A Travel Blip!!!!!

Sharing my personal experience with you. Today's main focus is Ctrip.

This year's May 1st domestic travel saw 230 million trips, a mini-peak in the post-pandemic era.

Of course, flights, train tickets, and hotels were either impossible to find or ridiculously overpriced, but that didn't stop people's wanderlust. To minimise inconvenience, when I booked my plane ticket I also added 'Fast-Track Airport Security' – yep, the 'Fast-Track Security Lane' that Ctrip touts. This turned out to be the thing that crushed my holiday mood on the way home.

On 5th May, heading back, I'd already arranged fast-track security, but given the crowds I still got to the airport extra early, just in case. Once there, I quickly looked for the Ctrip Fast-Track Security lane – and that's when things went wrong!

1. The fast-track lane was cordoned off together with the late-passenger lane. Late passengers are naturally stressed and will jump into whichever queue looks shortest, so the fast-track lane ended up with more people than the regular lane.

2. Nobody on the ground was checking whether anyone actually qualified for the fast-track lane. It was basically useless.

I stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then gave up on using the fast-track service altogether. Later, I called Ctrip customer service. Here's what they told me:

1. Because there were so many people, the airport has the authority to rearrange things, so there's nothing they could do.

2. It's the supplier's problem; they'll feed it back to the business department.

3. We can refund you the fast-track fee (I hadn't used it, and the app lets you refund it yourself anyway).

That floored me. It turns out Ctrip can very easily just push the blame onto their partners for something they sold. They see no issue with their platform – if something happens to a customer, tough luck, just deal with it. Of course I couldn't accept that kind of non-answer. After pressing repeatedly for a clear explanation, the so-called senior customer-service person said to me straight: the situation is exactly as our previous colleague described – standard script – and Ctrip will compensate you with a 100-yuan gift card. Take it or leave it. I naturally chose to leave it, and then… then… the arrogance of a big platform kicked in: they simply closed the case!! Closed~~~~~ Just like that – 'Whatever, we've got plenty of customers!!'

Many people might ask: 'They even offered you money, what are you still fussing about?' Some would even happily accept and think they'd scored an extra 100 yuan. But the issue is, a fast-track security pass costs 48 yuan. How many customers are just swallowing this frustration?

- The very definition of 'fast-track security' suggests it should be faster than normal – yet here it was slower.

- When I asked customer service again when the fast-track service could actually be used, the reply was: 'You can use it anytime, but we can't rule out that the same situation might happen again!!' That made my blood boil!!!

- So I asked: 'Can I write about this experience on the platform, so that future users have something to refer to?' And this is what a big platform says: 'Sorry, we don't have a review function for our own products!!' We all know Ctrip loves it when we review their partner hotels – but you can't review their own products!! The brutishness of a giant platform is on full display.

I'm certain my complaint still led nowhere, but I'm writing this experience down today simply to tell everyone: the convenience of integrated information is deeply woven into life in China, yet that same data integration often comes with what's commonly called 'big data-based price discrimination'. Convenience becomes the leverage that big platforms exploit. We can't avoid using these services, but when something's not right, it's still up to us to speak out and push for change!!