Top consumer complaints in 2024 - Voxya Consumer Forum Online

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

Famous Travel Companies in India

1. Make My Trip
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.

2. Yatra:
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.

3. OYO:
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.

4. GOIBIBO:
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.

5. HappyEasyGo:
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.

6. Thomas Cook:
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.

7. Clear Trip:
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.

8. Travel Guru:
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.

9. Travel Triangle:
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.

10. Travelocity India:
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.

Types of Travel Complaints

1. Tickets canceled, but money is not refunded:
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.

2. No refund for flights canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic:
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.

3. Partial refund for the flights canceled due to COVID-19:
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.

4. No refund against booked packages:
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.

5. Unable to connect with customer care service:
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.

6. Fraudulent booking agents:
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.

7. Rescheduling of flights due to COVID-19:
Due to Corona pandemic, many people had to reschedule their flights, but travel companies are not helping them or are not considering their request.

8. Over billing by travel companies:
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.

How to resolve travel complaints?

1. File support ticket/send an email:
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

2. Call Customer support:
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

3. Report to the airlines/hotel directly:
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.

4. Send Legal Notice:
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.

5. File consumer forum case:
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 how you can file a case in the consumer court?

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 file a complaint against travel company. 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

Money deducted, Ticket not booked

No Refund

Booking canceled

Customer care not responding

Bad hotel booked

Misbehavior by staff

Fraudulent Booking agents

Fake Club membership sold

Train canceled without knowledge

Booking dates changed

Room was not clean

Cab did not arrive on time

Cab driver canceled the trip

Money not refunded (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) ^Open

#Cheat #Travel #Covid Booked ticket, PNR got canceled from Airline due to technical issue. Paid ***** Rs. but recieved ***.Asking daily, getting no answer from both Airindia & Make My trip. PNR - YLLWV, NF************* Etcket No. - *******...

Nov 24, 2020 by Garima Singh

Refund not Received (Makemy Trip) ^Open

We had following bookings from Chicago to Mumbai for July ** **** by Lufthansa flight LH ***: *. Ritu Bhatia PNR no. VA*BLV *. Mukesh Bhatia PNR no. VCBF*P The above tickets were booked through Make-my-Trip.c...

Nov 24, 2020 by Mukesh Bhatia

Refund (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) ^Open

Reference No. ***************** : NF************** I booked my flight Pat/del on ** May on Indigo (the airline refunded money to my wallet and I used it) and return on * June on Air India. Air India has refunded Rs **** to my MMT wallet but MMT...

Nov 24, 2020 by Suvarna Oommen

REFUND NOT RECEIVED (Travolook) ^Open

I had book a ticket Mumbai to Cohin on **/**/**** My Booking is Cancelled with travolook.in :REF********* But still todat date refund amount not recieved ...

Nov 23, 2020 by Bhim Mistry

Hotel Booing Cancelled (Make My Trip) ^Open

We have booked hotel in Goa on **.**.**** through MMT App and it had shown the booking is cancelled due to a technical issue without booking ID but the amount got debited from the bank account. We inquired with the bank on **.**.**** and they s...

Nov 22, 2020 by Jaswanth

No customer complaint system available on make my trip (Make My Trip) ^Open

*. I purchased a ticket my make my trip. The airlines is INDIGO airlines. *. Indigo airlines informed me that my ticket has been cancelled. *. I wish to confirm it from Make my trip. I went through make my trip website & came to know that a....

Nov 22, 2020 by VINOD KUMAR VERMA

TRIP CANCELED BUT NO REFUND (Malabar Tours Travels) ^Open

I am Dr. Navya Rakesh and I reserved a tour to Singapore on **/**/**** and my travel date was supposed to be on **/**/**** and due to the Covid **, all the flights were canceled and since then we were getting in touch with the Travels and they ...

Nov 21, 2020 by NAVYA SETHU

Fraud by travel agency Tour by Nature (Tour By Nature) ^Open

We friends were planning for a trip to kerela on *th December **** so we google the travel agency in India there we find out one tour by nature they were having their own site. There was a requirement form on their site we filed that form after...

Nov 21, 2020 by Kunal Vibhute

Bus Stranded gor more than 15 hrs (Mercy Travels) ^Open

I have booked a bus from Mercy travel s from Udupi to Dombivli, this bus broke doen near belgaum at around *.** pm of ** Nov **, this is still stranded at the same location for more than ** hrs, the owner Mr Rashid is mot responding and all the...

Nov 20, 2020 by Jitesh Poojari

Refund not received after cancellation of chardham trip due tto lockdown (Add my India trip pvt Ltd) ^Open

We have booked Chardham Yatra for group of ** adults and * Children from ADD MY India trip Pvt Ltd for which they quoted us Total ******.** and extra *****.** for Helicopter booking. Trip was scheduled from *th May'** to **th May'** for which W...

Nov 19, 2020 by Ajay Sharma

Travolook Amount deducted but flight ticket not booked (Travolook Flight Booking) ^Open

I booked a flight ticket on Travolook on **th November, **** and I did not get confirmation for the flight. My account got debited for Rs. **** and later on they mailed saying that your ticket could not be booked and they will refund the amount...

Nov 17, 2020 by Shreyas

Cleartrip fraud didnt receive refund in my account but in cleartrip app it shows that amount is refu (Cleartrip) ^Open

I have booked flight on ** st march **** from cleartrip, flight was cancelled due to covid reasons. The airline refunded the amount to cleartrip. After months of communicating with cleartrip now it shows that they have refunded my amount in my ...

Nov 17, 2020 by Suchampa bagchi

Happy not refunding my money (Happy Easy Go) ^Open

I booked two indigo flight tickets scheduled on *nd and **th April, **** through happy easy go travel agent. These flights were cancelled due to govt imposed covid restrictions and Indigo has refunded the full amount of Rs **** back to this hap...

Nov 15, 2020 by Shreya Dey

Extra amount charged by OLA cab (OLA cab Pune) ^Open

Main concern is : I have travelled *** km. but actually charged for *** km. Driver have gone somewhere during night without approval or information and the additional distance is charged to me. Need to Investigate : *. Driver location to be ...

Nov 13, 2020 by Girish Jagannath Kshirsagar

Refund not provided (Make my trip) ^Open

My Etihad flight booked on ** August through Makemytrip was cancelled by Airline. I have tried to raise multiple tickets and called numerous times but no refund has been provided till date. MMT is purposefully ignoring my emails and calls to a...

Nov 12, 2020 by Aditya Kunturkar

Ticket not booked money deducted (Ease my trip com) ^Open

These emails. My pnr number is YZ*QM - Please note this ticket was booked for **th november earlier and then it was rescheduled to **th november and no ticket number was generated. i kept running around their support teams byt no response r...

Nov 08, 2020 by Deepika garg

Airline ticket refund not processed Fraud and cheating complaint (Travolook) ^Open

This is a fraud travel agency. They will never refund the amount in case of a cancellation. Even when the airlines has confirmed in writing that they've refunded the amount to the travel agent Travalook, they will say we haven't recd. any refun...

Nov 05, 2020 by Umang khemka

GO ibibo not yet refunded the money for the cancelled flight (GO IBIBO) ^Open

I had already booked a ticket from go ibibo from kochi to Dubai scheduled on March **th.The airline was not functional on that day. I have raised a refund request , until now it is not settled.There is no way to contact their customer service.I...

Nov 05, 2020 by Jikku

Non refund of advance by OYO LIFE in (Oyo Life) ^Open

I, Deepa and my husband Eswar from Tirupathi came to Chennai for critical maternity medical purpose and moved in to OYO LIFE CHN**** room on **.**.**** which was located in Mylapore of Chennai. *. Booking ID : ****** paid an amount of Rs. ***...

Nov 03, 2020 by SAMANTHI DEEPA

Fraud by passportsevaindia in (passportsevaindia in website) ^Open

On * November ****, I had applied on passportsevaindia.in for a passport for my father and total amount of INR **** was charged after filling all the details in the application form. The money has been debited from my account and even received ...

Nov 03, 2020 by Brinta Kusum De

OYO not providing GST bills (Oyo) ^Closed

I have been travelling since **th April **** regarding official work. I have booked different hotels via ** different bookings. I have provided GST details in advance before booking the hotel. But I have received a GST bill for none. OYO provid...

May 23, 2019 by Ankit Singh

Overcharged by the Uber Cab (Uber Cabs) ^Closed

Overcharged by stopping the journey at a different location. Also, he took my booking and was a minute away, suddenly he disappeared and came and picked me after ** minutes. And they overcharged me....

May 23, 2019 by Unnikrishnan

Hotel booking cancelled amount not refunded (Oyo Hotel) ^Closed

On ** May **** Oyo ***** heritage stay Ooty was booked online and immediately within ** minutes booking was cancelled but there is no information regarding a refund. An amount of **** was debited for booking with reference number AGLU****. Kind...

May 23, 2019 by Nithindas

Booking of hotel (Hotel JC Grand) ^Closed

This is regarding the portfolio of makemytrip hotels. With lots of expectations, we had booked a room in Hotel JC Grand for our stay on **st May **** in Kodaikanal through MMT. They have a few hotels in their portfolio which they don't even che...

May 22, 2019 by Rajalakshmi Vijaykumar

Security amount not refunded (Oyo) ^Closed

Accommodation vacated on *-May-**. The refund should have been processed by **-May-**, but it's still not processed....

May 21, 2019 by Rohan Gupta

Worst service and false commitments (Railyatri) ^Closed

Why railyatri is a scam and provides the worst customer experience ever. This was my second journey and they heavily disappointed me again. My pickup point was changed without any prior information (Mahamaya flyover to Mayur Vihar Ext.). If I h...

May 21, 2019 by Ashish Chaurasia

No refund for round trip flight cancelled for onward journey (Goibibo) ^Closed

I've booked flights via GoIbibo for the same day (May **th, ****) to and fro journey between Vijayawada and Hyderabad. Vijayawada to Hyderabad flight operated by SpiceJet was to start at *:** am on May **th, **** and the return flight from Hyde...

May 21, 2019 by Kalyan K Gorrepati

Stay problem in room (OYO Rooms) ^Closed

Can you please make the check out time as ** hours. This system is too inconvenient. My father and I were travelling from Phagwara to Delhi. We booked an Oyo room and the next day our train was at *:** pm. We literally begged the owner of the h...

May 20, 2019 by Einjala sithara

Uber is not replying (Uber Cabs) ^Closed

I booked a cab on **th April **** and was waiting for my cab to arrive. It was taking time to come so I called the cab driver to confirm where he was. He asked my destination and cancelled my ride. I booked a cab again now this time the driver ...

May 20, 2019 by Amar Pereira

False picture of hotel at oyo (Oyo) ^Closed

BOOKING ID: BQSG**** The pictures shown are completely different from the room which I have been provided. I booked a room for my parents and they were taken aback after seeing that room which is completely different from shown in the picture...

May 20, 2019 by Ashu

Irresponsible behaviour and financial mental harassment (Oyo) ^Closed

*. We booked a hotel in Kapashera, a *X room quite spacious and pleasant to look at a week prior to the actual booking date. The hotel was situated at a distance of **-** km from the place we reside in ( booked it because it was extremely beaut...

May 18, 2019 by Yash Kumar

Someone used my email id for booking room in different state (Oyo) ^Closed

Someone used my email for booking hotel in OYO. God knows I tried calling customer care emailed them, messaged them on facebook but of no use. Such bad customer care service. Now I don't know what I should do. I don't want any problems that mig...

May 18, 2019 by ASHISH BHARDWAJ

Refund not provided (Make My Trip) ^Closed

I have paid ***** Rs. for * flight tickets from Mumbai to Varanasi through make my trip. It was jet airways flight which was cancelled directly from them. I should get my full refund back as it was direct airline cancellation and make my trip o...

May 18, 2019 by Aanchal arora

Refund not processed since a month (Makemytrip.com) ^Closed

They sent an email stating that the refund will take ** business days. It’s been a month that they haven’t provided it. When I keep calling I get shouted on by their agents and they disconnect the calls on my face. Pathetic cx service. No e...

May 17, 2019 by Siddhant

Refusing to offer promised discount and services (Yatra.com) ^Closed

I booked Yatra Europe Supersaver package id- YH******* / YH******* for * adults and * child on **th March ****. Following are my concerns: *. No one reverts over mail and calls unless we chase them by continuously calling and mailing. *. Pr...

May 16, 2019 by SHAKUN VIJAY

Poor cab service (Makemytrip (india) Pvt. Ltd.) ^Closed

We have booked a trip with MakeMyTrip. The cab service provided is horrible. Cab driver literally spoiled our holidays. We had to engage new cab locally even after paying money to MakeMyTrip. I have lodged a complaint with MakeMyTrip also. Very...

May 16, 2019 by A Suresh Kumar

Denied room at 3 am (Oyo) ^Closed

I already booked through Oyo. They called and said the booking has happened but the hotel denied to give the room to me at * am in Nellore. I need compensation for how much I suffer. I didn't get a proper solution from Oyo. The messages detail...

May 16, 2019 by Anoop

Fraud tourism company (aflac tourism) ^Closed

The company will steal money from you and provide you with anything. I have looted **** rupees and they do it on an everyday basis. Please beware. They target freshers and loot them systematically. They will also dupe you of **** and **** rupee...

May 15, 2019 by NAMIT DEY

Overcharged by the hotel (Oyo) ^Closed

We stayed at Oyo ***** Sanman Regency, Mysore on the **th of May to the **th of May **** and occupied * rooms. Booking was done under the name Prasad Khade, booking ID SFCP****. We were charged **** INR for each room for * night and **** INR in...

May 15, 2019 by Prasad Khade

Denying to refund after taking double payment (Oyo) ^Closed

I prepaid my hotel booking for my family to avoid any inconvenience. But at the hotel staff said they don't honour Oyo payment. I called Oyo executive they said to pay at the hotel the money will be refunded. Whenever I called they said refund ...

May 15, 2019 by SHUBHAM RAJ