Is it really so cheap to "green skin in the air"?
1
"Two screenshots"
In the past two days, a screenshot has spread all over the aviation world, and even out of the circle.
In the screenshot is an "urgent notice" -
Please help inform the cabin service department that if there is a Jiefang Daily for flights departing from Shanghai today, please do not distribute it, thank you for your cooperation. @所有人
Judging by this tone, it should be a notice issued within the airline.
At first glance, many people are confused: Why did the airlines "intercept" the distribution of Jiefang Daily? According to public information, Jiefang Ribao was first founded in 1941, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it became a daily newspaper published by China's Shanghai Jiefang Ribao Newspaper Group, which is also the organ of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Another screenshot gives the answer. It turned out that on March 18, Jiefang Daily published an article "Several major airlines have introduced new regulations to expand the scope of free ticket refunds and changes - since it is expensive to buy and refund, why is it difficult to refund and change air tickets".
I looked up this article on the Internet, and it can be summarized as follows:
At the beginning of 2024, several airlines such as China Southern Airlines have adjusted the rules for ticket refunds and changes, expanded the scope of free ticket refunds and changes, and relaxed the rules for cancellations and changes due to illness.
However, many consumers have reported that the new regulations issued by airlines seem to be full of sincerity, but there are still many thresholds in actual operation, and it is difficult to refund and change tickets for free.
In other words, although some airlines have made adjustments, in practice, ticket refunds and changes are still a problem.
Coincidentally, before this, the 21st Century Business Herald also investigated, and some consumers reported that "if you propose to refund the ticket a week in advance, you will be charged 70% of the handling fee!" "A certain airline" ticket 1800 yuan, refund fee 1500 yuan" The complaint was also on the hot search.
Looking at it for a long time, as early as 2015, Xinhua News Agency reported on the title of "The cost of refund and change of online purchased air tickets is abnormally high". Unexpectedly, almost ten years later, this problem still plagues consumers.
When it comes to this kind of problem, there is one airline that cannot be avoided - Spring Airlines.
2
High "checked baggage fees"
On the Black Cat complaint platform, complaints about "Spring Airlines refunds" are not uncommon.
On February 7, 2024, a consumer with complaint number 17371408105 reported that he had "deducted 60% of the refund more than 3 days in advance" on Spring Airlines. The consumer questioned Spring Airlines' "unreasonable excessive deduction", because according to common sense, the refund fee is generally 10% of the face value of the ticket for a refund 72 hours before departure, and 50% of the face value for a refund within 24 hours before departure.
Similarly, on February 21, 2024, a consumer with complaint number 17371573402 reported that his refund was "charged a handling fee of 65% of the total".
On the Black Cat complaint platform, there are many similar complaints. According to the survey of "Love Faner", Spring Airlines' refund fee is indeed not low, "2 hours to 24 hours before departure, 80% of the original ticket price will be used as a refund fee". This means that if this happens, a 1,000 yuan ticket can only be refunded 200 yuan.
If the refund and deduction are still the routine operations of airlines, then another "artistic ability" is an eye-opener for passengers.
Enter "Spring Airlines" on the Black Cat complaint platform, and there are a total of 10,220 related complaints, mainly involving problems such as excessive refund fees, overlord clauses, inducing baggage check-in, and arbitrary charges.
Among them, baggage check-in charges were once a hot topic on the Internet.
According to a report by Southern Metropolis Daily, Spring Airlines only provides free 7 kg of hand luggage allowance for passengers who fly on international and regional routes for preferential and preferred flights, and 10 kg can be carried into the cabin on premium flights. For checked baggage, if you do not purchase a ticket package with baggage, there is no free checked baggage allowance, and the price of checked baggage starts from 5kg, and different routes are charged according to the length of the flight. For example, on the route from Shanghai to Singapore, it costs 440 yuan to buy 20kg of baggage online, and 660 yuan if you buy it at the airport check-in counter.
The "Operations Research Agency" even wrote an article about Spring Airlines' "greasy" hidden in baggage check-in. According to Spring Airlines' regulations, only 20x30x40 (approximately 14 inches) of luggage can be boarded. However, in general, the size of other airlines' carry-on baggage is 20x40x55 (20-inch standard carry-on suitcase).
This means that most airlines can bring a 20-inch cabin suitcase on board, but not on a Spring Airlines plane. Moreover, according to the Operations Research Agency, Spring Airlines did not prominently indicate that "baggage that can be boarded is only the size of a backpack."
If it's your first time on a Spring Airlines flight, you happen to bring a lot of luggage, so you have no choice but to check in your luggage.
But the problem is that Spring Airlines' baggage check-in is not only expensive, but also the price is not uniform: one price on the official website, one price at the counter, and another price at the boarding gate. Buying at the boarding gate is 3 times more expensive than buying online in advance. Some netizens even bluntly said:
Spring Airlines uses low-cost tickets with no baggage allowance to attract customers, and then uses the money from baggage allowance to make up the difference in ticket price.
I remember that in 2018, the surging news and other media reported a news that a couple took a plane to visit their son and brought 38 kilograms of luggage, and the consignment fee alone cost 578 yuan.
This is just a microcosm of Spring Airlines' high baggage fees. In the past two days, there have also been feedback from readers that many low-end migrant workers chose Spring Airlines for cheap air tickets, but they carried large bags and small bags to the airport only to find that their luggage basically had to be checked. All told, this total cost is much higher than that of other airlines, which is beyond their affordability.
▲ Source: Douyin
3
"Cut" out of profits
Behind the mountain of complaints, it is inseparable from the positioning of Spring Airlines.
In the aviation industry, those airlines that can provide a large number of cheap fares for a long time by canceling some traditional air services and controlling operating costs lower than ordinary airlines, are called "low-cost airlines". Spring Airlines is one of them.
Spring Airlines' airfares are indeed relatively low. According to the news of "Sanlian Life Lab", around May Day in 2023, Spring Airlines' popular route from Shanghai to Sanya will only cost more than 200 yuan, and the price is only 1/5 of that of other airlines. In some off-seasons, Spring Airlines' air tickets even have a price of 99 yuan, which is more cost-effective than the green train.
You may be curious, with such cheap air tickets, is Spring Airlines doing charity at a loss?
The answer may surprise you. According to the financial report, in the first three quarters of 2023, Spring Airlines ranked first among the seven major A-share listed airlines with a net profit of 2.677 billion yuan attributable to the parent company. In the same period, the net profit attributable to the parent company of China Eastern Airlines and China Express Airlines was 2.607 billion yuan and 697 million yuan respectively.
▲Source: Corporate financial report, Red Star Capital Bureau
Moreover, in the first half of 2023, Spring Airlines' average load factor was as high as 88%, more than 10 percentage points higher than the average load factor of the three major airlines.
With ticket prices so low, why are profits still far ahead? The answer is only one word: province.
It is said to be "provincial", but in fact, it is already a bit "picky". It is mainly reflected in the following points:
The first is the service "picking". In addition to the baggage fee just mentioned, on Spring Airlines planes, blankets, mineral water, and in-flight meals all cost extra. It may be hard for you to imagine that Spring Airlines' flight attendants will also sell goods on the spot during the flight, and the "beer, drink, mineral water, peanut and melon seed porridge" on the train are the same way.
The second is hardware "picking". As of the first half of 2023, nearly half (51) of the 120 A320 aircraft in Spring Airlines' fleet are held through operating leases, according to the data. In this way, repair, maintenance, and training are all unified, which can save a lot of costs.
In addition, the internal facilities of the aircraft generally adopt a single cabin setting, reduce the seat back small table, cancel the seat recline adjustment function, reduce the seat pitch, etc., so as to increase the number of seats on the aircraft and dilute the unit cost. In 2009, Wang Zhenghua, chairman of Spring Airlines, even mentioned the concept of "plane ticket".
Some netizens have shared that there will be a scene of condenser failure on the plane of Spring Airlines, and looking at the misty cabin, passengers thought they had arrived at Nantianmen.
The third is the "picking" of personnel. In order to increase the utilization of aircraft, other aircraft fly 4-5 times a day, and Spring Airlines' aircraft fly 8 times a day. While others fly about 9 hours a day, Spring Airlines' planes can fly up to 11 hours.
Although it is known as the "green car in the sky", Spring Airlines is stunned to "cut out" the profits.
Objectively speaking, as a representative of "low-cost airlines", Spring Airlines does have certain advantages in terms of fares and cost control. But it is also necessary to clearly see that the profits saved by "routine" and "buried pit" operations will not last for a long time after all. What do you think?