Tour Travel Complaints - Travel Agent Complaints

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

FLIGHT TICKET REFUND (Make My Trip) ^Open

I had purchased tickets from MakeMyTrip from Kochi to Edmonton for approx **,***/-, Unfortunately I was not able to travel and they suggested I keep the tickets as an open ticket which is valid for * year. Having gone ahead with this, Now when ...

Apr 01, 2023 by John Thomas Kuruvilla

Universel Travels Kapil Gupta cheating and taking money in name of flight booking and neither doing (Universel Travels ) ^Open

I had intiated a flight booking from Bangalore to Houston and return through Universal Travels on **th Mar through the reservation person Kapil Gupta. He asked me to send him Rs***** in advance and rest on **th March so he could block the ticke...

Mar 30, 2023 by Payal

Air India cancelled flight and have not refunding my money (Air india) ^Open

I booked ticket with Airline (Air India) Ticket Number : ************* Record Locator : JR*KUO Flight was cancelled at the last moment by the Airline. I had done this booking via travel agency booking.com. I contacted Air India and boo...

Mar 29, 2023 by Rajesh Kumar Singh

Refund not credit (Paytm Travel) ^Open

Sir my name is lakhwinder singh , booked a bus ticket from mukerian to delhi on ** March ****, but bus operator can't connect to me and can't share any details , I try many time to connect with them I am present at boarding point but they left ...

Mar 29, 2023 by Lakhwinder Singh

Refund not credit (Paytm Travel) ^Open

Mar 29, 2023 by Lakhwinder Singh

Refund not credit (Intrcity smart bus) ^Open

Mar 29, 2023 by Lakhwinder Singh

Not getting refund (Sai Consultancy Vadodara) ^Open

There is overseas consultancy named "Sai Consultancy" in Vadodara, Gujarat. I had approched them regarding work visa for Canada. But by chance the Visas got rejected. The as per an agreement made with them that if the visas get rejected then ...

Mar 29, 2023 by Aaron Macwan

Refund and damages (Redbus app) ^Open

The bus left me without picking me from boarding point during odd hours of day. Neither I received any call from driver/bus operator nor they picked up my call....

Mar 29, 2023 by Sumeet Atloye

Advance paid for cancelled Travel plan not refunded (Thomas Cook India Limited) ^Open

We had planned a tour of Egypt on *.**. **** and paid advance to Thomas Cook India Limited.This plan had to be cancelled due to Covid related lockdown, all over India and Egypt. The party had ignored our request for refund and did not respond ...

Mar 28, 2023 by M.Ramachandran

Flight ticket refund (Cleartrip) ^Open

I booked a Chennai to Detroit flight ticket through Cleartrip on **rd March around *.** pm. Unfortunately I got a mail from college which I have to join stating that I can enter USA only after April **th. So I went into Cleartrip app checked al...

Mar 27, 2023 by Sivashankar

Travel Fraud by The flower of holiday travel agency (The flower of holiday) ^Open

I would like to share a very bad travel experience with an agency called “the flower of holiday”. They cheated rupees ***** (**k) for Uttarakhand trip. Initially provided **k for complete package which includes hotel plus ac tempo travele...

Mar 27, 2023 by Chakra Sudarshan Sahu

Unprofessional biker unaccountable support (Rapido bike) ^Open

Actually its about not valueing someone's time. My bike was booked at *:**Am. Which gives plenty of time to reach my office whuch is around * km away from my place. The app showed * min to reach my location and the rider took arund ** min...

Mar 27, 2023 by Shailja Sharma

Ola Cabs Postpaid Scam (Ola) ^Open

*. I travelled using Ola Cabs on **th Dec **** (CRN **********) - Bill amount INR *** paid through Ola Postpiad - As this was chosen as default payment menthod. *. I travelled again using Ola cabs on **th Dec **** (CRN **********) - Bill amoun...

Mar 26, 2023 by Sharan Kumar

Refund not received for cancelled flight ticket (varafi.com) ^Open

Hello Sir, I booked a Round trip flight ticket from Varafi.com on **Feb **** for Kolkata (CCU) to Bangalore (BLR). Booking Id: VID********** Booking Time: **:**, Wed **-Feb Booking Amount: Rs *****/- (paid in the name of WINGINTRVLADVSRY...

Mar 22, 2023 by Nilay Pal

Cashback rewards not received as promised by Agoda (Agoda) ^Open

Hi, my name is Arunachalam. My email id - arun.sharp****@gmail.com. I booked Siloso Beach Resort Sentosa on *-Jan-**** and VGP Golden Beach Resort on **-Jan-****. I was promised for a Cashback Reward of Rs **,***.** after ** days from checkou...

Mar 21, 2023 by Arunachalam

Unsafe Unhygienic rooms in Kerala houseboat (Makemy Trip) ^Open

Make my trip Issue Ref# *****************. We were given unclean and unsafe rooms(nails popping out on the floor) in the house boat on March **, ****. Shared pictures with the tour manager, customer service representative and vendor. Tried to...

Mar 19, 2023 by Deepika Dave

Didnt get refund (REDBUS AMAZON) ^Open

I booked my bus on Sunday *the march **** but it don't get canceled, I was trying it from long time but it didnt get canceled, I tried it before *pm on that day so at least I will get my **% amount back but didn't get any posssitive reply from ...

Mar 18, 2023 by vijay khanapure

Cheated by travel agency (Jaunt Holidays) ^Open

I am writing to file a grievance WRT Jaunt Holidays' service with the recent trip that I had fixed with their team. The Agent Kashish was well informed about our arrival time in the morning at * AM, and due to Jaunt Holiday's poor planning, we...

Mar 14, 2023 by Aishika Nandy

Cleartrip not returning money after it cancelled my ticket (Cleartrip) ^Open

I have booked for my Delhi trip starting on DEC ** **** and return on ** DEC**** I cancelled tickets calling Cleartrip (all communication recoreded and got mail too on cancellation). I was supposed to get *****rs and they sent mail and once ...

Mar 10, 2023 by parthasarathi

Transaction done but booking does not go through money not refunded (Oyo) ^Open

I tried to book hotel from oyo app on ** November ****, for ₹**** , my money was deducted and booking does not go through and never got refunded. It has been more than for months, I have called oyo customer care , emailed them, written to the...

Mar 07, 2023 by Amit Jha

Andheri East Service Apartment Hotel property not there which mentioned address in Yatra (Yatra Com) ^Closed

I booked hotel in Yatra Andheri East Service Apartment Mumbai but hotel not in that address complete day I was stay outside and I raised the complaint in Yatra they sent mail will refund the amount it will get in * working days but amount not r...

Mar 31, 2023 by Mohammed Rashad

Refund not received from Yatra (Yatra.com) ^Closed

I booked flight through Yatra Online Pvt Ltd and had to cancel the flight due to work. The flight was Indigo flight. I checked with Indigo, they have initiated the refund and is pending with Yatra. Flight Details - PNR : VQIMHZ Passenger...

Mar 27, 2023 by Deepika Sharma

I did not receive my refund amount (Ease my trip) ^Closed

I didn't receive refund amount yet kind request you please refund my amount in my bank account.Please find below refund details: Booking id: EMT********* Refund Amount - ****/- Refund Date - **-*-**** Transaction reference ID ...

Mar 27, 2023 by Shripad shahane

Promised Services has not been provided to me they had fooled me (Orange Tours and Travels Red Bus) ^Closed

I had booked a Bus Ticket from Red Bus App, Hyderabad To Mumbai for **th March *PM. At the time of booking, it is shown to me several amenities on the booking app but when i entered the bus there were very few amenities were there. I complained...

Mar 22, 2023 by Vishal T

Didn t receive my refund (Yatra Com) ^Closed

I booked a ticket by yatra on **th January ****,the amount credited from my bank account, but the ticket was not booked.They said that I would get the refund within * to ** working days. Its being ** days Till now I don't get the refund. ...

Mar 19, 2023 by Manoj Koley

Refund of domestic airline yatra com with reference number (Yatra) ^Closed

I had booked domestics air tickets to Mumbai to Goa and goa to Mumbai date was **th March and **th March return and due to some urgent medical emergency we had to cancel we had applied for a option of refund but as always fraud Yatra people hav...

Mar 07, 2023 by Madhukar kamat

Cheating by Easemytrip (Easemytrip) ^Closed

Easemytrip Booking id: EMT********* Hotel name: Hotel Krone, A*** Road No. * Gali Number * This is regarding hotel booking done for **-**-**** to **-**-**** through the website of Easemytrip. When we reached the hotel we were pushed out of...

Mar 04, 2023 by Gopal Mondal

I travelled from delhi to Kolkata and i booked a rapido bike (Rapido) ^Closed

I have booked rapido and my captain cancelled the order stating that fare is very less and send some else to complete the ride (how this is possible), my fare as per rapido was *** but other person is telling ***. Then I canceled and booked ano...

Mar 02, 2023 by Saurav kumar

Hotel rejected booking (Yatra Com) ^Closed

Booked non refundable hotel room @RS **** for *th march to * march which. Hotel (Diphlu Lodge, Kaziranga) has denied the booking and refund is also denied...

Feb 28, 2023 by Achintamay Mazumder

Unhygienic hotel room with a Rat crawling on bed (Make my trip) ^Closed

It was a terrific experience with make my trip hotel booking. Booked a * Star property in goa for a week to have a relaxing get away with my husband and * year old kid. But as soon as we entered the room it was a disaster. The room was so stink...

Feb 21, 2023 by Sapna Bandekar

Cheated the money (Rapido Bike Chennai) ^Closed

I'm Venkat balaji, I have booked a ride on February **th **** morning *.**am to chrompet. The captain name was Shanmugamraj and Ride Id is RD******************. When he started the ride he behaved very weirdly, then he started raising the voice...

Feb 19, 2023 by venkat balaji N

Refunded amount is not as per airline refund even after deducting their convenience fees plus servic (Ease my trip) ^Closed

Kindly note that EMT has received my ticket refund of Rs.*,***/- from Indigo Airline after deduction of airline's cancellation charges and penalties of Rs.****/- out of my total payment of Rs.**,***/- paid by me to Indigo through EMT but now Ea...

Feb 12, 2023 by Sanju Sarda

Refund not given by ease my trip company (Ease my trip) ^Closed

I booked a flight from delhi to leh on. for that air ticket the amount ****rs deducted twice from my phonepay upi. and after that i contact ease my trip customer services i sent many mails to them. but they always said that they initiated...

Feb 06, 2023 by Jatinder singh

Refund not issues (Easemytrip) ^Closed

I had bought air ticket through easemytrip in qatar airways for travel to Chennai to US Washington for travel on **-Mar-****, due to covid the flight got cancelled. Despite following up with them **+ times in email, phones, whatsapp.. i always ...

Feb 06, 2023 by Balaji Sambamurthy

Duplicate Payment to Uber due to the payment failure and was forced to pay cash (Uber Auto) ^Closed

I Booked an Uber Auto on ** Jan **** at *.** AM from Secundrabad Railway Station and the Payment mode was choosen as Gpay. However, on reaching the desitination there was an error that the payment did not get processed while i tried twice and t...

Jan 31, 2023 by Nandita Narayan

Misguide the public (NO BROKER COM) ^Closed

I was willing to purchase a flat in malad East (near passport office) and asked for any leads they told me you have to pay amount of Rs.****then only we will provide you leads and help you to go through this and help you in purchase of flat I w...

Jan 31, 2023 by Rekha Balani

Booking details not rec d after amount debited (Yatra) ^Closed

I have booked a cab for Outstation ride in yatra app. Amount got debited from account but the Booking details not rec'd. Also the complaint made not resolved. ...

Jan 29, 2023 by Balasubramanian

Flight not confirmed refund not received (Yatra) ^Closed

I have booked a ticket from pune to Bengaluru on **/**/****. My money was deducted. After that I have received one email from Yatra that my flight is not confirmed and money will be refunded to source account. It has not received also no boo...

Jan 26, 2023 by Shreya Rastogi

Invoice (Easemytrip.com) ^Closed

I bought tickets for pune and back to day itself. Susequent to succesful payment a call was received by me from your end asking me to pay Rs ***/- additionaly. I paid the same. When i received my ticket it contained invoice for only the origina...

Jan 25, 2023 by Prem kumar

Refund from yatra (Yatra.com) ^Closed

I have booked train tickets from yatra and they took money from my bank I made payment money got debited but ticket status is showing as cancelled on yatra app...

Jan 24, 2023 by Shubham gupta