The summer is almost over
A lot of parents use their holidays to carry their children
I went to the heart and opened my eyes
According to the chinese civil aviation authority
2-12-year-old children by air
You can get a ticket, a half price for fuel
And free from airport construction
But a lot of parents found out in practice
Children's tickets may be more expensive than adult tickets
What's going on
Same flight
Children's tickets cost more than adult discounts
Recently, mr. Shinda planned to take his children to shanghai for a tour of shanghai, and when he searched for “a small and a large” flight from beijing to shanghai on an online tourist platform, the children's ticket was $820 and the adult ticket was $500, which caused him to lose his glasses. "the children's ticket is more expensive than the grown-ups'. It's hard to understand!" after further consideration, mr. Tai eventually chose to travel on high iron, with the child receiving a half-priced discount。
According to the information received, mr. Tan is not an example of a situation in which many parents have experienced “back-to-back” prices when buying a child's airline ticket。
At the beginning of this month, she was surprised that ms. Wu purchased air tickets from taiwon to hangzhou from a third party ticket platform at $469 for adults and 750 for children。
“some flights can buy children adult tickets. Look at the extra time, change the course, and don't rush." on social networking sites, many parents “go back to the bottom” and choose to buy adult tickets for children to benefit from discounts and to share their purchasing strategies with interest。
When ms. Wang in beijing had previously purchased the urumqi flight ticket for beijing, she had found that the adult ticket, which received a discount of more than 1,700 yuan, was more favourable than the children's ticket, which had been accepted for a 50% discount, but could not be used to purchase the adult ticket for the children alone。
Ms. Wang told journalists that she encountered such problems every summer, sometimes through communication, but not this year。
Children's tickets on the same route are all at a different price
The price of children's airline tickets is indeed confusing compared to the discount of clearly defined adult tickets。
Using the route of chengdu to beijing on 31 august as an example, journalists searched on an online tourism platform using “a small and a large” flight route, and randomly selected 10 flights at different prices and from different airlines for fares. The results showed that, when adult fares were two to three discounts, the child fare for six flights was higher than the adult fare, that one flight was flat and that the child fare for three flights was slightly lower than the adult fare。
For example, the adult fare for a flight is $520, the child fare is $1150 and the cost is $630; the adult fare for a flight is $658 and the child fare is $657 and a discount of $1; and the adult fare for a flight is equal to the child fare of $900。
It is noteworthy that when the child fare is higher than the adult fare, the difference varies from several to several hundred dollars; when the child fare is lower than the adult fare, the difference is only one or two dollars, which is largely negligible。
How does a child's ticket actually be priced? Journalists have seen that the platform's booking page shows that, in general, children's tickets represent 50 per cent of the total adult fare plus 50 per cent of the fuel bill, and that, for part of the country, the platform is smart enough to recommend the most favourable ticket purchase options, as the discount for adult tickets may be lower than for children。
As a result of the vagueness of this interpretation, journalists have made additional calls to the platform. The client's service indicates that the general adult ticket discount is less than 50%, which is cheaper than the children's ticket, so that some airlines, in order to attract tourists, sell children's tickets at an adult discount price, have the same price as the adult ticket. “in the case of insufficient passenger tickets, however, children's tickets may be sold at the normal price, i. E. 50% of the total fare, so that children's tickets would be more expensive than adult tickets. Some airlines bind children's tickets to specific accommodations, and if these low-cost accommodations are exhausted, the children will have to choose a higher-priced accommodation and will result in children's tickets being more expensive than adult tickets.”
In one of the country's mainstream airline networks, journalists also randomly select multiple popular routes for searches, where most divisions provide direct adult discounts for children; in some cases, children are offered both child and adult tickets, where child fares are generally higher than adult tickets. For example, on a flight from beijing to xiamen on 18 august, the adult discount was $920, or approximately 30 per cent, and the child ticket price was $1560。
Appeal: dynamic adjustment to give a child a really good ticket
Under the law on the protection of minors, air passengers shall be subject to free or preferential fares for minors in accordance with the relevant provisions。
“there are many complaints about children's airline tickets, or, in the final analysis, about the unreasonable pricing rules for children's tickets, which cause many problems.” the parents have changed that the purchase of children's coupons, which are the legitimate interests of minors, is “stolen” when they are actually purchased — the preferential price for “stolen” adults is required, with careful attention to capital fuel concessions。
After repeated feedback from consumers, journalists again searched multiple airline reservation platforms and found that the majority of child tickets were already subject to more favourable discounts than adult tickets, not limited to five discounts. However, there are still some flights that would indicate that the child fare is higher than the adult fare. In response, the platform's guest service informed journalists that this was due to the fact that the division did not issue child fares for the flight。
Another travel platform also indicated that children's tickets on some flights were more expensive than adult tickets because the platform had not been able to obtain a cheaper “special-priced” child ticket, which could be sold only at a normal child ticket price, i. E. At half a price, and that prices and preferences could not be adjusted by the platform。
The purchase of air tickets on some platforms may result in children's fares being higher than those of adults. If purchased from a network of airline officials, the child can be paid the same price as an adult。
In response to this phenomenon, lin jijie, a specialist hired by the chinese air transport association, stated that currently all airlines allow children to buy flexible tickets at market fares, and that consumers can compete on more platforms than they can:
Lyn jijie: it is essentially customary to give 50% of a child's ticket, and in fact, as the prices of airline tickets as a whole, and especially of civil aviation, are floating and changing, so the direct distribution channels of airlines, including official networks and app, are clear that children's tickets are either 50%, or by adult class, whichever is the lower. In order to care for children and guarantee their rights, it is common practice within the industry. Consumers try to go through the airline’s direct distribution channels, or pay attention when buying tickets, or are able to benefit from preferences。
According to many civil aviation sources, the historical limitations of our rules for the pricing of airline tickets for children are clear and require a balance between policy flexibility and market patterns. The domestic transport rules for passengers and luggage of civil aviation in china, introduced in 1996, make it clear that children purchase 50 per cent of the total adult fare. This standard was extended to 2021, when the regulation of passenger services in public air transport was introduced, which gave air operators discretion in pricing, creating the current mechanism of 50 per cent of the “full fare” in parallel with the “market adjusted price”。
Under the two-track system, children's tickets are calculated at 50 per cent of the total fare when discounts are higher than 50 per cent of the total fare; when discounts are less than 50 per cent of the total fare, children's tickets are calculated at an adult discount. However, in the current civil aviation market, even during the active season, the discount rate for adult tickets is generally lower than 50 per cent, the former being in the form of a very poor situation and the child ticket preference has actually failed。
“why not give the child a fixed discount on the basis of an adult discount? Parents call for clearer rules for the pricing of child tickets. This call was also supported by experts。
According to chen weejiang, deputy secretary-general of the research institute for the protection of consumer rights and interests of the chinese society of law, child ticket preferences are an important part of the national welfare system and reflect the state’s interest in children’s groups. “when reduced adult ticket prices in the air market are generally lower or equal to those of ‘concessional’ children, the child ticket’s ‘concession’ will become a burden not only on children, but on children, as such ‘concession’ effectively denies them the right to normal market discounts.” chen yingjiang recommended that the pricing of child airline tickets should be adjusted dynamically, with preferential rates based on the actual fare paid by adults。
Guo jia, a senior civil aviation expert and a professor at the guangxi south business school, also suggested that airlines could evolve over time in the pricing of airline tickets and explore floating preferential schemes based on actual adult exchange rates. Only by keeping pace with changes in the market can the confusion of passengers over the “backward” price of children's airline tickets be resolved。
Producer lee shao fei
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