Days
Ms. Ji, a consumer in Chengdu, to
The reporter of "China Consumer Daily" reflected
After purchasing a ticket with China Express Airlines
Discover all the seats
Free online check-in is not available
Due to the failure of early seat selection
Ended up delaying the flight
Journalists investigated this
There are no free seats available for online check-in
Questioned by consumers
Ms. Ji told reporters that she purchased flight G54161 of Huaxia Airlines that took off at 19:20 on March 17. At around 2 p.m. on the same day, Ms. Ji checked in and selected her seat through the Voyage App, and the results showed that all seats were locked, and seats could not be selected for free, and points had to be exchanged or paid for cash to purchase points.
In desperation, Ms. Ji could only check in at the airport. However, due to the large number of people checking in on the day, the check-in was not completed within the specified time and the flight was delayed. In the end, Ms. Ji had no choice but to refund the ticket and take another flight, however, the ticket fee of more than 600 yuan was only refunded 165 yuan.
"Is this a disguised price increase? All seats cannot be selected, which is equivalent to forced consumption. Ms. Ji said that she asked Huaxia Airlines to find out the reason, provide relevant supporting documents, refund the original price of the ticket, and apologize. On March 26, a staff member of China Express Airlines contacted Ms. Ji and said that "all seats cannot be selected for free" was not true.
The reporter found
There are quite a few consumers online
Questioning China Express Airlines' "paid seat selection"
The reporter logged on to the official website of Huaxia Airlines and saw that there were 9 contents of the "Instructions for Seat Selection and Check-in", of which Article 5 explained: "Preferred Seat" product supports the redemption of member points, if the points are insufficient, you can purchase points to redeem seats.
Open "Seat Selection Check-in" in the WeChat Mini Program of China Express Airlines, and the content of "Instructions for Seat Selection and Check-in" is the same as the content on the official website.
The reporter found that whether it is the official website or the WeChat applet, the "Instructions for Seat Selection and Check-in" does not explain which seats are "preferred seats", what is the price of paying to buy points, whether there is free seat selection for each flight, where the free seats are located in the cabin, and how much free seats are accounted for.
China Express responded
About 50% of seats are free
In response to Ms. Ji's report on the problem of paid seat selection, Ms. Chen, the head of the brand department of Huaxia Airlines, and Ms. Long, the head of the user operation department, successively called reporters and said that the situation that all seats that Ms. Ji reported that all seats were required to be paid was not true. Ms. Long said: "All flights have free seats to choose from, and the proportion of free seats is around 50%. ”
Ms. Long said that all passengers can enjoy China Express Airlines' online check-in and seat selection service, but there are some high-value seats, which need to be booked in advance by members in the form of points, which is a preferential benefit for members. If you don't have enough or no points, but want to enjoy a high-value seat, you must do so by purchasing points.
Ms. Chen said that it is an industry rule for online check-in members to have priority seat selection, and airlines generally stipulate that gold card members or long-distance passengers are given priority, and points will be deducted if they choose the first seat, and 50% of the seats in the economy class of China Express Airlines are provided to members for online check-in.
Regarding the price of paying to buy points, Ms. Long said: "The price is different for each flight and each seat number, and it will be personalized according to different aircraft types and different routes, and there is no fixed amount. Consumers can see it when they enter the seat selection business scenario to select services. ”
"Is it possible that it is a problem with air travel?" the reporter asked. "Absolutely not, because the business scenarios and seat maps shown are all prescribed by the airline and are the same as those provided by the airline," Ms. Long said.
Air Travel is a travel-based mobile service product. On March 26, the reporter sent an interview letter to the air travel through the mailbox, but did not receive a reply as of press time.
On March 28, Ms. Ji told reporters: "Huaxia Airlines gave a solution, refunded the ticket within 7 to 15 working days, and admitted that the company's value-added machine behavior was inappropriate." ”
Journalist investigation
The rules for online check-in and seat selection are messy
In the past few days, the reporter has called the service hotlines of some airlines and found that the online check-in and seat selection rules of various airlines are not uniform.
Air China's customer service staff told reporters that some of the online check-in seat selection for domestic flights is free, and some need to deduct mileage. Selecting a front row seat requires miles to operate, and if you don't have miles, you can choose a free seat, and paid seat selection is not supported at this time.
According to the customer service staff of Sichuan Airlines, the 1st to 7th rows of online check-in economy class are the members' journey redemption seat selection, and the mileage under the member's name needs to be deducted to deduct the exchange, and the free seats are open from the 8th row, and international flights can pay for seat selection, and domestic flights do not support paid seat selection for the time being.
Chengdu Airlines customer service staff told reporters that the first two rows of the flight are fixed comfortable economy class seats, and if you need to take it, you need to choose a fixed seat when you buy it. All other seats in the 3rd row and beyond of the 3rd row of regular economy class are free of charge and there is no additional cost.
China Southern Airlines customer service staff told reporters that if you choose the yellow front seat for online check-in, you have to pay mileage, and the blue seat is free to choose, and if there is no mileage, you can pay for seat selection, and the paid seat selection is generally 99 yuan. The reporter inquired that China Southern Airlines announced the price of advance seat selection products on its official website.
The Council's view
Online check-in and seat selection cannot be sour
Yan Guangyao, secretary-general of the Sichuan Provincial Commission for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests, said that airlines should first meet the needs of passengers to facilitate check-in and seat selection when opening online check-in services.
Seats must be available on board, and the ticket itself contains the necessary obligation to provide seats. The premise of the seat selection system is that passengers who are not willing to pay extra must also have seats to sit, and the basic service is the basic content of the fare, and it cannot be arbitrarily reduced or discounted. From the perspective of market supply and demand, it is understandable that airlines allow members to give priority to seat selection and charge additional seat selection fees for some seats, but they must comply with the requirements of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law and the Regulations for the Implementation of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law on the obligations of operators, fully respect consumers' rights to know, choose and trade fairly, and avoid consumer conflicts and consumer disputes.