Jan. 15 (NBD) -- As the Chinese Spring Festival is approaching, a large number of people are busy in buying tickets online to return home for the most important traditional festival for family reunions. 

Their yearning and blithesome mood, however, might be frustrated by the unwitting add-on insurance purchase when buying train or flight tickets online. 

Insurance add-on ticked by default 

In a recent survey, NBD found that ticket selling apps of several online travel agencies (OTAs) have ticked by default the add-on insurance products before consumers check the box. 

When buying flight tickets on Mafengwo's app, consumers will see two pre-ticked insurance products - flight delay insurance and aviation accident insurance, each of which is sold at 30 yuan (4.65 U.S. dollars) for one passenger. And the same goes for the apps of other OTAs like ly.com, Tuniu, Qunar, and Lvmama.  

An insurance practitioner told NBD that consumers can contact OTAs or insurance providers for insurance cancellation. 

As a matter of fact, only few know the cancellation procedure.

NBD also noticed that one click is far from enough to undo the add-on checked by default. 

One person said that consumers are often in a rush to make payment for their tickets and would be unable to uncheck quickly as some platforms place the insurance options in an inconspicuous position. When buying the insurance accidentally, he doesn't know how to cancel without losing the ticket, he said. 

In addition to default insurance sales, OTAs offer some apparently unreasonable terms to take advantage of consumers' desire to buy tickets fast.

When buying train tickets on Tuniu and Qunar, consumers can opt not to buy the add-on insurance, but words "slow process, may need to wait in line" under the option may compel consumers not to do so.

In contrast, buying the add-on insurance worth 10 yuan (1.55 U.S. dollars) offers faster response, while buying insurance worth 20 yuan (3.10 U.S. dollars) or 30 yuan (4.65 U.S. dollars) promises the fastest ticket purchase. 

Consumers have the right to know and choose

Qiu Baochang, a legal consultant to the China Consumers Association, said that OTAs must describe products for sale in a conspicuous way. Depriving consumers of the right to choose through technical means will be deemed as a violation of legitimate rights of consumers, which will accordingly render the related contract void, he added. 

In reality, even though consumers find they have unwittingly bought the add-on, many of them would eventually accept due to the OTAs' plausible offers like faster ticket buying and access to discount flight tickets. 

Insurance lawyer Li Bin shared similar views, saying that pre-ticking insurance add-ons without consumers' permission violates consumers' right to be informed, right to choose, and right of fair trade, according to the eighth, ninth, and tenth clause of the Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights and Interests. 

The opt-out model also encroaches on consumers' property ownership rights, because OTAs first sell insurance products by default at higher prices than other platforms and then set technical barriers to prevent consumers from cancelling insurance. 

Though consumers finally accept the insurance reluctantly, such experience might create a negative feelings among consumers. This will likely harm the insurance consumption ultimately, Li said. 

Zhao Zhanling, legal consultant of the credit assessment center of the Internet Society of China, saw the matter from a different perspective. In his eyes, such practices of OTAs are similar to membership-based offering of differentiated services, and are essentially a kind of marketing model to increase the sales of insurance products.  

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn