15,000-Yuan Flight Ticket Refund Yields Only 432 Yuan: Ctrip Blames Airline Policy, Airline Says Fees Must Be Confirmed With Platform

By Xiong Qiang, The Paper — July 21, 2026 — Source: The Paper (Quality Watch)

On July 20, consumer Mr. Lin told The Paper that he had spent 15,217 yuan booking a Beijing–New York international flight through the Ctrip app. When his itinerary changed and he requested a refund, he mistakenly believed only a little over 400 yuan in fees would be deducted; after completing the process, he received only a 432-yuan refund. After realizing the extent of his loss, Mr. Lin asked to have his ticket order restored, but was refused. He also questioned why the page disclosed the refund restriction in small print: “only partial taxes and fees are refundable.”

In response to The Paper, Ctrip said the refund rules are set by Air China, and that only the taxes, fees, and ancillary services — totaling 432 yuan — are refundable.

Refund Details

According to Mr. Lin, he placed the order through the Ctrip app on July 3, booking a Beijing–New York flight for July 16, planning to travel to watch the World Cup. The order totaled 15,217 yuan. His plans then changed at short notice, and he applied for a refund on July 13.

“When I processed the refund, I caught a glimpse of a fee notice on the page showing a little over 400 yuan,” Mr. Lin said. He instinctively assumed that, with three days’ advance notice, only a bit over 400 yuan in fees would be deducted, so he did not check carefully and simply confirmed and submitted the refund. It was only when he checked his account the next day that he discovered the platform had ultimately refunded only 432 yuan.

Mr. Lin said he immediately communicated and negotiated with Ctrip. The platform’s proposed solution was to cash out his 300,000 loyalty points into 3,000 yuan as compensation for reissuing the ticket — but he would have to cover the resulting difference out of pocket. “That’s essentially using my own points to compensate myself,” he said.

Mr. Lin explained that he is a Ctrip “Black Diamond” member who had trusted the platform to protect the interests of its premium users. That day he was busy with other matters and did not read every clause of the refund terms, assuming the refunded amount would not be deducted so harshly. After realizing the severity of his loss, he asked to restore the original ticket or change the date; Ctrip customer service replied that this could not be done, saying the change and refund fees are set by Air China and the platform merely executes them.

After reviewing the order page afterward, Mr. Lin questioned the platform’s interface design: the flight he purchased was displayed at a prominent top position on the app page, with the disclaimer “only partial taxes and fees are refundable” shown only in small text; meanwhile, further down the same page, another flight on the same route that allowed refunds and changes was listed at only 400 yuan more. Mr. Lin believes the ticket he bought was not a low-cost discounted fare, and that the platform’s use of small print to convey a key refund restriction is highly misleading to consumers.

Mr. Lin questioned why the ticket he purchased was displayed at a prominent top position on the app page with the note “only partial taxes and fees are refundable” shown only in small print.

“The platform can compare hundreds or thousands of prices within milliseconds, yet it fails to translate ‘spending 400 yuan more could avoid a nearly 15,000-yuan loss’ into a prompt an ordinary person can understand,” Mr. Lin said. “In reality, complex products are wrapped into a few simple buttons, while complex risks are handed back to consumers after payment. When buying the ticket, Ctrip is the single entry point; when requesting a refund, the consumer must face the differing rules of the airline, agents, and insurers alone.”

On July 20, a Ctrip customer service representative told The Paper that the airline’s refund policy prohibits refunds both before and after departure, and that Mr. Lin’s order could only be refunded 374 yuan in taxes and fees; combined with the 58 yuan he paid for Ctrip’s ancillary service package, the total refund came to 432 yuan.

Regarding Mr. Lin’s complaint that the “only partial taxes and fees are refundable” note appeared only in small print, the representative said the disclaimer is displayed alongside the price, and that the font size on the mobile app simply cannot be made much larger. The customer service team had also offered its most sincere solution, they said: applying the user’s 300,000 points to offset 3,000 yuan of the refund loss. Under normal circumstances points cannot be cashed out, so this was equivalent to converting 300,000 points into 3,000 yuan. “The refund fee is the airline’s policy; Ctrip charges no fee of its own. As long as the airline says a full refund is possible, even if it has taken your money, it can be returned to you. We also checked with the airline, and they explicitly said no refund is possible,” the representative said.

If seats remain available, can the order be restored? The Ctrip representative said that once a refund is completed it cannot be restored. “Only if the refund is still being processed can we try to ask the airline whether it has been canceled; if not, we can try to help restore it.”

On the evening of July 20, a Paper reporter, posing as a user, consulted Air China’s customer service. The airline replied that the ticket was issued by a third party, and that specific fees would need to be confirmed with the original issuing party. When The Paper followed up — “Isn’t the refund policy for third-party-issued tickets set by you?” — the customer service agent said, “Contact wherever you made the purchase.”

What is the normal refund policy? Air China customer service replied that the rules for international tickets follow what was displayed in the order at the time of issuance.

According to the international passenger fare rules (2023.11 version) published on Air China’s official website, under voluntary refund conditions the refundable amount consists of two parts: one is the refundable fare and fuel surcharge, and the other is the refundable government taxes and fees collected on the passenger’s behalf. These two parts are calculated separately at the time of refund; the refund rules for the fuel surcharge are the same as for the fare — if the fare is refundable, the fuel surcharge is refundable, and if the fare is not refundable, neither is the fuel surcharge.

The aforementioned fare rules state that when the combined calculation of the refundable fare and fuel surcharge equals zero or a negative number, no additional difference need be paid, and the government taxes and fees for the unused flight segment are still refunded (except for taxes not permitted to be refunded under government regulations). “If there are multiple unused flight segments subject to multiple refund fees, we will only charge the single highest refund fee.”