The Union of Passengers proposed a « cooling period » for air tickets and railway tickets
Carriers were offered to introduce a “cooling period” when buying train tickets and aircraft. According to Kommersant, the idea of the Union of Passengers, the Ministry of Transport asked to evaluate JSC Russian Railways and airlines. According to the association, the share of passengers who make mistakes when choosing a date or direction does not exceed 3% and the right to free re -registration or refusal of a ticket will not bring down the transportation economy. But the interlocutors of Kommersant in the industry note that free refunds in the case of the implementation of the tool will increase or turn into abuse of resellers.
As it became known to Kommersant, the Ministry of Transport in mid -March asked the Russian Railways and the Association of Air Transport Roads (AEV) to evaluate the proposal to introduce a “cooling period” when buying irretrievable train tickets and aircraft. The initiative to work out amendments to the Air Code and the Charter of Railway Transport was made by the passenger union, which previously applied to the State Duma and the government apparatus, confirmed by Kommersant, the chairman of the organization Kirill Yankov.
As indicated in the letter of the Union (“Kommersant”), the idea is that passengers get a free opportunity to correct mistakes, for example, in choosing a passenger, date or direction for a certain time. The duration of this period may vary depending on the depth of the sale. So, for a ticket bought a month before the trip, she could be several days, and for bought on the day of departure – 30 minutes after the purchase, if there are more than two hours left before departure or departure of the train.
The feasibility and relevance of this proposal increases against the background of the growth of the number of passengers who independently buy tickets without intermediaries in the form of agencies and aircraft, says Mr. Yankov. The idea was based on the practice of “cooling”, successfully used today in lending and insurance, he added.
The share of passengers making mistakes, according to the organization, does not exceed 2-3%. “On such a scale, the possibility of returning tickets will not affect the economy of carriers,” said Kirill Yankov. Now, according to him, airlines are getting some profit from passengers’ mistakes when re -registered on a new date or route, “but this is the wrong practice”.
Today, according to the rules of transportation, passengers can fix up to two mistakes on the ticket for free: in passport data and name. They did not evaluate the initiative at the Russian Railways Russian Railways, but they reminded that tickets can already be re -registered. If the cost of a new ticket is higher than the cost of the initial, then the difference is charged from the passenger, if below – returns. If there are more than two errors in the ticket, the passenger needs to re -arrange a ticket at the ticket office and pay for a renewal of 222.7 rubles.
According to the Air Code, the air passenger can return tickets for free in case of documentary confirmation of the disease of his or close relatives. In other cases, airlines may charge an additional payment for the exchange or return of tickets in accordance with their tariff politicians. So, Aeroflot on international flights costs € 46, in internal directions – 2.8 thousand rubles.
The AEVT and the Ministry of Transport abstained comments. Close to the ministry, the Kommersant source clarified that the collection of the positions of carriers is still ongoing. Kommersant sent a request to the Aeroflot, Ural Airlines, S7, Redwings, Azur Air and other carriers.
The interlocutor of Kommersant in AEV believes that “with the seeming attractiveness of caring for passengers”, the proposal of “cooling period” is fraught with a number of risks. First of all, it is a threat of a surge of ticket return a day or two before departure. The carriers will be forced to lay the beneficial profit in the price of common tariffs, he believes: “And all passengers will have to pay extra for the inattention of others.” The interlocutor “Kommersant” close to the Ministry of Transport also sees the threat of abuse in the market in the form of speculators and resellers. Another source of Kommersant at a large airline noted that the introduction of the “cooling period” will require changes in the work of reservation systems to track when the passenger has acquired a ticket and to what time it can return it or change it. “These are also expenses that the authors of populist initiatives are unlikely to pay,” he added.
The institute of irrevocable tariffs was introduced precisely in order for carriers to guarantee a flight load and minimize ticket prices, Roman Gusarov, editor -in -chief of the Avia.ru portal, recalls. “Airlines reduce prices for such tickets for the guarantee that these seats will not fly empty,” he says. Airlines provide for the absence of several passengers on each flight, among which there are also mistakenly issuing a ticket, says Ilya Shatilin, head of the Frequentflyers.ru portal, « and carriers can earn on the resale of the vacant place. » If all passengers can renew tickets, then the price of transportation will increase for everyone, he will summarize
The scale of the problem of “passenger errors” is exaggerated and does not require amendments to the legislation, Mr. Gusarov believes. “Of course, there are such cases, and, probably, a passenger may be mistaken between Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, June and July,” he notes. But such private cases should not impede the freedom of the contract in the purchase and sale transactions and cancel the responsibility of the buyer in non-reflective categories, such as irrevocable tickets or drugs.
