Passenger illness refund disputes and improvement of refund and change rules

In September 2026, Zheng Gang, who works in Beijing, booked three flight segments: Jinan to Urumqi, Urumqi to Kashgar, and Kashgar to Lanzhou. When he applied for a refund due to illness, the Kashgar to Lanzhou segment was refused by a certain airline, and a refund fee of 468 yuan was charged on a ticket costing more than 1,280 yuan. A reporter searched a third-party consumer service platform using "air ticket illness refund refusal" and found more than 1,300 related complaints. Experts pointed out that refunds due to illness are voluntary refunds, and the carrier's special rules must be prominently disclosed before payment; the China Air Transport Association is leading the formulation of a special group standard for air ticket refunds and changes. Follow-up reports say the current Provisions on the Administration of Passenger Services in Public Air Transport do not specifically provide for "refunds due to illness," and airlines' illness refund rules vary: Air China 999 tickets require that the passenger has not arrived at the airport site and provide an outpatient diagnosis certificate and reimbursement vouchers for medicine or treatment expenses, or hospitalization proof and deposit payment vouchers and other materials; some special fare tickets, group tickets, and mileage award tickets are subject to restrictions; the review threshold for illness refunds for international flights and connecting flights is higher than that for domestic one-way flights.