Coronavirus - China Southern refund - Transiting Guangzhou
This is our experience of getting a refund on our tickets with China Southern Airlines transiting through Guangzhou in February and March.
We called number on their Contact Us page and were told that a full refund was fine and that all we had to do was email copies of our passports with the ticket numbers that we were cancelling.
Possibly it was easier for us as we bought our tickets before January 24th. About the only problem with the process was that we were on hold for around twenty minutes and there was one point where they asked us to press one to continue or they would have hung up.
Our letter;
Dear customer service,
Further to my phone call with customer service to cancel and refund our airline tickets, please find attached our 3 passports.
Because of the outbreak of the coronavirus, and the fact that we will be traveling with our child, we regret that we have to cancel our trip, which includes flights through Guangzhou on XX February and XX March.
Our names and ticket numbers are as follows:
XXXXXXXXXXXX – XXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX - XXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX – XXXXXXXXXXXX
The corresponding flight itineraries are attached.
Customer service confirmed that we are entitled to a full refund of these tickets, or $XXXXX and €XXXXX, respectively, which should be credited to my account within 2 to 5 days.
Many thanks for your assistance with best of luck during this difficult period.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXXXLetter to China Southern Airlines cancelling tickets because of the Coronavirus outbreak.
We haven't got the money as yet but hopefully this will be of use to others as we found a lack of information around about what was happening with China Southern Airlines and the ability of people to cancel their tickets of they were transiting through Guangzhou.
Also, I have just found this notice from @CSAIRGlobal on Twitter about the outbreak and changing tickets.
Update - Feb 09
After hearing nothing from China Southern Air and having not received a refund we reminded them that they said it would take 2-5 days to process.
Dear customer service,
I refer to my below email concerning cancellation and refund of my csair flights.
I was informed on 29 January that the refund would take 2 to 5 days for csair to process. It has now been 10 days and I have still not received my refund.
Could you please proceed immediately with this refund payment and send confirmation that it has been completed.
Thank you,
XXXXXXXX XXXX
China Southern Airlines refund email on Feb 09th (details blanked out with X)
Update - Feb 14
On February the 14th we received a reply. This was nice as they had replied but wasn't great as they didn't confirm our refund but instead sought our confirmation again.
Dear passenger,
Hello! This is No.8358 agent of China Southern Airlines.Your message has been duly received with thanks. We have received your request for refund, and to facilitate your refund process, please kindly confirm the following passenger ticket information:
Ticket refund regulation：COVID-19 special refund
Passenger Name:XXXXX/XXXX
Order No.XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Flight Details:XXX-XXX-XXX
Ticket Number:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Par value: EUR XXX.00
Tax Amount:TAX LIST : EUR XX.XXCN| EUR X.XXYQ| EUR XX.XXYR| EUR X.XXF1| EUR X.XXIA EUR XX.XXKK|
Refund Fee:0
Total Refundable Amount:EUR XXX.XX
Ticket refund regulation：COVID-19 special refund
Passenger Name:XXXX/XXXXXXXX MS XXXXX/XXXX XXXXXXX(INFANT)
Order No.XXXXXXX
Flight Details:XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX
Ticket Number:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX/XXXXXXXXXXXX
Refund Fee:0
Total Refundable Amount:USD XXX.XX+USD XX.XX
If you confirm that the above information is correct, please reply “Refund Agreed”, and in case of your disagreement on the above, please reply by email and inform us your reasons of disagreement.
Important reminder： If you want to apply for a special refund for the virus, you must cancel your reservation at least 4 hours before the departure time of the flight. If you do not cancel your reservation you will not be able to apply for a full refund. Due to the delay reply by mailbox.if you haven't received a reply for a long time, we suggest you call the customer service hotline of southern airlines, or follow the public account of southern airlines WeChat CS95539 to cancel your reservation.
Tips:
Once your refund is confirmed, your ticket will become invalid;
In case your ticket itinerary has been issued, you are requested to send it back to us, as soon as your refund is confirmed, we will first cancel your related seats, and upon receipt of your ticket itinerary, your refund will be processed. Please send your ticket itinerary to the address: Ticket Service Group of Customer Service Department of China Southern Airlines, No.278 Airport Road, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, 510000.
If you still have any other questions, please directly reply the original email, without need of deleting its contentFor any inquiry please call the official customer service hotline 95539 (Domestic hotline)、+86-4008695539（Overseas hotline) or log in the official website ,www.csair.com, beaware of fraud. Thank you!
China Southern Airlines Customer Service Hotlines：
95539 (domestic）
+86-4008695539（international）
Email：95539@csair.com
Website：www.csair.comChina Southern Airlines refund email on Feb 14th (details blanked out with X)
After confirming we wanted a refund for a second time they sent us this email,
Hello! This is No.8358agent of China Southern Airlines.
We have received your email confirming the refund. Your refund application number are XXXXXXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. This will be passed to the relevant department for approval.Upon approval of the application, the refund amount indicated above will be refunded to your bank card account within 7 – 15 working days, depending on the bank's settlement cycle. Please call 95539 (Domestic hotline)、+86-4008695539（Overseas hotline) again if no refund is received within 20 working days.Please email if you have any further questions.
Thank you for choosing China Southern Airlines.
Tips: If you still have any other questions, please directly reply the original email, without need of deleting its content, or call the official customer service hotline 95539(Domestic hotline)、+86-4008695539（Overseas hotline) or log in the official website ,www.csair.com, beaware of fraud. We hope to have more opportunities to serve you. Thank you!
China Southern Airlines Customer Service Hotlines：
95539 (domestic）
+86-4008695539（international）
Email：95539@csair.com
Website：www.csair.comSecond China Southern Airlines refund email on Feb 14th (details blanked out with X)
So we seem to have gone from a 2 - 5 day wait for a refund to a 30 day wait.......
Fully Refunded
We were fully refunded by China Southern on March 6th. It came in two amounts with the second one arriving on the 6th and the first a couple of weeks earlier. The good news is you will be refunded. The bad news is it may take some time.
