Consumers' Foundation Investigate Refund Policies|消基調查廉航退票規範 8家經濟艙拒退票

The Consumer's Foundation investigated 10 budget airlines' ticket refund policies and found out that 8 of them doesn't allow economy class ticket refunds, and 5 of the airlines doesn't' even have an office in Taiwan.


People often choose budget airlines to save money when traveling aboard. However, if one has to cancel the flight due to sudden unforeseen circumstances, the airline will not necessarily refund your tickets.

There is a few thousand dollars in price difference, so I think this restriction is reasonable.

I think it's rather troublesome. It is like buying non-refundable clothes in the night market.

The Consumer's Foundation uses official websites, online and telephone customer service to investigate the refund policy of 10 budget airlines including Tigerair, Vanilla Air, Air Asia, Peach Aviation, Hong Kong Express Airway, Jetstar Asia, Eastar Jet, T'way Airline, Scoot and VietJet Air. The 6 airlines including Tigerair, Vanilla Air, Air Asia, Peach Aviation etc. don't refund economy class tickets but do refund the airport tax. Vanilla Air, Jetstar Asia and Peach Aviation allow ticket refund for higher-priced tickets but only does so in airline points or vouchers. Eastar Jet and T'way Airline both allow ticket refund but will charge a handling fee from 1500 to 1800 NT dollars per sector. As for Jetstar Asia and VietJet Air, their economy class tickets are both non-refundable, not even the airport tax.

Take the actual court cases as an example, if the consumer refunds the ticket by him or herself, the court ruled that in the absence of the service, the airline still needs to refund the ticket.

The investigation also found that the responses from Air Asia and VietJet Air are in-explicit when handling customers who experiences flight delay or cancellation due to force majeure circumstances. Out of the 10 budget airlines, 5 of them do not have branch offices in Taiwan. Instead, the travel agencies are responsible for ticketing, which can prolong the communication time as well. The Consumer's Foundation is urging the government to formulate a standard contract and note the unforeseen circumstances so that future disputes can be avoided.



消基會調查10家廉價航空退票規範，結果發現8家航空經濟艙票種皆不允許退票，其中2家較高級艙等、儘管可以退票，但是以點數或代金券方式退還，常常引起消費爭議。

為了省荷包，不少民眾出國旅遊訂票時都會選擇廉價航空，但萬一要是遇上臨時狀況行程被迫取消，原先訂好的機票不一定能夠退票。

民眾表示：「價差大概有幾千塊，我覺得這個限制應該是合理的。」

民眾表示：「我覺得蠻麻煩的吧，就有點像可能去夜市買衣服，就是不能退的那種感覺。」

日前消基會利用官網、線上客服、電話客服等方式調查虎航、香草、亞洲、樂桃、香港快運、捷星亞洲、易斯達、德威、酷航、越捷等10家廉價航空的退票規範，結果發現虎航、香草、亞洲、樂桃..等6家廉價航空的經濟艙不允許退票，但退機場稅，而香草、樂桃、捷星亞洲3家售價較高的票種可以退票，但只退點數或代金券，易斯達、德威航空2家是允許退票，但單趟收1500到1800元手續費，而捷星亞洲、越捷航空的經濟艙則是沒有退票空間、連機場稅都不退。

消基會副董事長 陳智義表示:「如果是消費者自己退票的情況之下，已經有訴訟的案例來講，法院的實務判決是認為說這個服務沒有提供的部分，你還是要退喔。」

另外，這次調查中也發現，要是民眾出發時面對不可抗力因素，造成航班取消或延期，亞洲航空、越捷等公司不是在官網未說明、就是在詢問客服時、僅回答視情況而定。對於這種曖昧不明的處理方式，恐怕產生爭議。且10家廉航中，有5家在台灣沒有設立分公司，而是由旅行社代理票務處理，也都會拉長溝通往來時間。消基會建議政府，應針對廉航訂出定型化契約，應記載不得記載事項，才能避免可能的爭議。