部分航司“锁座”销售被质疑，中航协拟出“预留座”新规

Core Viewpoint - The China Air Transport Association is organizing airlines to establish a group standard for "reserved seat rules" to regulate the practice of locking seats on flights, aiming to clarify the types, scope, proportions of reserved seats, and passenger information notification requirements, with plans to solicit public opinions soon [2] Group 1: Industry Practices - A survey by the Jiangsu Consumer Protection Commission revealed that the average locking seat ratio for economy class among 10 major airlines was 38.7%, with some airlines exceeding 60% [2] - The locked seats, often preferred ones like window and aisle seats, typically require consumers to pay extra or use points for selection, which has been criticized as a form of disguised secondary charging by airlines [2] - Airlines often justify the locking of seats with vague reasons such as "load balancing" and "system defaults," which have been deemed excessive compared to the reasonable needs for ensuring aircraft load balance or emergency evacuation [2] Group 2: Consumer Rights and Transparency - The Jiangsu Consumer Protection Commission pointed out that the rules regarding seat locking lack transparency, as the ticket purchasing pages do not clearly indicate which seats require additional fees, the fee standards, and the basis for seat locking [2] - Consumers typically discover that their desired seats are unavailable only during the seat selection phase, which infringes upon their rights to be informed and to choose [2] - Commentary suggests that while airlines pursuing economic benefits is understandable, any innovation in business models must adhere to legal boundaries, as separating basic services that should be included in ticket prices into additional charges effectively deprives consumer rights [2]