Customer Services for Overbooked Flights

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Dear Passengers,

Air China may occasionally overbook certain flights that are likely to have empty seats at the time of departure due to "no-show" passengers. These are passengers that need to cancel their travel plans for unexpected reasons. Air China wants to limit these last minute vacancies and allow that more passengers can take the flights of their choice. We will control the number of oversold tickets to a reasonable extent and therefore, passengers with confirmed reservations rarely will be denied boarding. If some passengers are asked to give up their seats on an oversold flight:

1. We will first seek volunteers who are willing to take flights at a later time or those who are willing to cancel their travel plans.
   
   
2. If a sufficient number of volunteers are not obtained, we will get passengers onto the flight according to the following boarding priority rules:
1. Passengers in urgent needs to deal with public affairs;
2. Special needs passengers with the approval of Air China and with prior arrangement, such as the elderly, sick, disabled, expecting mothers and unaccompanied children;
3. Passengers holding first-class or business-class tickets;
4. Air China Platinum Members, Gold Members and other Star Alliance Gold Members;
5. Passengers who have confirmed seats on connecting flights and have a short connecting time to their next flight;
6. Air China Silver Members and other Star Alliance Silver Members;
7. Passengers with proved special reasons (e.g. visa is about to expire).
   
   
3. We will provide customer service for passengers who are denied boarding on oversold flights.
1. We will try to arrange the first available flights for those passengers;
2. Or to refund tickets on an involuntary basis with no refund penalty;
3. Or to reroute passengers on an involuntary basis (for alternate flights, overpayment will be refunded and supplemental payment for any deficiency will not be required);
4. Or to provide free accommodation to passengers whose alternate flights are on the following day.
   
   
4. In addition to the services stated above, Air China will also offer compensations in certain forms according to passengers' ticket prices, flight miles and waiting time for alternate flights.

 

A. Compensation Conditions

Volunteers and other passengers, who are denied boarding on oversold flights and can satisfy all the following conditions, are eligible to receive compensation.

1. Passengers should have confirmed seats (including those holding mileage-to-award tickets). This does not include passengers holding tickets from various awards programs or airline employees holding free or discounted tickets from staff travel programs;
2. Passengers should check-in for their flights within the specified time frame;
3. This does not apply to passengers refused carriage by Air China according to Air China Limited General Conditions of Carriage for Passenger and Baggage on International Flights and Air China Limited General Conditions of Carriage for Passenger and Baggage on Domestic Flights.

B. Forms of Compensation

1. Air China will make compensation in three forms: transportation credit voucher, mileage and cash.
2. Air China will offer compensation in the form of mileage only to volunteers and other passengers who hold mileage-to-award tickets and are denied boarding or are downgraded to a lower class of service.
3. Instructions for Redeeming Transportation Credit Vouchers (TCV)

1) Transportation Credit Vouchers may only be exchanged for tickets on regular flights or extra flights operated by Air China, and cannot be redeemed for tickets on charter flights, code-share flights or block space flights that are not operated by Air China. All of the flight segments included in the TCV itinerary must be operated by Air China. If a passenger’s itinerary contains connecting flights operated by other airlines, separate tickets must be issued for those segments and the passenger will be charged the applicable fare.

2) TCVs may be used to pay for ticket fares, rescheduling fees, cabin upgrade fees, sub-cabin change fees, fuel surcharges and excess baggage charges, but may not be used to pay taxes.

3) Ticket redemption must be processed at an Air China direct sales office, and ID and AD discount tickets can't be redeemed.

4) If the value of the TCV is insufficient to pay the ticket fare (excluding taxes), other payment methods can be used along with the voucher.

5) The tickets redeemed using TCVs are non-refundable and non-endorsable, and may have other restrictions, depending on the conditions of the ticket fare.

6) In case of flight irregularities or overbooking, passengers with tickets redeemed using TCVs will have the same status as passengers who paid for their tickets.

7) Frequent Flyer passengers with tickets redeemed using TCVs can earn mileage credit corresponding to the cabin class shown on the ticket.

8) One passenger may use several TCVs in combination, but the TCVs of different passengers cannot be combined.



4. Mileage Redemption Instructions

• Redemption qualifications: When you have accumulated four qualifying flight segments in your account, you will receive an initial redemption qualification certificate that you can redeem for award tickets, award cabin upgrades or products in the PhoenixMiles Shopping Mall.
• Redemption assignees:
• When you redeem flight awards (including award tickets and award cabin upgrades provided by Air China and partner airlines), you can use your mileage yourself, or you can transfer your mileage to assignees who have been designated by you in advance and are qualified for the redemption program. Redemption of other mileage products, including PhoenixMiles Shopping Mall products, is not subject to this restriction. 
• You can designate up to eight “Redemption Assignees” by adding them on the Air China PhoenixMiles website, Member Service Center or at Air China's direct sales offices. Assignees are qualified for redemption 60 days after you add them to your account. For detailed rules, please check the Air China PhoenixMiles website at http://ffp.airchina.com.cn/cn/lcdh/dhgz.jsp/
• You can redeem:
• Award tickets and award cabin upgrades on flights that are operated by Air China and are coded CA.
• Award tickets and award cabin upgrades on flights that are operated by Star Alliance partner airlines and carry the codes of those airlines.
• Award tickets on flights that are operated by non-Star Alliance partner airlines and carry the codes of those airlines.
• All taxes associated with award redemptions are payable by the member.
• Booking award tickets
• When you request award tickets on Air China or Star Alliance member airlines, you can also reserve your seats in advance. After booking, the tickets are issued according to the following requirements: 1) Award tickets booked 96 hours or more before flight departure shall be issued within 72 hours after booking; 2) Award tickets booked within 96 hours before flight departure shall be issued within 24 hours after booking.
• When you request award tickets from non-Star Alliance partner airlines, you cannot reserve your tickets in advance.  The tickets will be issued when the mileage award is redeemed.
• Award tickets are available for non-stop flights only. For flight information, please refer to the search results.
• Each flight has a limited number of seats available for award ticket redemption.  Redemptions are also subject to the restrictions of the award redemption deadlines of the airlines. For Air China’s redemption deadlines, please log on to the Air China PhoenixMiles website.
• Award tickets are valid for one year. During the validity period, the travel date and flight numbers can be changed if there are available seats for an award ticket.
• Cash payment rescheduling fee: The domestic flight ticket rescheduling fee is RMB 100 (or foreign currency equivalent) each time for each ticket.  The international flight ticket rescheduling fee is RMB 300 (or foreign currency equivalent) each time for each ticket.
• Mileage payment rescheduling fee: This is only available for the initial rescheduling of tickets redeemed by you or your assignees on flights that are operated by Air China and are coded CA.  The rescheduling fee must be paid from the redemption account. The payment amount is 10% of the basic air fare (shoulder season) imposed on 1/2 of the round-trip mileage in the current cabin class for mileage redemption corresponding to the rescheduled flight segment. Award tickets and award cabin upgrades on partner airlines do not qualify for rescheduling service.
• Combined use of cash and mileage is not allowed. Passengers may not use cash to pay for a portion of the rescheduling fee and use mileage to pay for the remaining portion of the rescheduling fee.
• The mileage used for award redemption must be mileage accrued in one member account.
• When you redeem your award ticket, you should determine the itinerary, flight number, flight dates and cabin class.
• Award tickets cannot be assigned to another passenger name, changed to another flight itinerary, endorsed to another airline or refunded, and can be claimed lost but cannot be re-issued in case of loss. For more information on carriage rules, refer to China Civil Aviation Regulations on Domestic and International Transport for Passengers and Baggage issued by the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.
• The redemption criteria for child or infant award tickets are the same as those for adult tickets.
• In the event that the passenger is forced to change travel plans due to reasons attributable to the airline, please contact Air China’s direct sales offices or ground service staff for assistance.

C. Currency in Compensation

Air China will use the following forms of compensation: currency of the country or the region where we pay cash or issue transportation credit vouchers.

We will release information regarding oversold flights by posting a notice or by making an announcement over the airport public announcement system in related areas. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.