National railway authorities have implemented stringent measures against malicious ticket scalping, with the topic "12306 Rejects Over One Million Tickets from Scalping Software" trending online. Since the start of ticket sales for the Labour Day holiday, the 12306 system has employed technical measures to place accounts exhibiting abnormal behavior into a slow queue, and in some cases, has refused to issue tickets altogether. Numerous consumers have reported on social media that when ordering train tickets through third-party platforms, they encountered error messages and failed transactions. Functions like waitlisting and ticket changes or refunds have also become unstable. One consumer stated, "My company's corporate travel service provider showed it was under maintenance, making it impossible to purchase tickets. I had to pay for my weekend business trip tickets out of pocket. Who will cover these losses?"
An industry insider commented, "OTA platforms for individual travelers are largely unaffected, but TMC corporate travel platforms have been significantly impacted." When asked about the current ticket issuance situation, customer service representatives from several corporate travel platforms provided updates. A representative from Tongcheng Corporate Travel stated that official 12306 system upgrades in recent days led to unstable integration, preventing third-party platforms from automatically issuing tickets. Service is gradually recovering, although issuance times are slightly longer, taking approximately 15 minutes after a seat is successfully reserved and approval is granted. Staff from Alibaba Corporate Travel also confirmed that tickets can now be issued normally, albeit at a slower pace. According to sources, under tightened regulatory scrutiny, some third-party platforms have shifted their operations to offline channels.
Recently, multiple users reported being unable to obtain tickets when booking through Trip.com Group Limited's corporate travel service. They described situations where seat reservation attempts showed anomalies, while watching the number of available seats on 12306 decrease. Users reported difficulties reaching customer service, with calls going unanswered for minutes. When finally connected, they were advised to use an emergency manual抢票 service, essentially a human跑腿 service to purchase tickets, with no guarantee of success. Subsequently, some Trip.com Corporate Travel users reported receiving notifications from staff indicating that, due to comprehensive upgrades in related system risk controls starting from April 16, 2026, online ticket issuance services for third-party platforms had been interrupted. The platform's own automatic online issuance function was similarly affected and could not provide stable service. From 12:00 on April 17, 2026, the train ticket booking entry in the Trip.com Corporate Travel app would be gradually closed. The company recommended users prioritize purchasing tickets through the official "12306" channel and seek reimbursement afterward.
Stricter management of third-party platform ticket purchasing behavior had been foreshadowed. In early April, the Cyberspace Administration of China and the National Railway Administration jointly summoned seven third-party internet platforms involved in train ticket sales, including Trip.com Group Limited, Tongcheng, Qunar, Fliggy, Meituan, Zhixing Train Ticket, and Gaotie Guanjia. The authorities demanded these platforms refrain from using automated programs to conduct large-scale, high-frequency抢票 operations that interfere with the security verification measures of the Railway 12306 platform, and not to disrupt or endanger its safe and stable operation. An analyst suggested the root problem is that OTA platforms use methods resembling DDoS attacks to overwhelm 12306 servers with brute-force抢票 attempts, disrupting basic service pathways. They believe the railway authority's actions are an extension of previous warnings, indicating some parties have not heeded repeated admonitions.
This crackdown on malicious ticket grabbing occurs against a backdrop of multiple factors. Regulatory rectification remains stringent following the recent meetings, coinciding with the peak ticket release period for the Labour Day holiday, which places significant pressure on the 12306 system. According to information released by China State Railway Group, over a three-day period from April 16 to 18, the 12306 system placed 5.64 million transactions into a slow queue and rejected ticket issuance for 704,000 transactions, totaling 1.056 million tickets. The intercepted accounts were primarily those not used for purchasing tickets for the account holder themselves, or payment accounts frequently used to pay for a large volume of orders for others. These accounts were subjected to slow queuing or outright rejection, resulting in "waiting" statuses during purchase attempts or "purchase failed" messages during payment.
In response to the regulatory tightening, third-party platforms have devised new countermeasures. An industry insider revealed that some platforms are now sending staff to queue offline to purchase tickets, bypassing online channels. Another source mentioned that some corporate travel suppliers have turned to travel agencies with offline ticketing资质 to issue tickets. Such tickets are marked as "offline issuance" within the 12306 system, a method reportedly used recently by suppliers for several corporate events.
Some users describe third-party ticketing platforms as "digital scalpers," operating 24/7. Certain consumers acknowledge that the 12306 platform is functional and its features are increasingly comprehensive, but point out that third-party platforms offer some detailed services not currently available on 12306. For instance, OTA platforms often provide more imaginative transfer itineraries compared to the limited and rigid options on 12306. OTA software can also monitor ticket availability and automatically submit waitlist requests when no slots are available on 12306. They can create automatic rebooking orders for seat changes on the same train.
However, third-party platforms have long been criticized for various issues, primarily related to fees. Passengers have reported instances where, after failing to secure a ticket through a platform's抢票 function but succeeding manually on 12306, the platform still charged a service fee, seemingly by detecting any new available ticket rather than matching specific orders. Others found that changing tickets via Trip.com Group Limited was twice as expensive as doing so directly through 12306.
The essence of so-called "抢票神器" (ticket-grabbing tools) and "acceleration packs" is often a scheme that profits from information asymmetry and legal gray areas, consuming substantial 12306 interface resources. For example, a popular "seat change function" on some platforms essentially utilizes the ticket change allowance. Furthermore, accounts authorized for use by third-party platforms can be utilized to刷票, potentially leading to situations where User A's account purchases a ticket for User B. In such cases, the ticket appears under "My Tickets" in User A's 12306 account, but the payment order resides with User B, who could then cancel the ticket using their own account.
There are also consumer reports of discrepancies, such as being issued a lower berth ticket by Trip.com Group Limited, only to find it was a middle berth when checking the 12306 app, with compensation offered in the form of a 30 RMB voucher.
How can 12306 further improve its functionality to prevent exploitation by "digital scalpers"? Some consumers suggest integrating waitlisting into 12306's ticket change function, noting that third-party platforms' change抢 feature is very effective for those wanting to switch to a better train without constantly monitoring availability or risking a refund. Following the regulatory storm, should third-party platforms reassess their role? Users suggest a combined approach: using third-party platforms for their rich transfer itinerary suggestions and then purchasing tickets directly on 12306 based on those plans. Analysts believe that only by restoring market rationality can the survival foundation of the "ticket grabbing" industry chain be fundamentally severed.
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