Frequently Asked Questions

All major airlines sell more seats than flights have available. This practice is called overbooking.

Flights may be overbooked because some passengers do not show up for flights and Air China does not want to have empty seats on an airplane that could be filled with passengers that would want those seats. The amount of additional seats that are sold are based on a close analysis done by Air China based on past trends of flight loads.

It seldom happens that passengers having reserved seats cannot get on board. If a flight is overbooked, we will ask for volunteers willing to give up their reservation in exchange for some type of compensation, including a full refund if desired. Passengers who voluntarily give up their seats will be given priority for seats on later flights.