Notice to Passengers:
In order to meet passengers’ travel needs, Air China may
occasionally overbook certain flights that are likely to have
empty seats at the time of departure resulting from passengers
who fail to board after making a reservation. Air China strives
to limit the number of empty seats on each flight and to allow
more passengers to take the flights of their choice. We will
limit the number of oversold tickets and therefore, passengers
with confirmed reservations rarely will be denied boarding.
In the event that passengers are asked to give up their seats
on an oversold flight:
I. 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.
II. If a sufficient number of volunteers are not obtained,
we will board passengers according to the following boarding
priority rules:
1. Passengers with an urgent need to deal with public affairs;
2. Special needs passengers who have been pre-approved by
Air China and who have made arrangements prior to the flight,
such as the elderly, sick, disabled, expectant 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 before their next flight;
6. Air China Silver Members and other Star Alliance Silver
Members;
7. Passengers with documented special reasons who must travel
urgently (e.g. visa is about to expire).
III. We will provide customer services for passengers who
are denied boarding on oversold flights including:
1. We will try to arrange a seat on the next available flights
for those passengers;
2. Refund tickets on an involuntary basis with no refund
penalty;
3. Re-route passengers on an involuntary basis (for alternate
flights, overpayment will be refunded and supplemental payment
for any deficiency will not be charged);
4. Provide free accommodations to passengers whose alternate
flights are on the following day.
IV. In addition to the services stated above, Air China will
also offer compensation under certain circumstances 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 at the designated
check-in counter and 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 one of three forms:
transportation credit voucher, mileage and cash.
2.Air China will offer compensation in the form of mileage
to volunteers and other passengers who hold mileage-to-award
tickets and are denied boarding or are downgraded to a lower
class of service.
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. Thank you for your understanding
and cooperation.