Train tickets for the first day of the Spring Festival are on sale today!
According to the current rule of 15 days in advance of railway passenger ticket pre-sale, on January 12, the first day of the 2024 Spring Festival train tickets will be officially on sale. The 2024 Spring Festival will start on January 26 and end on March 5, a total of 40 days.
The Spring Festival holiday in 2024 will be from February 10 (the first day of the Lunar New Year) to February 17 (the eighth day of the first lunar month), a total of 8 days. According to the rules of ticket pre-sale, train tickets for February 7 (28th of the 28th month) can be sold on January 24, train tickets for February 8 (29th of the month) can be sold on January 25, train tickets for February 9 (Chinese New Year's Eve) can be sold on January 26, and return train tickets for the holiday will be sold from February 3 (February 17, the eighth day of the first lunar month).
During the Spring Festival travel period, in terms of ticket discounts and extended services, the railway department will expand the scope and extent of discount on train fares in off-peak directions, and for passengers who are refunded due to railway responsibility and force majeure, the connecting ticket can be refunded at the same time, and the refund fee will be waived. At the same time, the diversified services such as railway smooth travel, transfer and meal ordering services have been expanded and optimized.
In addition, in order to ensure the Spring Festival travel of key groups such as students and migrant workers, from 0:00 on January 10, the railway 12306 mobile client has launched the reservation and ticket purchase function for students and migrant workers during the Spring Festival, and eligible passengers and friends can make an appointment to purchase round-trip train tickets during the Spring Festival through the 12306 mobile client area.
Railway 12306 optimizes and upgrades the standby ticket purchase function
To grab a train ticket in the Spring Festival, there are a few tips to pay attention to in advance!
For passengers who purchase train tickets online (12306 mobile app tickets), the railway department reminds them that, first of all, pay attention to the starting time. Passengers need to check the specific time of ticket purchase according to the station where they purchased their tickets and prepare in advance to avoid missing the first time to purchase tickets. Passengers can open the official website of 12306, click on the "starting time" under the "information inquiry" column, and then select the starting date and starting station for inquiry. Second, be ready to pay. Payment must be completed within 30 minutes when purchasing tickets online, and if the payment is not made within the time limit, the ticket will be automatically cancelled.
In addition, passengers who have not purchased tickets for the first time can purchase tickets on the standby through the "Standby Ticket Purchase" service function on the 12306 website and mobile app. Since 0:00 on January 11, the railway 12306 website (including the mobile client, the same below) has optimized and upgraded the standby ticket purchase function, increased the number of standby orders and alternative plans, expanded the range of waitlist order cashing time options, and temporarily allocated new passenger train seats to passengers who have submitted standby orders, which will further improve the success rate of passenger standby ticket purchase.
The first is to increase the number of waitlist orders. The number of pending waitlist bookings that can be submitted per passenger has been increased from 2 to 6, and a maximum of 9 passengers can be added to each order. The second is to increase the number of alternatives. When submitting a standby order, passengers can choose 2 adjacent travel dates, and each date can choose 5 combinations of "train number + seat", up to a maximum of 10 combinations. After the optimization and upgrade, passengers can choose any 3 travel dates during the pre-sale period, and can choose up to 60 combinations of "date + trains", and each train can choose multiple seats. The third is to expand the range of options for waiting order fulfillment time. The original cut-off time for standby orders was 2 hours before departure, but after the optimization and upgrade, it was adjusted to 20 minutes before departure, and passengers can choose to modify the cut-off time according to the actual situation in a wider range. Fourth, the temporary new passenger train seats will be allocated to passengers who have submitted standby orders. When submitting a standby order, passengers can choose to accept the purchase of new passenger train tickets that meet their travel needs, such as the temporary addition of passenger trains by the railway department, when the tickets are on sale, the railway 12306 will automatically give priority to the passengers who have submitted the standby order, and passengers do not need to manually query the information of the additional train before purchasing tickets.
The scope of train ticket changes will be further expanded
It is worth noting that since January 15, the railway department has optimized the ticket change rules and expanded the scope of ticket change, so that passengers can change tickets within the pre-sale period before and on the day after driving, which will further facilitate passengers to purchase tickets and travel.
After the implementation of the new regulations, the scope of ticket changes has been expanded, and passengers can change tickets within the pre-sale period before and on the day after driving, and no change fee will be charged for tickets more than 48 hours before departure, and no change fee will be charged for changing tickets less than 48 hours before and after departure, and no change fee will be charged for changing tickets before (including the same day) before and after departure, and the change fee will be charged according to the processing time echelon for changing tickets after the departure date.
In terms of the verification and charging standards for changing tickets after the date of departure, when changing a train after the date of travel more than 24 hours but less than 48 hours before departure, 5% of the face value of the low-fare ticket before and after the change, 15% of the face value of the low-fare ticket before and after the change is made less than 24 hours before the departure date, and 40% of the face value of the low-fare ticket before and after the change is made before 24 o'clock on the day after the departure.
It is reported that the current train ticket change is not completely free. According to the policy on the official website of 12306, in terms of changes, if the new ticket price is lower than the original ticket when handling a ticket change or "change to arrival station", the difference will be refunded, and the refund fee will be charged for the difference and the current refund fee standard will be implemented.
In terms of refund fee, no refund fee will be charged if the ticket is refunded more than 8 days (inclusive) before departure, 5% of the fare will be charged if the departure time is more than 48 hours before the departure time of the station on the ticket, 10% of the fare will be charged if the ticket is more than 24 hours but less than 48 hours, and 20% of the fare will be charged if it is less than 24 hours. If you change or change to another train more than 8 days before the departure of the train between 48 hours and 8 days before the departure of the train, and the refund is made 8 days before the departure of the train, a refund fee of 5% will still be charged.
The railway department reminds that the current implementation of the child ticket stipulates that the preferential standard is divided by age, and the real-name management of child passengers is implemented. Children who are 6 years old and under 14 years old when traveling with an adult should purchase a child discount ticket, and if they are 14 years old or older, they should purchase a full-price ticket. Each adult passenger with a ticket can bring one child under the age of 6 who does not occupy a separate seat for free.
In addition, the railway department also reminded that the railway 12306 website (including the client) is the only official train ticket online ticketing platform of China Railway, and has never authorized any third-party platform to sell train tickets. Passengers who purchase tickets through third-party platforms will not only encounter "traps" such as surcharges and bundled sales of services, but also may have the risk of personal privacy information leakage. Please be sure to purchase tickets through the official channels of the railway, look for the official website of 12306 and the official APP of "Railway 12306", and confirm that the payee of the ticket is "China Railway Network Co., Ltd.", so as to avoid not receiving the refund due when the ticket is refunded and changed in the future.
Source: The Paper
Editor: Yu Dan