Recently, in response to the media report that "12306 tickets successfully waiting for 1,700 yuan in the middle of the night are invalid", the Railway 12306 Technology Center quickly organized forces to conduct verification.
The background of the 12306 system shows that the 12306 account registered as Chen placed an order at 11:09 on February 19 for 3 second-class seats from Xiamen (Xiamen North) to Yixing on February 23. The selected train number was G1654, the number of passengers was 3, and the prepaid fare was 1674 yuan. The deadline for confirmation was 1 hour before driving. The notification method was WeChat notification for 1 person and SMS notification for 2 people. At 18:44 on February 22, the account placed an order to purchase three second-class tickets for the G1656 train on February 23 with the same passengers. The ticket purchase section was from Xiamen North to Nanjing South. Xiamen North departed at 15:43 and Nanjing South arrived at 22:36. The ticket price was 1,755 yuan. After the ticket purchase was successful, the account did not cancel the previously submitted waitlist order.
At 2:53 on February 23, the 12306 system confirmed that the waiting order submitted by the account was successfully redeemed. The redemption number was G1654, which departed from Xiamen at 8:50 on February 23 and arrived in Yixing at 15:04. The system immediately sent notifications of successful redemption to the three passengers in accordance with the notification method selected by the account. The notification content included the train number, driving time, etc.
At 15:43 on February 23, Chen and three others took G1656 from Xiamen North Railway Station and got off at Yixing Station at 21:55.
According to the ticket purchase rules of the 12306 system, the same passenger cannot purchase two itineraries at the same time. The ride time slots for which the account successfully purchased tickets are Xiamen North at 15:43 and Nanjing South at 22:36. The ride time slots for successful redemption are Xiamen at 8:50 and Yixing at 15:04. The times do not overlap and do not belong to "two itineraries purchased by the same passenger at the same time". The system does not determine it as a itinerary conflict.
According to the 12306 system waitlist ticket purchase rules, when passengers submit a waitlist order, the system will prompt that "the system continues to cash in 24 hours a day" and "when the cash is successful or automatically terminated, you will be notified through the notification method you choose. Please pay attention to the message and pay attention to the waitlist order cashing status." When the account submitted a waiting order, the system promptly prompted it. After the redemption was successful at 2:53 on February 23, the system simultaneously sent a notification message to Chen and two other passengers. This time was 4 hours and 57 minutes earlier than the deadline for redemption selected when submitting the waiting order.
According to the ticket change rules of the 12306 system, tickets cannot be refunded after driving. Tickets can be changed once before 24:00 on the day without charge, or once within the pre-sale period, but a handling fee of up to 40% will be charged. Tickets after change cannot be refunded. After the waiting order was successfully redeemed, the account applied twice in the 12306 system to change the three second-class tickets G1654 on the waiting list. The first time it was planned to be changed to the G1654 Xiamen to Yixing section on March 5, and the second time it was planned to be changed to the D3296 Xiamen North to Yixing section on March 8, but in the end, the above two changed orders were canceled during the change payment process, and the change steps were not completed.
In addition, after verification, the passenger ticket purchase screen shown in the report is not the Railway 12306 website or App page.
The Railway 12306 Technology Center recommends that passengers must purchase tickets through 12306, the only official platform. When submitting a waitlist ticket purchase order, they must carefully check the waitlist ticket purchase rules published on the 12306 website (including the App). Before the self-selected waitlist redemption deadline, follow the method of receiving notifications you choose and determine, and pay attention to the system notification information in a timely manner; if you purchase tickets for other trains, you must cancel the waitlist ticket purchase order in time. At the same time, the Railway 12306 Technical Center will continue to optimize and improve the waitlist ticket purchase strategy, waitlist redemption rules and notification methods, and strive to provide better services to the majority of passengers.
