VietNamNet Bridge – It’s nearly impossible to book economy class air tickets for the flights on Tet holiday, though Tet comes only in two months.

The representatives of airlines all said that under the new policies, air tickets have been sold via Internet. Booking agents and individual passengers are all passengers who need to access the Internet to book tickets, and “first come first served.”

Air tickets for Tet flights have been selling very quickly since the day the tickets were put on sale. In an effort to prevent the speculation, airlines have decided to sell tickets in different sale campaigns, while passengers are required to make payment as soon as possible.

On normal days, the seat reservation duration allowed could be 48, 36 or 24 hours. However, as for the Tet flights, passengers have to make payment within one hour after they successfully book tickets or the tickets would be canceled to be sold to others.

However, it’s really very difficult to book tickets via the Internet. Analysts have commented that speculation still can be made even when the transaction mechanism and payment method are made public.

The national flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines began selling air tickets in the first campaign on November 1, 2012. However, passengers complained that they could not buy economy class tickets on that day.

Booking agents have confirmed that the tickets for main domestic routes have nearly run out, while the offers to buy tickets have been on “pending” status. Those, who want the tickets of the flights from HCM City to Hanoi on the 26th of December of Lunar New Year, or four days before Tet, now have the only choice of buying business class at 5.1 million dong.

A lot of passengers complained that in order to buy economy class tickets, they have to pay higher than the price levels announced by airlines, because they cannot get tickets directly from airlines, but from other individuals, agents or travel firms.

Under the current policies applied by the airlines, passengers would have to pay 300,000 dong for every ticket canceled. The modest sum of money has prompted not only booking agents, but individuals to speculate tickets.

Right after airlines launched sales campaigns, the speculators would book tickets in large quantities, accepting to make payment within one hour after the successful booking, and then re-sold to others at the prices which are 500,000 higher than the original prices. The fat profit is high enough to offset the compensation money for refunding tickets.

Thuy Hien, an office worker in Phu Nhuan district said that it is too difficult for office workers to book tickets via Internet, even though they have to work with computers everyday. It takes them too much time to hunt for air tickets on Internet. Meanwhile, Hien cannot buy tickets from booking agents, which always require overly high prices.

A speculator has confirmed that in order to obtain the tickets for the flights they want, passengers have to pay an additional fee of 500,000--700,000 dong, because the sellers also have to spend time to hunt for the tickets for reselling.

Some passengers, who cannot book tickets directly from airlines, tried to contact travel firms to buy tickets from them, even though the tickets from the sources are 1-2 million dong more expensive than the original prices.

Nam Phong