
Last-minute cancelation of budget flight turned out to be an error
South Korean budget airline Eastar Jet has announced that it’s canceling all returning flights on Wednesdays and all departing flights on Thursdays, between Taipei and Busan, up until the end of March next year. The only exceptions are New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. However, some travelers that booked a ticket with them via Trip.com outside of these dates still got their flights canceled. Turns out it was an error on Trip.com’s behalf, but some travelers have already shelled out several thousands more to cancel and book another flight.
South Korean budget airline Eastar Jet is a popular choice among price sensitive travelers in Taiwan. Recently, it slashed two regular flights between Taipei and Busan.
According to the notice, up until the last week of March next year, all returning flights on Wednesdays and all departing flights on Thursdays will be cancelled, save for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. That said, one traveler still had their flight on a Friday canceled by the third-party booking website.
Voice of Ms. Chen
Flight canceled then restored
In order not to delay our trip, we booked another flight. It’s too soon, so we didn’t have many options left. So we booked tickets for the day before, on Thursday with another airline company. We’ve arranged for time off at work already, and now we have to take another day off. Later Eastar Jet confirmed that our flight wasn’t cancelled.
Ms. Chen said she was notified on Monday by Trip.com of the cancellation, and that she’d spent at least NT$5,000 more to get new tickets, only to have Eastar Jet say the flight was still on. She said it felt like being taken for a ride on April Fool’s Day.
Jesse Lin
Travel content creator
When it comes to budget airlines, their flights are more tightly scheduled, leaving them with less room for contingency. Therefore, when their aircraft requires maintenance or repair works, they may not be able to offer alternatives. If it’s the travel agency’s error that resulted in the cancelation, that makes it a case of consumer dispute, which would call for negotiation with the travel agency.
Ms. Lin
Taiwanese in South Korea
My family back home is waiting for me to join the family reunion, and so seeing news of an abrupt cancellation makes me really worried about whether there will be too many travelers, leading to errors, and whether my flight would be cancelled.
According to Eastar Jet, passengers on three of their fights who booked tickets with Trip.com were affected. In response, Trip.com said a system error made the cancelation notifications go out, which they’ve since corrected. The company also said it will compensate those affected.
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2025-12-16