entity, the primary prerequisite for platforms to formulate and display refund rules is that they comply with relevant laws and regulations and fully fulfill their obligation to inform customers. They cannot use a single line of fine print in refund clauses to restrict consumers' legitimate rights, thereby reducing or exempting themselves from the responsibilities they should bear as business operators.

Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, stated that both the Consumer Rights Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China clearly stipulate that businesses cannot use standard clauses to restrict or exempt consumers' rights, nor can they exclude or reduce their own responsibilities.

During the interviews, many consumers stated that contacting platform customer service and filing complaints with relevant departments is not only time-consuming and laborious, but often ends inconclusively. The high time and financial costs of pursuing legal action further deterred many.

So, how common are these practices of not using pop-ups and large-font prompts, and setting completely non-refundable terms for air tickets? The reporter tested five online travel platforms that rank highly in terms of market share for air ticket booking: Ctrip, Tongcheng, Qunar, Fliggy, and Meituan Travel. These five platforms currently hold more than 95% of the market share in my country.

The reporter booked the same international flight at the same time on each of the five platforms. In terms of the notification method, only Ctrip displayed a page with the refund rules before payment. The other four platforms mostly chose to display small text with a similar font size and color to the others. Some platforms displayed small red text later, and all of them required clicking to view the specific content.

Frequent disputes over flight ticket refunds stem not only from the varying fees charged for cancellations and changes, but also from a severe imbalance in information disclosure. Merchants use large, eye-catching fonts to attract attention, but hide stringent refund and change restrictions in small print, luring consumers into traps set by standard terms and conditions without their knowledge. It is crucial to strengthen the primary responsibility of platforms and airlines, mandating that key refund and change rules be clearly displayed in prominent pop-up windows, eliminating these "small print traps." Only by clearly explaining the risks and assigning responsibilities can travelers feel confident in their purchases and understand the process of refunds. (Source: CCTV News)