On April 22nd, it was reported that the topic of purchasing tickets for the upcoming May Day holiday has become a hot issue, with many people complaining about the difficulty of buying tickets.
As a result, the paid services offered by third-party platforms, such as "lightning-fast ticket snatching" and "ticket-snatching tools," have garnered attention for claiming to prioritize ticket purchases.
According to media reports, customer service representatives from 12306 stated that the railway department has not authorized any third-party software for ticket purchases. The ticket-snatching function provided to users by third-party platforms essentially means that passengers are entrusting their information to these platforms, which then go to 12306 on behalf of the passengers for standby tickets.
It's been clarified by China Railway Corporation (CRC) multiple times that the railway ticketing platform, 12306, has never authorized any third-party platforms to sell train tickets, nor does it provide any so-called "priority ticketing rights" to third-party platforms.
Officials also warn that third-party platforms may retain user information during the ticket purchasing process. Not only do they have pitfalls such as additional fees, expedited packages, bundled sales services, but there's also a risk of personal information leakage.
Passengers are strongly advised to purchase tickets through official railway channels and to identify the official 12306 website (including the client).
