peezondeez

What are the chances CS Air and other Chinese carriers allow free refunds?

Schedule to transit through China in a month on paid business fare, 99.9% sure I will not take this flight anymore given the current state of the outbreak.

18sas

I haven't heard anything. I had a CZ itinerary connecting both directions in WUH in two weeks. They just canceled the flights on Sunday but just rerouted me through WUH. Waiting to see if they eventually waive all travel and offer refunds.

semicek

I have booked a flight from Berlin to Sydney through Guangzhou. Taking into account current situation with virus outbreak I wanted to cancel the tickets.
Ive tried call support, but after waiting for 1 hour i just gave up.
Does any1 have idea if such tickets could be refunded?

HiroshimaFlyer

Not sure about China Southern but both Air China and Shenzhen Airlines are offering free refunds on tickets.

Actually getting the refund may be difficult due to long waits and language issues, especially with the latter. If you have a Chinese-speaking friend, try to ask them for help.

peezondeez

I had a flight booked end of February, after an hour on hold, they told me they would cancel for free, had to email them a copy of passport, and they said I should get it back In a few days. Very easy once u get through

KL803

Frustrating, nothing to find on CZ website regarding options. My flight is March 15 CDG-CAN-MNL. That's still more than one month out, but I would expect some news and policies mentioned on their website.

Huzordaddy

?????????????-2020-????????

Ask Google to translate to English if you need.

Notice on free refund of China Southern Airlines tickets

In order to help passengers better arrange their travel plans, the relevant special ticket processing requirements are notified as follows:

I. Applicable Tickets

For 784 tickets (including reward tickets) purchased before 00:00 on January 24, 2020, China Southern Airlines actually operates flights or code-share flight tickets with CZ flight numbers.

Ticket handling methods

(1) Tickets meeting the above scopes can be refunded free of charge.

(2) During the validity period of the ticket, you can go to the original ticket purchase channel or contact China Southern to apply for a refund for free.

Tickets purchased from China Southern Airlines' official website, APP, WeChat and other channels can be refunded free of charge in the following ways during the validity period:

① Click on the "China Southern Airlines" WeChat menu bar [Service Hall-Smart Customer Service], enter "manual" to process the refund;

② Click the "Robot" button in the upper left corner of the "My" page of the China Southern Airlines app, and enter "manual" to process a refund;

③Call China Southern Airlines 24-hour customer service hotline (95539 in China, + 86-4008695539 overseas) to inquire about refund.

Tickets purchased through other channels must be refunded at the original ticket purchase channel.

China Southern Airlines will promptly respond to the requirements of relevant state departments and provide users with guarantee services as soon as possible.



China Southern Airlines

January 24, 2020

KL803

Thanks a lot for finding this information, really appreciated.

plunet

This is a good tip for any Chinese airline site. The Chinese language website will be more up to date and typically has lots more information or detail on it than the English language one.

18sas

I called Expedia last night and asked to cancel the itin. At first the agent said that I would have to pay the penalty, but I told him about the waiver. After a few minutes, he verified that the waiver was in place and was able to cancel the itin with a full refund. The penalty was only $100 but still, I'm glad not to have to lose any money.

I used the call-back service instead of waiting on hold and got an agent in about 10 minutes. After that, was on the phone about 30 minutes because he had to put everything through manually.

kprrr

Does anybody know if the refund is applicable to all flights in the future?

I'm taking CZ to the Philipines in June for a wedding. I don't know how the situation will evolve, but better to act now while fares are still cheap than to wait until June.

CStoSydney

I have a similar issue, flying to Sydney from Europe beginning of March via Guangzhou. With the current status, I would be refused entrance to Australia. For obvious reasons, I would like to get a full refund on the flights, tried to apply for the refund but did to succeed. Did anyone succeed in getting a refund so far? Or at least, a confirmation that you would get a refund? If so, the full amount?

18sas

This is one situation where it definitely paid to book via Expedia. I got my refund for the CZ ticket almost immediately.

I also had an intra-Asia ticket on HX that I booked directly with the airline. They said it would take up to 8 weeks to issue the refund. I'm not sure they'll still be in business in 8 weeks so I may never see that money again.

MSPeconomist

Can you do a chargeback on your credit card? There's probably some deadline for the merchant issuing your refund.

18sas

Probably so if I need to. It may be covered in the AmEx Purchase Protection coverage.
It might also be covered by TravelGuard.