Motives for investigation
In a recent call, ms. Lin, a beijing citizen, said that she planned to take her two children from beijing to wenzhou on 18 june. When she asked for a flight on a third party platform, she found that the economy class had an adult fare of $407, while the child fare of $409. “the children’s ticket is more expensive than the adult one, and the preferential policy for minors has been eliminated?” ms. Lin questioned。
Why did the children's ticket go “price-back” with the adult ticket? Is the airline's pricing logic contrary to the principle of equity? How can the legitimate rights and interests of consumers be safeguarded? Journalists investigated this。
“adults for $400 and children for $420. Where the hell is the child benefit?” on 26 may, li lin (alias) who lives in the dynasty-yang district of beijing planned to take her daughter home for lunch, unexpectedly found that the child fare on a particular flight was more expensive than the adult fare。
Similar cases are not isolated. Recent investigations by journalists of the daily rule of law newspaper have found that child tickets are currently priced “inverted” on domestic routes, with child tickets on some flights even higher than adult discounts。
The experts interviewed noted that the child ticket concession is an important component of the national welfare system and reflects the state's interest in the care of children. In the area of civil aviation, the “preference” system for children's tickets effectively denies children the right to market discounts in accordance with the law when adult tickets in the air market are generally lower than the fixed percentage of children's preferences. How can child welfare really land? There is an urgent need for policy dynamic adjustments to go hand in hand with market instruments。
Child fare is higher than adult
“on the same flight, the child fare is higher than that of an adult.” in the writing building at lee lin's office, she showed reporters the recent ticket purchase record: on 31 may, the beijing-sian flight, the adult ticket was $420 and the child ticket was the same price; on 2 february, the sian-beijing flight, the adult ticket was $879 and the child ticket was $880。
Inquiries were made by journalists about the flight's flight to xi'an in beijing, and the economy class full fare was $2960。
According to lee lin, children are entitled to preferential fares when travelling by air, for example, but the reality is that the child's ticket is either more expensive than that of an adult or, like that of an adult, does not reflect a preference, which “is unreasonable”。
Mr. Dong from tianjin has the same experience. He had previously taken the daughter of the primary school by plane from beijing to urumqi and had purchased an airline ticket from a flying x travel platform, with an adult ticket of $2,000 and a child ticket of more than 2,400。
On 23 may, journalists entered an airline official app's list and found $566 for adults and $670 for children on shanghai to kunming. The journalist called the airline, explaining that: “if the ticket sold is less than 50%, the air fare will be the same for children and adults, but some adult air fares will be active, so sometimes the child ticket will be more expensive than adults. Children's tickets would be cheaper than adult tickets if they were sold at more than 50%”
On 27 may, journalists entered a platform to select a flight from shanghai to seaport on 16 june, showing 400 adult and 880 child tickets. Could the children's ticket be replaced by the adult ticket? Journalists consulted on the platform and replied that some airlines did not support children to buy discount adult tickets, which was based on a page display。
According to chen weijiang, deputy secretary-general of the research society for the protection of consumer rights and interests of the chinese society of law, the child ticket is an important component of the national welfare system and reflects the importance the state attaches to the care of children. The law on the protection of minors specifies that public transport such as air passenger transport shall be subject to free or preferential fares for minors in accordance with the relevant provisions。
“when the reduced adult fare on the airline market is generally lower or equal to the “concession” of the child fare, the “concession” of the child ticket becomes not only a burden but also a burden, since it effectively deprives the child of the right to a normal market discount.” chen yingjiang said。
Autopricing of airlines
The rules governing the pricing of air tickets for our children date back to the 1996 rules for the internal transport of passengers and luggages of civil aviation in china, which specify that children under the age of 12 are paid 50 per cent of the full adult fare。
In 2004, the former general directorate of civil aviation of china amended the rules for the internal transport of passengers and luggages of civil aviation of china to specify that children purchase child tickets at 50 per cent of the ordinary adult fare for the same flight; babies buy baby tickets at 10 per cent of the normal adult fare for the same flight, without seating; and children's tickets are purchased if separate seats are required。
By march 2021, the ministry of transport and communications published the regulations for the management of passenger services in public air transport, which came into force on 1 september 2021, expressly repealing the rules for the internal transport of passengers and luggages of civil aviation of china and its revised decision。
The regulation on passenger services in public air transport gives air enterprises greater autonomy, such as that the carrier should establish and publish general conditions for transport and refine the relevant passenger service, including the transport standards for special passengers, such as infants, pregnant women, unaccompanied children and seriously ill persons (the overall conditions of transport for carriers must not conflict with the requirements of national laws and regulations and regulations governing civil aviation)。
For their part, airlines publish specific conditions on official websites。
In the “guide for special passenger travel” on the national airline website, the transportation requirement for an adult accompanying child is that a child traveller who is two years of age at the time of flight but under 12 years of age be paid a child ticket at 50 per cent of the ordinary adult ticket for the same flight, or at a rate of 50 per cent。
In the “domestic itinerary” section of the south shipping officer network, children under the age of 12 who have reached the age of two at the date of their initial travel are provided with seats at 50 per cent of the ordinary ticket price for adult peers ..
In june 2023, the civil aviation authority of china, in its response to recommendation no. 5898 of the fourteenth national people's congress, stated that, in accordance with the relevant policy, it had been specified that children and infants on domestic flights were free to choose, on a voluntary basis, other types of fares determined and published by airlines within the framework of the government's policy, and to apply the corresponding restrictions。
It was explained to journalists by civil aviation sources that, while airlines require children to purchase children's tickets at 50 per cent of the ordinary adult fare for the same flight, in practice the airline does not apply the provision in a rigid manner, and once the discount for adult tickets is less than 50 per cent, the child fare is generally at the same level as that for adult tickets, resulting in the child fare being the same or slightly higher than that for adult tickets。
In its above-mentioned response, the chinese civil aviation authority also indicated that, at present, domestic airline fares are dominated by market-regulated prices, with airline companies setting their specific fare levels on the basis of market demand and supply, without excessive government intervention. At the same time, airlines are encouraged to grant more preferential fares to children and infants on the basis of the above-mentioned government-mandated concessions。
According to the provincial observation of the associate professor of the university of beijing university of aeronautics and astronautics, it appears that the airline practice is seemingly correct, but this interpretation is counterproductive in the context of the provision of child discounts. Children's tickets were granted a half-price benefit, which might not have taken into account the fact that the adult ticket would have been reduced by less than 50 per cent, nor could the provision have envisaged all possible circumstances, but could only be perfected one step at a time during implementation。
Real fare discounts
In may of this year, china's civil aviation authority, in its 2024 bulletin of statistics on the development of the civil aviation industry, completed 730 million passenger shipments throughout 2024, an increase of 17. 9 per cent over the previous year. Of that total, 660 million passengers were transported by domestic routes, an increase of 12. 6 per cent over the previous year。
In chen's view, with the rapid development of the civil aviation transport industry, the civil aviation market does show a significant trend towards popularization. However, as a public service industry, aviation enterprises need to balance public inclusion with business profitability through policy optimization and market-based instruments to truly position “air for people” public transport。
In his view, the fact that the policies were intended to provide children with benefits and, as a result, sometimes become a burden rather than a benefit meant that such preferences needed to be further refined and optimized. On the one hand, the pricing of children's airline tickets should be dynamically adjusted, allowing for preferential fixed or floating ratios based on the actual payment of tickets by adults, avoiding a reversal of the prices of children's tickets with those of adults, and on the other hand, aviation enterprises need to reduce costs by optimizing their operations and gain consumer approval by upgrading services in order to achieve sustained and stable development。
“the children are cheaper than adults by train and bus, and it is hoped that the airline will adopt a policy to ensure that the children are given a certain amount of discount, for example, the children's ticket is half the adult ticket, regardless of whether or not the adult ticket is a discount。
The province of boang recommended that, when the amount of the adult ticket is less than or equal to 50%, the child's ticket should be reduced by an additional 20% or 70% on the adult ticket. Provision may be made by the competent authorities or by the airline to establish a discount scheme to safeguard the rights and interests of the child。
The vice-president of the chinese prices association and professor xu guangjian of the public administration school of the people's university of china said that currently, domestic airline fares are dominated by market-regulated prices, and that airlines can determine their specific fare levels independently of market demand and supply. At the same time, the relevant government authorities implement preferential policies for specific groups of passengers, such as children and infants, and encourage airlines to grant more preferential fares to children and infants on the basis of preferential fares established by the government. However, in the broader context of the seasonal and competitive diversity of the civil aviation market, there may be some differences in the practical implementation of this preferential fare policy by civil aviation companies。
“how to put into practice the state's policy of preferential fares for children and infants is the need for airlines to be increasingly conscious of implementing national civil aviation fares and to better reflect the public good of civil aviation fares, and not to withdraw preferential fares for groups such as children and infants for any reason. Second, airlines should publish more specific rules and their changes in a timely manner online for corporate officials, working to increase transparency of fare preferences and safeguard consumers' right to know.” xu guangjian stated that the relevant government authorities should strengthen market research, respond to legitimate consumer demands in a timely manner, continuously refine fare preference policies and encourage civil aviation companies to fine-tune fare preferences in market competition。
Reporter chen li
