携程被曝出售假机票

Two recent cases of "fake" tickets issued by Ctrip.com have aroused a storm of criticism among Chinese netizens.

A passenger, named Fu Jingnan, was denied a boarding pass by an airline at Tokyo airport on Thursday, because his ticket from Tokyo to Beijing, which he'd bought on Ctrip.com, was invalid.

Fu contacted Ctrip.com, but the travel service provider told him to get in touch with the agent who sold him the ticket.

The Ctrip-approved agent issued him with a new ticket on another Japanese carrier, but Fu was again denied a boarding pass for the same reason.

A similar case involving a Chinese couple reportedly occurred on Saturday.

Li Miao had booked two tickets for himself and his wife one month in advance on Ctrip.com, but the couple were denied boarding passes and were forced to buy two new tickets in order to get on the plane.

"We had to buy two new return tickets at the airport, which cost us 10,000 yuan. This price is even lower than the price we paid on Ctrip.com. Ctrip.com called me, asking me to buy two new tickets and saying they would reimburse me."

In response, the Public Relations Director of Ctrip.com Chen Caiyin apologized for the trouble the company has caused to all the passengers whose trips have been affected by the "fake" tickets.

"On behalf of Ctrip.com, I would like to express my deep sorrow for the inconvenience it has brought to all the passengers involved. We will offer triple compensation and full refund to customers who encounter similar situations. The refund and compensation will be sent to those passengers' accounts whose trips have been affected in the incidents. We will take every measure to make sure the rights of passengers would be protected."

Ctrip.com, apart from a travel service provider, is also an open platform for more than 5,000 independent travel agents.

According to the latest statistics more than 60 percent of plane tickets provided by Ctrip.com in 2015 were supplied by 3rd party travel agents.

Many airlines lure passengers with "frequent flyer" loyalty deals, offering points that can be exchanged for gifts and even flight tickets, but these schemes have sometimes been misused by disreputable travel agents.

Chen Caiyin says Ctrip.com will step up supervision of its platform.

"Ctrip.com has been very strict with the travel agents on its platform. After this incident, Ctrip.com will strengthen its supervision, and harsher punishments will be imposed on those agents who violate relevant regulations."

China's second largest online travel agency, Qunar.com also recently got into trouble -- nine Chinese airlines have ended their partnership with the travel service provider, following complaints about extra charges, refund problems and other ticketing issues.

For CRI, this is Li Jianhua.