Travel Complaints
There are various modes of transportation in India be it through air, sea or land. Indian transportation, due to its immense population, is one of the most widely used in the world.
For traveling within India people generally prefer to rent a car or travel via train or bus as they deem convenient. Ola and Uber are prime examples of this. These startups have skyrocketed and are one of most used traveling apps in the India.
Meanwhile, many people prefer to travel via plane as it saves times. For this they either book the ticket through the website directly or look for agents to do the same.
Apart from big names there are some private travel agencies in Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Kolkata etc, which try to lure customers by offering them lucrative discounts. Travel agent frauds are quite prevalent in India. The most common travel agent/agency complaints include refund not provided, hotel denying check-in, fake promises etc.
Travel complaints have a sense of urgency and responsibility attached to them because no one wants to board a late flight or wants to stay in low-quality hotel.
We all want our travels and trips to be smooth right from the beginning. And if something does not go as per our expectations, the mood gets spoiled!
Therefore, it brings a significant responsibility on the shoulders of the travel companies to solve the issues faced by their customers. One should only book their hotels/flights via trustworthy sites to avoid getting duped. However, sometimes even these reputed travel companies commit an error.
In this article, we have covered the common travel complaints that are faced by customers and how you can resolve them.
But first lets check out the famous travel companies in India
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<p class="artpara" style="color:#D0021B !important;font-size:1.5em;margin-top:-30px !important;"><b>Famous Travel Companies in India</b></p>
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<b>1. Make My Trip</b>
Make my Trip is one of the leading online travel companies in India. In 2000 it was founded by Deepak Kalra and had its headquarters in Gurugram, Haryana.
They have more than 14 company-owned travel stores in India and have over 30 franchisee-owned travel stores in India. They also have offices in Dubai, Phuket, Bangkok, New York, Kuala, and Lumpur.
<b>2. Yatra:</b>
Founded by Manish Amin, Sabina Chopra, and Dhruv Shringi in 2006, Yatra.com is the pre-eminent Indian online travel agency. It is based in Gurugram, Haryana. According to the sources in 2012, Yatra became the second-largest online travel service provider company in India.
<b>3. OYO:</b>
Oyo rooms, popularly known as Oyo hotels and rooms and stylized as OYO, is the fastest and largest growing hospitality chain in India. They worked on the franchising and leased system, which fortunately turned out to be the best for the company. Founded by Ritesh Agarwal in 2013, OYO gained much popularity right from the beginning.
<b>4. GOIBIBO:</b>
Subsidiary of Make My Trip Limited, Mauritius Ibibo, is a travel organization in 2006 by Ashish Kashyap. In 2013 Goibibo made it among the top five most trusted e-commerce brands in India.
<b>5. HappyEasyGo:</b>
Happy Easy Go is one of the emerging online travel company founded by Boris Zha in 2017. In 2019 it became the second-largest online travel booking platform in India and had more than 10 million customer bases all over the world. It has its headquarters in Gurugram, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and Singapore. During late 2018 HappyEasyGo established its hotel business.
<b>6. Thomas Cook:</b>
Thomas Cook (India) Ltd has its headquarters in Mumbai and caters to all the travel related requirements from visas to foreign exchange. They established themselves in India in 1881 and expanded its business to all the nearby countries.
<b>7. Clear Trip:</b>
Clear Trip earlier was known as Clear Trip Travel Services Private limited is a universal online travel company established in 2016. It has its headquarters in Dubai and Mumbai. In India, they started with a vision of making travel simple by bridging the gap between the Indian hospitality and travel sector. It was founded as an air and hotel aggregator by Stuart Crighton, Mathew Spacie, and Hrush Bhatt.
<b>8. Travel Guru:</b>
Travel Guru is India’s leading and growing travel website. It offers flights, holiday packages, and hotels at the best prices; they aim to make your trip smooth and convenient.
<b>9. Travel Triangle:</b>
Founded by three IIT graduates Sanchit Garg, Prabhat Gupta, and Sankalp Agarwal. It is India’s first fully stacked Holiday Marketplace that connects verified travel agents and travelers. It was founded in 2011 and competed with companies such as Thrillophilia. It is a platform that is trusted by many.
<b>10. Travelocity India:</b>
It is rated as one of the best online travel portals in the world and perfectly caters to the local needs of the people by launching specialized programs. In India, they cater to both business and leisure requirements.
<p class="artpara" style="color:#D0021B !important;font-size:1.5em;margin-top:-30px !important;"><b>Types of Travel Complaints</b></p>
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<b>1. Tickets canceled, but money is not refunded:</b>
One of the significant problems that are being faced by customers of major travel companies is that they cancel the tickets, but money is not credited to their bank account. This is the most common issue faced by almost all the consumers in cities like Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi and Bengaluru.
During COVID-19 times, many have reported on the internet that they have booked tickets, and they got canceled due to the pandemic. However, the companies did not refund the amount. Either they are saying that they have refunded the amount, or instead, they are offering a credit voucher.
<b>2. No refund for flights canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic:</b>
Due to the global pandemic, suddenly, flights were canceled. It was reported by customers of many major travel companies that they did not get their refund; however, the airlines did return the full booking amount. Many customers were upset because the travel companies did not inform them about the refund from the airlines.
<b>3. Partial refund for the flights canceled due to COVID-19:</b>
Many customers reported that they did not receive the full amount of flights they booked pre-corona. However, airlines have refunded the entire amount, but travel companies did not credit the whole amount; instead, they deducted a certain amount without giving any valid reason.
<b>4. No refund against booked packages:</b>
Many planned trips in June assuming that pandemic will end, but in the wake of current times, still, the tourism industry is on hold.
As people booked packages for traveling and now are requesting for a refund, but many companies are simply denying it.
However, many customers are disturbed with it because, in these uncertain times, they are struggling so much to get their refund.
<b>5. Unable to connect with customer care service:</b>
Many customers from significant travel companies face this very issue when they contact the customer care, they are not entertained, or their complaints are not correctly handled.
Many faced this particular issue while they were contacting the customer care, and their complaints were not appropriately welcomed or they were not able to connect with them.
<b>6. Fraudulent booking agents:</b>
Many travel companies have their booking agents, but some fraudsters just dive in and cheat people.
Many customers from significant companies, including Make My Trip and Yatra complained that they had been cheated by fraudsters in the name of these companies, and they have demanded a refund from the company.
<b>7. Rescheduling of flights due to COVID-19:</b>
Due to Corona pandemic, many people had to reschedule their flights, but travel companies are not helping them or are not considering their request.
<b>8. Over billing by travel companies:</b>
The most common types of complaints regarding Ola and Uber include over billing issues and not returning the left item in the cab. But you can try contacting the customer care number of Ola which is 098842437 and customer care of Uber which is 1300091272.
<p class="artpara" style="color:#D0021B !important;font-size:1.5em;margin-top:-30px !important;"><b>How to resolve travel complaints?</b></p>
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<b>1. File support ticket/send an email:</b>
You can always contact travel companies through their official website by going to their contact us section and by sending them an email. Customer service emails of some leading travel companies are:
Yatra- support@yatra.com
Make My Trip- care@makemytrip.com
Happy Easy Go- cs@happyeasygo.com
Clear Trip- customersupport@cleartrip.com
Goibibo- travel@goibibo.com
Travel guru- service@travelguru.com
<b>2. Call Customer support:</b>
One of the perfect ways to directly come in contact with the travel company is by contacting it through phone call for customer support. All these well-known travel companies have a 24*7 working customer care number which helps in resolving complaints as they value customer feedback. The customer care number of some of the leading travel agencies and hospitality companies in India are :
Cox and Kings Customer Care Number - 1800 209 0400
Thomas Cook Customer Care Number - 1800 209 9100
Club Mahindra Holidays Customer Care Number - 044 6695 3435
Expedia Customer Care Number – 800-319-4834
Yatra Customer Care Number - 0124 3040500
Goibibo Customer Care Number - 1800 208 1060
Makemytrip Customer Care Number - 1800 102 8747
Travelguru Customer Care Number - +91 92111 77444
Oyo Customer Care Number - 093139 31393
RedBus Customer Care Number - 1860 121 2102
<b>3. Report to the airlines/hotel directly:</b>
As we have seen above, many customers have reported that the airlines and hotels have issued a refund, but the travel companies have not refunded the money in the bank accounts. It is always better to contact the airlines or hotels directly if the companies don’t issue a refund by time. You can contact the airlines and hotels by calling them on their customer care number or by sending the email.
<b>4. Send Legal Notice:</b>
Consumers can send legal notices to travel company in case it is unable to resolve his complaint. It is one of the efficient ways to handle the issue legally. Check below to know how to send a legal notice to travel company?
Step 1: Firstly, get a legal notice drafted by a lawyer.
Step 2: Check it properly and make sure it is signed by lawyer.
Step 3: Keep a copy of it for future purposes.
Step 4: Send the legal notice to travel company by registered post.
Step 5: Keep the slip or delivery report for evidence.
<b>5. File consumer forum case:</b>
Consumer forum deals with consumer complaints and you should approach consumer forum if you feel that your rights as a consumer have been violated.
If travel company is not responding to your complaints even after sending legal notice by a lawyer then you should file a case against it in a consumer court.
Here is <b>how you can file a case in the consumer court?</b>
Step 1: Intimate the aggrieved party via legal notice.
Step 2: Draft the consumer complaint
Step 3: Attach all the relevant documents and proofs to support your complaint.
Step 4: Select the appropriate court for filing the complaint.
Step 5: Pay the prescribed court fee that is required to be paid along with the complaint.
Step 6: Submit the case along with the affidavit & fees in the court.
If you feel uncomfortable doing all this yourself, then you should use Voxya to <a href="https://voxya.com/file-consumer-complaint?ref=onlComp">file a complaint against travel company</a>. We will send Legal Notice and prepare Case for filing in consumer court. We, at Voxya, are generally receiving more than 100 travel consumer complaints every month.
Most Common Issue Reported for Travel Complaints
Complaints
Refund not received (Paytm Travels ) Open
I booked an air ticket for Indigo airlines using Paytm vide Order # *********** . The amount paid was Rs. ****.(Rs **** using Paytm gift voucher + *** from Paytm wallet) Due to lock down the flight was cancelled and the airline initiated ful...
Sep 12, 2020 by Pooja Aggarwal
Refund not received (Goibibo) Open
I had done booking for * passengers from Delhi to Singapore from *th to **th April via goibibo from Singapore airlines. Singapore airlines confirmed that they have refunded the amount to goibibo. Even received email from goibibo that Rs.*,**,**...
Sep 12, 2020 by Nishika Divya
Refund not done by ibibo (Ibibo) Open
I booked an air ticket with indigo.com on **st of May **** and was supposed to travel on *th June ****, but due to covid **, the airlines had cancelled my ticket. Now for a refund, they asked me to contact goibibo. Hence I claimed to goibibo, t...
Sep 11, 2020 by xavier lindez fernandez
Company denying to refund the amount in cash (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
I have booked a Roundtrip travel(Booking ID: NN*************) to Bali of the dates **th April **** and **th April **** respectively and the airlines was Flyscoot. The Flights got cancelled due to the Covid-** situation. a) I was unable to c...
Sep 10, 2020 by Swaminathan C
Refund has not received (Goibibo) Open
I Have Made Booking For My Flight Tickets To nagpur-delhi and delhi-nagpurThrough GOIBIBO, Flights Got Cancelled Due To COVID , I Got Confirmation From The Airlines That They Have Given Full Refunds For All My Tickets To GOIBIBO, However I have...
Sep 09, 2020 by Yugandhara kale
Refund not processed (Make my trip) Open
Hello there, I have partially cancelled my * tickets which I have booked For **th of July ****,and the amount of refund which have to come in my account was Rs.**,***. But after cancelling I only get some amount that is Rs.**** in my account ...
Sep 09, 2020 by Abhishek Ambasta
Refund Not Received (Happy Easy Go) Open
I booked a flight from San Luis Obispo to New Delhi on **th Mar ****. But i got cancelled due to COVID **, the airlines refunded the money back to Happy Easy Go long time ago, but still Happy Easy Go haven't refunded my money....
Sep 09, 2020 by Shubham Gupta
Refund not issued against travel insurance (Liberty Insurance Co Ltd and EaseMyTrip) Open
I had booked a flight ticket with EaseMyTrip for travel from Guwahati to Bagdogra (PNR OK**MQ) on **/**/**** for INR **** (including INR *** as Cancellation Ins. premium) with ***% insurance against cancellation. I cancelled the ticket on **/**...
Sep 09, 2020 by NISHANT SHARMA
Refund pending for flight cancellation (Happyeasygo.com) Open
I made a booking via Happyeasygo , but the flight was cancelled by airline due to corona lockdown. I confirmed with airline they have already processed the refund but after * and a half months I have not received refund from happyeasygo. I have...
Sep 08, 2020 by Pankaj vaswani
Air ticket Refund not done (Cleartrip) Open
I purchased ticket for my daughter trip from Chennai to Kuwait, Qatar Airways, on *th march,****, the transaction was unsuccessful but my bank account was charged KD ***.***, I did two transactions both were unsuccessful and amount was charge...
Sep 07, 2020 by Shaikh Esdani Basha
Refund not initiated (Goibibo) Open
I booked a air asia airline ticket PNR -DTZNKI dated **/**/** through goibibo, but the flight was cancelled due to covid **, so I cancelled the ticket and apply for refund. But even after * months, I did not get my money back. Even airline com...
Sep 07, 2020 by Pranshu jain
Refund from Make My Trip not received (Make My Trip) Open
Dear Sir, I am writing with great hope that I will get justice. In **** I book Jet Airways ticket (Reference No. **************** : NN*************) for my parents from Pune (India) to Perth (Australia) and back from make my trip portal. I...
Sep 06, 2020 by Joshua Aston
i book the hotel throught goibibo for * nights with free cancellation/modification facility .for **** rupee i then modify my booking from * nights to * nights and at the time of modifying . in dashborad it's written that for * nights you will ...
Sep 06, 2020 by shubham muramkar
Convenience Fee still not refunded (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
During the sudden pandemic it was our worst experience with MMT . We booked a flight on ** Feb for flight scheduled for ** April ****.But due to the pandemic the flights were cancelled all of a sudden and our money got stuck with MMT .After cha...
Sep 05, 2020 by Salil Khanna
Goibibo is not processing any refund (Goibibio) Open
It is extremely disappointing that, after processing the refund by airline authorities, companies like Goibibo is not giving refund back to customer evenafter months....
Sep 05, 2020 by Tijo James
Paid amount not refunded by Goibibo (Goibibio) Open
I book a flight ticket of booking id GOFLD***************, and it is round trip from Jaipur- Delhi- Patna on **st July and Patna- Delhi- Jaipur on *th August and PNR is L*F*RI and XYL*MP respectively. I would like to say that the above mentione...
Sep 01, 2020 by Masoom Wahid
REFUND (EBIX Travels Private Limited formerly known as FlightRaja Travels Private Limited ) Open
REGARDS,I HAVE BEEN MADE BOOKING IN FEB ** WITH INDIGO AIRLINE WITH VIADOM EBIX WITH BOOKING REF NUMBER FMNLA*ADAE*KP AND PNR NUMBER FL*GYD ,BECOUSE OF COVID ** OUR FLIGHT HAD BEEN CANCELLED AND INDIGO HAS BEEN REFUNDED FULL AMOUNT OF RS...
Aug 31, 2020 by KUMARDEEP ASHK
Refund not processed (Make my trip) Open
I had a flight booked in February and was subsequently cancelled by the airline because of Covid. After several follow ups with the airline, I received a confirmation that refund processed and transferred to travel agent (Makemytrip). Since the...
Aug 30, 2020 by Paranitharan S
Refund (Make My Trip) Open
Sir, on **.**.****, an amount of Rs.****.** (transaction reference No.************IGAJAPUWX*) is debited from my SBI account towards flight ticket booking vide make my trip Booking ID **************. Not received e-ticket and no PNR is generat...
Aug 28, 2020 by Sreenivas
Fake Booking (Ease my trip com) Open
I am really disappointed with EMT services due to fake availabilities and booking on site. I have paid Rs **** and booked a bus ticket (EMT********) with some very urgent cases. I tried call travel agency on **********, ********** but both the...
Aug 27, 2020 by Masood Ahmed Shaikh
"Voxya has been instrumental in addressing my concern. I truly appreciate the prompt and effective assistance provided throughout the process. Will certainly recommend Voxya to others."
Ajay Masih
Complaint filed against: Cleartrip