With more and more budget airlines opening new routes to and from Taiwan, the consumer protection officials are reminding the public to be careful when selecting cheaper airfares. To make up for the revenue lost, some may charge for other services on board, while most of the tickets are also nonrefundable. Passengers are also encouraged to first learn about their rights before purchasing them. During the peak Chinese New Year holiday period, many people would go abroad with the family. To save money, many people would purchase airfare from many of the budget airlines online or through travel agents. Most of the time, they are able to get tickets that are half of full service airlines, however, they should not expect to be pampered in-flight for those airlines offers all service at an additional cost in order to keep the cost down. Most of the tickets are non-refundable and come with a restriction of a service charge of NT$1,500 to NT$2,000 when the travel date is changed. Some consumers are complaining to Consumer Protection Commission that they were not told of such restriction and it would not be a fair sale. The Consumer Protection Commission said that, it would use international airlines regulations as reference and discuss further, while the Consumer Foundation is suggesting Consumer Protection Commission to work with the Civil Aeronautic Administration to publish such restrictions such as, all items and services that need to be purchased in flight, return and exchange policies and service charges to prevent possible future disputes. ◆ 追蹤更多華視影音及圖文新聞: 1.用Plurk追蹤華視影音及圖文新聞:追蹤 2.用Twitter追蹤華視影音及圖文新聞:追蹤
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