main content

I.Principle for Overbooking Management
To maximize the use of air transport resources and avoid wastage, China Eastern Airlines (CEA) may, after rigorous forecasting and depending on the situation, conduct appropriate Overbooking on certain Flights that are prone to seat wastage. In the event of Flight Overbooking, CEA will post the Overbooked Flight Notice and Call for Volunteers Notice for the relevant Flight in the check-in area, informing Passengers of the overbooked Flight, the Carrier’s compensation plan and the Passengers’ rights, and will seek the volunteers among the Passengers who are willing to accept the Carrier’s compensation and choose to change their class of service or Flight or route or endorse to another airline or accept a refund for their Tickets.

 

II.Principle for Denying Boarding of Passengers
In case of Overbooking, CEA will provide reasonable compensation to the Passengers who volunteered to give away their seats and will arrange suitable Flights for them or refund their Tickets upon request. If there are insufficient Passengers who are willing to give away their seat, CEA will organize for Passengers to board in the following order, and may deny boarding to certain Passengers:

1. Passengers on urgent national business.
2. Passengers with special service needs (the elderly, weak, sick, disabled, pregnant passengers, and unaccompanied minors) and their necessary companions, as agreed by CEA and arranged in advance.
3. Passengers in first class, premium business class, and business class.
4. Passengers with Eastern Miles Platinum and Gold cards and SkyTeam Elite Plus members.
5. Passengers who have booked a Connecting Flight with CEA or have a short connecting time to a Connecting Flight.
6. Passengers with Eastern Miles Silver cards and SkyTeam Elite members.
7. Passengers proving that they have special difficulties and are eager to travel.

 

III.Compensation Standards for Overbooking
For Passengers who are denied boarding, if they decide to continue their journey, CEA will arrange the next earliest Flight for them in the corresponding class and provide reasonable compensation in accordance with Section 4 of this Plan based on the level of the fares held by the Passenger for the original Flight, the distance of the air route, and the time of delay.

1. Compensation methods for Overbooking
1.1 Three compensation methods are adopted: points, miscellaneous charges orders (MCO), and cash.
1.2 Volunteers and Passengers who were denied boarding, who redeemed points for their original Tickets, will be compensated via points only for Overbooking and involuntary downgrades.
1.3 Under the same conditions, the amount of compensation in form of MCO shall be 1.5 times the amount of cash compensation.

2. Compensation conditions for Overbooking
Voluntary and denied Passengers may obtain compensation for Overbooking if all the following conditions are met:
2.1 Passengers who hold confirmed reserved Flight through the reservation system, including those who hold free tickets redeemed with frequent flyer miles, free tickets for sales award groups, or discounted tickets.
2.2 Passengers who have completed check-in or arrived at the designated counters to check-in or wait to check-in for their Flights before the deadline for check-in at each airport.
2.3 Passengers with valid travel documents.
2.4 No more Passengers can be accepted in all classes of the overbooked Flight.
2.5 Passengers who do not subject to refusal of transport or limitation on transport that CEA does not agree to carry pursuant to the General Conditions of Domestic Carriage for Passengers and Baggage of China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. or General Conditions of International Carriage for Passengers and Baggage of China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd.

3. Compensation Standards
CEA will provide some form of financial compensation according to the fare level held by the Passenger, the distance of the air route, and the waiting time for changing to subsequent Flights or endorsing to other Flights.
3.1. Compensation standards for involuntary downgrades

 

Class of service

First Classà Premium Business Class/Business Class
Premium Business Class/Business ClassàEconomy Class/Premium Economy Class

First Classà Economy Class/Premium Economy Class

Route Cash(CNY) Integral (points) Cash(CNY) Integral(points)
International in TC3 (except Australia)/Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan region 900 13500 1200 18000
Europe, Middle East, North America, South Africa, Australia 1600 24000 2000 30000
China 400 6000 500 7500

Note: The route area in the table refers to the IATA traffic conference areas
3.2 Compensation standards for voluntary abandonment and deny boarding (all caps, not directly applicable)

Delayed arrival time 0-4 hours (inclusive) More than 4 hours
Route Economy Class/Premium Economy Class Premium Business Class/Business Class Economy Class/Premium Economy Class Premium Business Class/Business Class
  Cash (CNY) Integral (points) Cash (CNY) Integral (points) Cash (CNY) Integral (points) Cash (CNY) Integral (points)
China 400 6000 600 9000 500 7500 750 11250
Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan region 900 13500 1350 20250 1100 16500 1650 24750
International in TC3 (except Australia) 1100 16500 1650 24750 1500 22500 2250 33750
Europe, Middle East, North America, South Africa, Australia (except for US departures and European departures) 1800 27000 2700 40500 2200 33000 3300 49500

Note: The time in the table is calculated from the scheduled arrival time of the actual Flight; the route area in the table refers to the IATA traffic conference areas
3.3. If CEA provides alternative transport for Passengers who are denied boarding for Flights departing from the United States, however, the delay is within one to four hours, it will compensate USD 675 or double the fare, whichever is lower. If CEA does not offer an alternative to the scheduled transit place, or if it does not offer an alternative within four hours of the scheduled arrival at the destination airport, it will compensate USD 1,350 or four times the fare, whichever is lower. For Flights departing from Europe, in case of delays of four hours or less, the compensation will be EUR 300, and for delays of more than four hours, the compensation will be EUR 600.
3.4 In accordance with Part 250 “Oversales” of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR), CEA is not required to pay compensation for Overbooking boarding denial on Flights departing from the United States in the following cases:
3.4.1 CEA provides alternative transport that enables the Passenger to arrive at the destination or the first Transit Place within one hour of the scheduled arrival time of the Passenger’s original Flight.
3.4.2 The Passenger fails to fully comply with the Carrier’s conditions of carriage or Tariff rules regarding ticketing, reconfirmation of Flight information, check-in and transport requirements.
3.4.3 Flight Cancellations.
3.4.4 For operational or safety reasons, the Carrier is forced to substitute an aircraft with a lesser passenger capacity or is forced to implement a load reduction.
3.4.5 The Passenger has been assigned, at no extra charge, to a class on the aircraft that does not correspond to the Ticket purchased (Note: If the class assigned is lower than the original class, the Passenger shall still be compensated for the corresponding price difference.)
The above provisions of the FAR are only collected and translated by CEA for the purpose of formulating this Plan, and Passengers are advised to make their own inquiries if they have any objections. If a CEA Flight departing from the United States meets the conditions for non-compensation as specified in the abovementioned provisions of FAR, CEA has the right to decide unilaterally whether to compensate in accordance with Section 3.2 “Europe, Middle East, North America, South Africa, Australia” of this Plan.
3.5 If the local laws and regulations provide otherwise in respect of Flight Overbooking and denial of boarding, such laws and regulations shall apply.

4. Currency of Compensation
The cash or MCO compensation paid or issued by CEA as per this Plan will be paid in the currency of the country or region where the Flight Overbooking denial of boarding occurred.

 

IV.Follow-up Service for Denied Passengers

CEA provides the following services to volunteers or Passengers denied boarding under this Plan:
1. Passengers are given priority on the next earliest available Flight in the following order:
1.1. Change to other non-stop Flights on the same route of CEA.
1.2. Change to other non-direct Flights of CEA.
1.3. Endorse to the non-stop Flights on the same route of other companies when eligible.
1.4. Endorse to non-direct Flights of other companies when eligible.
2. Free meals are provided to Passengers while they are waiting for a changed Flight if it falls during mealtimes.
3. When the scheduled departure time of the arranged Flight exceeds the actual departure time of the original Flight by more than four hours (excluding) or if the arranged Flight is the next day’s Flight, free accommodation and transportation will be provided to the Passenger.
4. The Ticket will be treated as an Involuntary Change of Ticket on the basis of “refund for any overcharged fare and no supplemental payment for any deficiency”.
5. The Ticket will be treated as an Involuntary Refund, and no refund fee will be charged.
6. Upon request, the Overbooking Certificate will be provided.

 

V.Validity
This Plan shall come into effect on September 1st, 2021.