CAAC: Passengers File 482 Complaints in July, Up 44% Month-on-Month

The number of complaints consumers filed with the authorities surged by 44% to 482 in July 2015, up from 270 in June, according to the Air Transport Consumer Complaints Report for July released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on September 1.

In July 2015, the Air Transportation Department of CAAC, CAAC regional administrations, CAAC Consumer Affairs Center and China Air Transport Association (CATA) accepted 482 consumer complaints totally - 427 against domestic airlines, 31 against regional and foreign airlines, 8 against airports and 16 others against travel agencies.

Cancellations, delays, missed connections and destination changes were the passengers' most unsatisfying parts, gathering 161 passenger complaints, accounting for 37.71 of the total.

There were 95 complaints about refunds, 59 complaints about ticketing and boarding, as well as 51 about baggage, 35 about customer service, 9 about airfares, 9 about comprehensive issues (including FFP), 5 about overbooking, one about credit, one about disabled, one about short message bilk, etc.

In July, 26 out of 35 domestic airlines were complained. The rate of complaints per 10,000 rose to 0.109 from 0.066 in June. China United Airlines had the most complaints with 139, followed by China Eastern Airlines with 70. Air China ranked third with 53 complaints and China Southern Airlines followed with 43 complaints.

In addition, there were 31 complaints against 16 regional and foreign airlines. They were Hong Kong Airlines, Air France, AirAsia, AirAsia X, Etihad Airways, Nok Air, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, SWISS, Air Mauritius, Air New Zealand, Tiger Airways, United Airlines, HK Express, Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair and Air Macau.

Another 8 complaints were against airports for flight information, check-in, security check, baggage, etc.

Among the 16 complaints against travel agencies, Ctrip.com and Qunar.com had the most complaints with 9 and 3, respectively.

The report, finished on September 1, announced that 377 of all accepted 482 complaints had been handled timely in accordance with relevant provision.