How to distinguish the responsibilities of all parties involved in ticket refunds and changes
2024-06-17
Currently, air travel is a popular choice for many people, and situations such as flight cancellations and changes in aircraft types also occur from time to time. "Many times, airlines and booking platforms have certain problems when providing booking services, and consumers often choose to file lawsuits to protect their rights," said the relevant person in charge of the Fourth Intermediate People's Court of Beijing. Refund fees can easily lead to litigation. Luo purchased a plane ticket on a certain travel online platform, which includes a ticket of 14272 yuan and taxes of 3444 yuan. When purchasing the ticket, Luo checked the relevant "refund and visa change rules", which showed "if the ticket is refunded 3 hours in advance, the face of the ticket will be fully refunded, and the tax refund can be 158 yuan.". When refunding the ticket, Luo was deducted 3286 yuan in taxes and fees. Luo claimed that due to the unclear display of the "refund and visa change instructions" on the online platform, which did not clearly indicate that the refund amount did not cover the tax part, it led to the erroneous understanding of "full refund of funds". After the trial by the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court, it was found that Luo's misunderstanding of "full refund of face value" as "full refund of funds" was due to his misunderstanding, and there were no unclear or confusing labeling of the "refund and change of signature rules" on the APP. Therefore, Luo's lawsuit request was rejected. "When booking a flight, consumers first pay attention to the price and time, and lack sufficient attention to the rules of refund and rescheduling." According to a judge from the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court, the price of a flight ticket is composed of the ticket price and other taxes and fees. The "full refund of the ticket" marked in the refund and rescheduling rules cannot be understood as "full refund of the payment", and how to refund taxes and fees still needs to be executed according to the refund and rescheduling rules. The rules for refunding or changing tickets may vary greatly depending on the time of purchase, channel, cabin, etc. Some rules list the amount deducted from handling fees based on the time of refund or change, some rules list the refund amount based on the time of refund or change, and some will explain the tax refund amount separately. The judge reminded that whether purchasing tickets through official self-service, official manual or agency platforms, passengers should try to confirm with the other party before making payment for complex refund and change rules. Once, Mr. Wang purchased two business class tickets on a travel app operated by a certain company, and the ticket purchase page showed that the operating plane for this flight was the Airbus A330 (large). But after boarding, Mr. Wang found that the aircraft he was flying was an A321 medium-sized passenger plane. There were significant differences in service, three-dimensional space, and seat quality between the business class of this model and the business class of the Airbus A330 (large) model, and the ticket prices of the two aircraft also differed significantly. Mr. Wang believed that the aircraft model identified on the ticket sales page of the travel app involved in the case was inconsistent with the actual aircraft model, which induced consumers to buy business class seats of large aircraft at a price far higher than that of small aircraft, which constituted fraud, so he sued the company to the Beijing Internet Court. Feng Yu, a judge of the Beijing Internet Court, said that the company is an operator of e-commerce platform rather than a ticket issuing agent or carrier airline, and has no right to adjust the aircraft type change. The airline has no obligation to notify the company of the change of aircraft type. There is no evidence to prove that the company knowingly concealed any changes or errors in the aircraft model, so it does not constitute fraud. Consumers purchase tickets on e-commerce platforms, but the vast majority of actual ticket issuers are not the platform itself. A network service contract is established between the two parties, and consumers and airlines establish an air passenger transportation contract. When airlines adjust their flights, consumers will be aware that the time for adjusting the flight information corresponding to the purchased ticket will be relatively delayed Feng Yu said that if passengers believe that the goods are not the right ones, but the platform has fulfilled its information disclosure obligations, they should claim relevant rights from the airline. "Airlines should effectively fulfill their obligations to inform, remedy, and compensate for damages, safeguard passengers' basic rights such as the right to know, the right to choose, and the right to claim compensation. When adjusting flight information, passengers should be notified in a timely manner." A judge from the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court reminded consumers to have a detailed understanding of the rules for ticket refunds and changes when purchasing tickets, to consume rationally, and to avoid unnecessary disputes caused by ignoring information. (Lai Xin She)
Edit：Wangchen Responsible editor：Chenjie
Source：People.cn
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