Source: CCTV News Client
Spring Festival travel rush is in full swing. Although the railway capacity this year is relatively abundant, some popular routes are still hard to get tickets in the days before and after the Spring Festival holiday. "I want to buy high-speed rail tickets to return to my hometown Jiangxi on the 30th, but there is no ticket for the time being. So I tried the ticket grabbing function on several apps. Some asked me to increase the money to buy the 'acceleration package', and some asked me to share it with my friends to help speed up the ticket grabbing." Ms. Huang, who works in Shanghai, said, "But now 12306 has an alternate function. Is the 'acceleration package' useful?" There are many passengers who have the same questions as Ms. Huang. Railway 12306 official WeChat official account also issued a reminder: the so-called "acceleration package" does not have priority ticket purchase rights. No matter which third-party software you purchase tickets, you need to queue up in the Railway 12306 ticket purchase system. Is it useful to grab tickets to "accelerate package"? What are the risks of purchasing tickets like this?
"accelerate" routines for ticket grabbing many
According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 50 platforms that provide the acceleration function of train ticket grabbing, mainly comprehensive online travel platforms (OTAs) represented by Ctrip , Fliggy , Qunar , and Zhixing train ticket and other ticket purchase apps. These platforms have regarded grabbing train tickets as the most important feature highlight, and marked the words "Spring Festival Ticket Grab" and "Free Ticket Grab" on the App icon.
reporter tried to purchase high-speed rail tickets from Shanghai to Anqing, Anhui on multiple platforms, and found that the rules for accelerating tickets on different platforms are different, but they are all very complicated. Some apps can choose to speed up at different prices, with a fee of 0 yuan, 20 yuan, 40 yuan, and 60 yuan, which correspond to low-speed, fast, high-speed and light speed respectively. Some apps can not only choose acceleration packages of different prices, but also invite friends to help speed up, and even enable special people to grab tickets. The platform introduces this function "There are special people to grab tickets throughout the day".
’s complex “acceleration” rule for ticket grabbing has been criticized by consumers for a lot of “routines”:
has no idea about buying “acceleration package”. Ms. Fan, a white-collar worker, said that during the National Day of last year, she bought a train ticket to Quanzhou on the platform and was induced to click on the "acceleration package" to purchase tickets, and inexplicably spent 20 yuan more. The difference between the "acceleration" level of
is unclear. Apart from the literal difference, the platform does not indicate any difference in the levels of low speed, fast, high speed and light speed. Some netizens complained that the rules are not transparent enough, resulting in the probability of success that the platform can set as much as it wants, which is very casual and has no basis. I don’t know if there is any “arresponsible ticket purchase” in
. Most platforms provide two channels: "remaining ticket monitoring" and "alternate ticket purchase". The reporter activated the option of "alternate ticket purchase" on a ticket purchase app, but it was not found in the candidate order of Railway 12306App.
ticket grabbing software no longer has the advantage?
Railway 12306 publicly reminded many times that the "acceleration package" used by consumers cannot have priority ticket purchase rights, and no matter which ticket purchase software is, they must queue up in the Railway 12306 ticket purchase system. If you encounter the required train number or seat, you can queue up online and wait for a seat. When there is a refund for the corresponding train number and seat, the system will automatically purchase the ticket.
Industry insiders pointed out that in the early days of the launch of the Railway 12306 platform and there was no "suspended" function, some ticket grabbing software used the function of machine ticket swiping to grab tickets, which seized a certain time advantage. However, after the 12306 platform launched the "suspended" function, the advantages of this type of software no longer exist. In 2021, the "alternate" ticket purchase success rate of the 12306 platform will reach more than 70%, which can effectively meet the needs of passengers under the guarantee of capacity supply.
Although some platforms have launched the "Spring Festival ticket grabbing" function as a "fist" product, the reporter learned that no ticket grabbing software has ever cooperated with the railway department, and the success rate of ticket grabbing has nothing to do with the railway department. These behaviors may be suspected of false propaganda and unjust enrichment. Some ticket grabbing software even cracked the 12306 platform interface, threatening the security of passenger information and interfering with the fair and just ticket purchase order.
It is understood that the Railway 12306 platform is also increasing its technical recognition efforts, and it uses big data to identify the ticket grabbing software more accurately. Once it is identified, the ticket grabbing software will not be released, and the probability of passengers successfully purchasing tickets using the ticket grabbing software will be lower.
Many netizens said that the "acceleration package" of ticket grabbing is an "IQ tax", but during the Spring Festival travel or holidays, when ticket grabbing is needed, they are willing to purchase tickets as psychological comfort. The platform has also used this mentality to promote the ticket grabbing function.
hidden risks such as information leakage
Industry insiders pointed out that the "acceleration package" of ticket grabbing is a confusing account, and there is a hidden danger of leaking passengers' personal information. Some passengers reported that they had not bought tickets, but they had their own ticket purchase information on the 12306 platform; there was also a situation where passengers were unable to register because their personal information was snatched by others to 12306 account.
Some netizens also questioned whether the platform's ticket grabbing function is suspected of "technical scalpers" and harming the fairness of passengers' ticket purchases? Li Junhui, director of the Social Governance Research Center of the China Judicial Big Data Research Institute, said that in the same "alternate ticket purchase" scenario, if the ticket grabbing "acceleration package" does have functions such as automatic monitoring of whether there are tickets and automatic waiting queues, it may cause unfairness to other users who do not use this function, and damage the fairness of users' "alternate ticket purchases".
Beijing Kangda Law Firm's lawyer Xing Tong believes that if the platform promotes the tickets on its prominent page, it guarantees that it can get tickets, or promises the success rate of tickets, it may constitute false publicity and is suspected of violating the " E-Commerce Law " and " Consumer Rights Protection Law ".
"Under the premise that the 12306 platform has already provided the 'alternative ticket purchase' function, other Internet platforms provide 'ticket grabbing' service or 'ticket grabbing' service for charging. There are huge problems with the rationality, necessity and legality of their services. Moreover, users use the ticket grabbing function of multiple platforms, which will inevitably increase the access pressure of the server of the 12306 website. If the website or server is paralyzed, it will inevitably affect the rights and interests of more users and even the public interests." Li Junhui suggested that relevant departments should actively intervene and gradually promote relevant platforms to cancel the "ticket grabbing" services that infringe on consumer rights, or abuse the name of "ticket grabbing" services to carry out publicity or solicit and attract users.
