"Who is really competing with me for tickets on 12306?"

On the afternoon of September 14th, in response to the hot discussion among netizens about the difficulty, shortage, intentional pressure, and phased release of tickets for 12306, 12306 customer service responded to China News Service that during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, all tickets are released at once every day, and there are no situations of no release, pressure, or phased release. Customer service also stated that this peak of ticket grabbing will continue until the eve of the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, and recommended that passengers update their ticket purchase information in a timely manner.

On the morning of the 14th, # 12306 ticket grabbing # climbed to the top of Weibo's hot search list. Many netizens in the comment section claimed that ticket grabbing was difficult, there were few tickets, and there was "no ticket in a second", suspecting whether 12306 intentionally suppressed or did not release tickets.

"Is the ticket for 12306 intentionally not released?" "It always shows that there is a ticket. When I click on it and select the information to purchase, it shows that there is no ticket."

Some netizens also said that "it may have been taken advantage of by other ticket grabbing software. Isn't there a reservation function? How can we compare our speed to the system?" "12306 is intentionally not released, and may even be released for long-distance travel, such as releasing the terminal station of your train first, and waiting until it is only 24 hours away from departure before starting to release the later ones. This way, even if you buy a farther one, you cannot change the ticket, and there is a 20% handling fee for refunds.".

Expected to send 190 million passengers,

What are popular destinations?

According to official Chinese railway information, this year's railway transportation during the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week will last for 12 days from September 27th to October 8th, with an extension of 2 days before and after the holiday. The national railway is expected to send 190 million passengers. The Mid Autumn Festival and National Day holiday will be integrated, with a long holiday period and a strong willingness for passengers to travel. The flow of family visits and tourism will interweave and overlap, and the railway passenger flow will show a strong growth trend.

From the perspective of passenger flow trends, the holiday season will mainly focus on long-distance passenger flow, with peak passenger flow and short distance flow in the middle. The passenger flow will always maintain a high level.

It is expected that during the National Day Golden Week, the daily average passenger seating capacity will increase by 18.5% compared to the same period in 2019; The national railway is expected to send 190 million passengers.

Data shows that cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Xi'an will become popular destinations for travelers to depart and arrive. In addition, Hangzhou will host the Asian Games during the National Day Golden Week and may also become a popular destination for high-speed rail travel.

During the Golden Week, there is a high demand for passenger travel, resulting in limited transportation capacity in certain areas and time periods. Especially on some popular routes, trains with more suitable departure and destination times and shorter travel times are the preferred travel options for many passengers. When these train tickets are put on sale, due to their high attention from passengers, they will use various ticketing channels such as 12306 online ticketing, mobile apps, and station windows to quickly "grab tickets", which may lead to "instant light" phenomenon.

Is buying a ticket grabbing acceleration package reliable?

Train tickets are hard to come by, and many netizens are seeking to purchase acceleration packs. But can it really accelerate? How useful is it?

Previously, Zhongxin Jingwei called the customer service hotline of a certain booking platform as a consumer, and a customer service representative said frankly, "The difference in ticket grabbing services at different levels is not very big. We may not necessarily be faster than 12306, and if you just want to 'pick up loopholes', it is even more unpredictable. Because it is difficult to guarantee whether there will be a refund for this seat."

The customer service representative also stated, "This acceleration package may be more suitable for booking and purchasing tickets. If you purchase the service, not only because of the internet speed, but also because it will bring your position forward when queuing, but the effect is really hard to say."

In fact, whether the ticket grabbing acceleration package can be faster or not, 12306 is already very clear: not.

Previously, 12306 stated that consumers cannot have the priority to purchase tickets using the "acceleration package", and regardless of which ticketing software it is, it needs to queue up in the railway 12306 ticketing system. If there are no tickets for the required train or seat, you can queue up online to wait. When there is a refund for the corresponding train or seat, the system will automatically purchase the ticket.

That is to say, the end of all ticket grabbing software is 12306. When there are no tickets for the train and one needs to wait for a ticket, the standby ticket purchasing function of 12306 has the highest priority among all ticket grabbing methods.

Therefore, some netizens have raised doubts about the "intelligence tax" on ticket grabbing software.

Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of the Law Working Committee of the China Internet Association, said in an interview with Sino Singapore Jingwei earlier that the so-called "ticket grabbing software" is to use technical means to constantly refresh information and improve the speed of information submission. But after the official launch of the "alternate channel" in 12306, users can directly queue, and this ticket grabbing software will ultimately have to go through 12306. "Is that what was scheduled for 12306 or did the platform grab it?"

"Nowadays, no platform dares to guarantee that they can completely compete for tickets. Is it necessary for relevant software operators to provide evidence of their ability to provide such services? If they cannot guarantee the authenticity of the services provided, is the fee reasonable? These are all open to discussion," said Hu Gang.

A person from the 12306 Technology Department of China Academy of Railway Sciences also stated in an interview with CCTV that third-party ticket grabbing software caters to the needs of passengers from a certain perspective, but it will cause the 12306 system service to malfunction and consume resources. In addition, the rules for handling ticket refunds by ticket grabbing software are inconsistent with the unified social standards of railways, resulting in overcharging of passenger ticket refund fees and rescheduling fees. In addition, the passenger information retained by the software may have engaged in many commercial activities that passengers are not aware of, which poses certain security risks.

Zhongxin Jingwei Comprehensive from Zhongxin Jingwei, China Railway, etc