"Suddenly Canceled?"... Korea Consumer Agency Reports Sharp Increase in Airline Ticket Consumer Complaints

213 Damage Relief Applications from January to May
Doubled Since Quarantine Measures Eased

Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 departure hall is crowded with passengers. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Office worker Kim purchased an airline ticket in March and also booked a vehicle and accommodation needed for the trip. However, the flight was suddenly canceled. As a result, all reservations had to be made again, causing financial losses and leading to a demand for compensation.

Recently, with the easing of COVID-19 quarantine measures, demand for overseas travel has surged, resulting in an increase in consumer damages related to airline tickets.

According to the Korea Consumer Agency on the 18th, a total of 213 claims for relief related to airline ticket damages were filed from January to May. From January to March, the number was around 30 cases per month, but from April, when the government eased COVID-19 quarantine measures, it doubled to over 60 cases per month.

In particular, the types of consumer damages show somewhat different patterns compared to before the COVID-19 outbreak. This is analyzed to be because while travel demand is surging, passenger routes have been reduced since the pandemic, and the travel industry workforce has not yet fully recovered, resulting in business operations under these conditions.

Before COVID-19, substitute flights were generally provided within 24 hours in case of cancellations, but recently it has taken up to 7 days, and sometimes the substitute flights are provided as connecting routes. There have been damages caused by increased flight times due to substitute flights being offered as connecting routes. In some cases, the price burden increased due to flight cancellations amid rising airline ticket prices.

Consumer damages also occurred because travel agencies did not promptly provide consumers with key information related to airline tickets. Additionally, there were cases where passengers were denied boarding because they failed to prepare COVID-19 related documents in time.

The Consumer Agency urged, “To prevent damages, since flight schedules may frequently be canceled or changed until operations return to pre-COVID-19 levels, please reconfirm your travel plans 2 to 3 weeks in advance and prepare boarding documents in advance.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.