A Chinese traveler from Beijing is creating a stir as he plans to sue China Southern because the airline is overbooking its flights.

According to the lawyer of the consumer, surnamed Xiao, he went to check in at 19:00 on July 21 at Beijing's Capital Airport for China Southern flight CZ3112 to Guangzhou, which was scheduled to depart at 20:10. But Xiao was told that the plane was fully loaded and overbooked. Later, at Xiao's request, he was arranged to take another flight, which arrived in Guangzhou three hours
later than the previous flight Xiao wanted.

Xiao is asking China Southern to pay him RMB2300 in compensation, but the airline says it didn't do anything wrong, as overbooking is an international practice which has been approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. According to relevant CAAC guidelines, airlines are allowed to sell no more than 5% extra seats for each flight.

The court date has yet been set for this case.