Be cautious when buying tickets！ The Consumers' Foundation names 10 budget airlines: unclear info & high cancellation fees

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

Budget airlines have captured the Taiwanese market with their low fares, bringing 840,000 passengers to Taoyuan Airport as of last September. However, consumer disputes involving budget airlines have also been on the rise. An investigation by the Consumers' Foundation found that besides the unclear information on most budget airline websites, some airlines do not even accept ticket cancellations or charge high handling fees.

The Consumers' Foundation of the Republic of China conducted an investigation from November to early December last year into the completeness of information disclosure and cancellation policies on the official websites of 10 domestic budget airlines, includingTiger Airways (Tigerair Taiwan), Jetstar Asia, Scoot, AirAsia, EASTAR JET, T’way Air, Cebu Pacific Air, Peach Aviation, Air Busan, and Jin Air.

The Consumers' Foundation found that among the 10 budget airlines, only simplified Chinese versions were available on the websites of Jetstar Asia and Cebu Pacific Air, whileScoot had a Chinese webpage, but the information in simplified Chinese was noticeably more comprehensive than that in traditional Chinese.In addition, the most common consumer disputes involved non-refundable tickets or high handling fees for cancellations and flight changes.

▲ Scoot’s Q&A has a simplified Chinese version but no traditional Chinese version. (Photo / Screenshot fromScoot’s official website))

Regarding flight changes,the Consumers' Foundation stated that except for Scoot, which did not display the information on its website, all other airlines charged handling fees ranging from several hundred to over 1,000 New Taiwan Dollars.The highest fee was charged byT’way Air (right photo / from T’way Air’s Facebook), which stipulates thatany flight change is considered a cancellation,with a cancellation fee as high as 3,000 New Taiwan Dollars.

As for ticket cancellations,Scoot still did not post any information on its website, while two of the other nine airlines stated that no refunds were allowed at all. Tiger Airways specified “tickets are non-refundable under any circumstances,” and AirAsia stated “no refunds are provided.”

Additionally, Jetstar Asia and Jin Air specified that “some tickets are non-refundable,” and Peach Aviation stated that “non-members are not eligible for refunds.” Other airlines handled cancellations by charging handling fees, with the specified amounts ranging between 1,000 and 3,000 New Taiwan Dollars.

The Consumers' Foundation believes that even if airlines have disclosed the relevant standard contract terms on their websites, it is clearly unfair to consumers if they refuse to issue any refund when passengers inform them in advance that they will not be taking the flight.

The Consumers' Foundation cited a recentcomplaint case involving the purchase of an AirAsia ticketas an example. The consumer used a credit card to purchase a ticket worth 24,000 New Taiwan Dollars in December last year. The next day, they called customer service to change the flight, and were told that no changes could be made within 48 hours before departure. Later, when they called again, another customer service representative explained everything inEnglishand agreed to change the ticket to February,but charged a change fee of 26,000 New Taiwan Dollars.

The Consumers' Foundation stated that the consumer subjectively believedthat the flight could be changed,thinking that the ticket purchased initially was refundable, but only later discovered upon receiving the bill that the airline had charged two separate fees.。The Consumers' Foundation has called on all low-cost airlines operating in Taiwan to provide all official website information in Traditional Chinese. Contract terms and refund policies should be clearly stated on the websites, and it is recommended that relevant regulations be prominently displayed when consumers confirm their bookings on the official platforms, in order to protect consumer rights.