"The May Day holiday is coming, and I'm ready to travel happily. But I suddenly found that the price of the air ticket I bought had dropped sharply, which is equivalent to losing hundreds before I left home, and the whole person was not good." The news that the domestic air ticket price continued to decline near the May Day holiday has aroused heated debate again, and many netizens on social media have sent out similar complaints.
The topic of "ticket price diving" is hot again
According to the flight standard data, the total number of takeoff and landing of domestic airports during the May Day holiday in 2024 is expected to be 151612, with an average daily takeoff and landing of 30322, 8.99% more than that during the May Day holiday in 2023, and 36.2% more than that in 2019. The above data shows that this year's "May Day" holiday will break the record of last year, ushering in the busiest "May Day" holiday in history.
However, as the "May Day" holiday is approaching, the topic of "ticket price diving" has once again become a hot topic. Many netizens said on social media that they were "backstabbed" by the "diving" ticket price.
In the experience of many passengers, generally speaking, the earlier the ticket is bought, the cheaper it is. But this law seems to fail again.
A netizen complained on social media that his two one-way tickets from Tianjin to Fuzhou purchased a week ago cost 1800 yuan. On the 29th, he found that the price of the same flight ticket had dropped to 1440 yuan. The netizen said: "It's not worth the loss of 400 yuan before going out."
Another netizen said that the price difference of the tickets he bought after the price reduction was large enough to make up for the service charge for refund. The photo released by the netizen shows that the ticket price of Shanghai Urumqi purchased on April 22 was 2400 yuan. On April 29, the inquiry found that the minimum cost of the same route ticket on the same day was 797 yuan.
Data shows that the price of domestic air tickets continues to decline as the May Day holiday approaches. According to the statistics of air ticket sales data of Feichangzhun App, the air ticket sales platform, in April, as of 17:00 on April 26, the average price of domestic economy class air tickets for "May Day" in the past seven days was 852 yuan (excluding tax), down 1.13% year on year and 22% month on month.
If the time span is extended to one month, the trend will be more obvious. The average price of "May Day" domestic economy class purchased in the first week of April was more than 1000 yuan (excluding tax). The average price of air tickets in the fourth week of April has dropped to about 700 yuan, a 38% drop from the first week of April.
What should I do after the ticket is expensive? In response to this situation, at the beginning of this year, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and other airlines issued new regulations on ticket refund, which stipulated that if the ticket price was reduced after purchase, it was allowed to re purchase the ticket within 24 hours after purchase, and the original ticket that met certain conditions was refunded for free. In terms of Air China, "2+2+2 secure ticket purchase guarantee" can be obtained by registering or logging in the mobile terminal of Air China, which includes three exclusive ticket purchase guarantee rights: 2 tickets for domestic routes without reason, 2 tickets for international and regional routes without reason, and free refund and preferential refund services for domestic routes within 2 hours.
Airline companies should have the ability to set freight rates for a longer period
Why did some airline ticket prices suddenly plunge before the festival? In fact, the ticket price is greatly affected by the relationship between supply and demand. When supply exceeds demand, the ticket price drops.
The reporter found that many airlines announced to increase their capacity before the festival: China Southern Airlines planned to work overtime more than 900 flights before and after the May Day holiday (April 30 to May 6), and planned to execute nearly 19000 flights; From May 1 to 5, China Eastern Airlines plans to launch more than 14700 flights, an increase of 8.5% over last year. It is precisely because the airline company has increased its capacity, resulting in oversupply. There are still many seats unsold near the holiday, so the temporary price adjustment promotion can sell one seat after another.
In addition to the factors for airlines to increase their capacity, the diversion of high-speed rail to civil aviation passenger flow is also the reason why the planes are not full and ticket prices are temporarily diving. The announcement issued by the State Railway Group shows that during the May Day holiday, the national railways implement the peak line running chart, coordinate the high-speed railway and general speed transport capacity resources, and operate more than 12000 passenger trains per day, more than 1800 more than daily.
In fact, the phenomenon of "diving" in ticket prices before the National Day holiday in 2023 also occurred. At that time, Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said in an interview with the media that, from the perspective of the Price Law, if the airline and the platform did not have a clear price commitment, they had clearly marked the price in advance, and did not bid up the price or collude to raise the price, or cheated and misled consumers through false or misleading prices, It is difficult to say that this kind of behavior violates the existing legal provisions.
However, Chen Yinjiang also pointed out that in the long run, if the airline's ticket pricing always fluctuates significantly, especially if it is more expensive to buy in advance than later, it is actually a "lose lose" situation.
Zheng Hongfeng, CEO of Feiyou Technology Co., Ltd., pointed out that this event reflects the rapid recovery of the Chinese market. Chinese tourists have gradually begun to pursue certainty from the pursuit of simple low fares. A consumer who also suffered from the "back stabbing" of air ticket prices felt the same way. She thought that the current changes in air ticket prices were too irregular, and as a consumer, she had no right to know. "We hope that price changes will be more transparent", said the consumer.
"Chinese airlines can no longer adjust their prices around 3-5 days before the flight takes off, as in the past. Instead, they should adapt to new changes and have the ability to make longer cycle freight rates and manage revenue. The earlier passengers buy tickets, the cheaper it will be, and they can also ensure that the airline's revenue will increase," said Zheng Hongfeng.
At the same time, Zheng Hongfeng pointed out that the price crisis reflects that civil aviation is a highly competitive market, and the industry also sees potential business opportunities. Anyone who can help civil aviation supply better match passenger demand, help passengers meet travel demand at reasonable prices, and help airlines improve revenue can seize this new business opportunity. (Yangcheng Evening News)
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