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
Complaints
Late running of train (Indian Railway ( Irctc) ) Open
I am writing to request compensation for the significant delay I experienced on **/**/**** while traveling on ***** Kanyakumari- Kollam memu from Kulitturai to Trivandrum central. I am entitled to compensation for delays of more than on an...
Dec 24, 2022 by Koushik Mohan
Overcharging Destination Change without Customer s Direct Consent (Ola) Open
I booked ride from Mumbai Airport to Nerul, the driver took long route despite asking multiple times to take the correct route, this caused overcharging. Another scam that the driver did is he did not end the trip when I got down at my desti...
Dec 23, 2022 by Pradeep Ketkale
Charging exorbitant amount and providing a terrible or no service (RedBus India) Open
I paid **** INR for a trip from Bangalore to Kochi on **nd by Jabbar Travels through redbus. They not only charged such an exceedingly high amount (which was not high on other sites when I checked later) and then the bus was delayed by *.* hou...
Dec 22, 2022 by Abel Augustine
Money deducted and flight ticket not booked no response by customer care till 8 days (Happyeasygo) Open
I booked ticket on happyeasygo but entered wrong mail id by mistake. It showed *** error that no booking is done. Amount was debited. No confirmation given on phone number. Customer care all contact no were switched off and on mail id they resp...
Dec 22, 2022 by Afsheen Azad
Cancellation refund not paid (Thomas Cook INDIA Limited ) Open
I have booked the swiss tour package with Thomas cook and they made me pay ****** in advance. I did inform them about my special case with regards to the visa. unfortunately, the visa got rejected. I tried to be reasonable and was willing to bo...
Dec 22, 2022 by Santosh Turumalla
Booked Villas are not allotted (Agoda app) Open
I had a bad experience with Agoda for the booking that I've made with Booking ID ********* on **th/December ****. I made a booking via Agoda app to Fragrant Nature Backwater Resort & Ayurveda Spa Paravoor for * premium lake view villas worth...
Dec 22, 2022 by Sharan raj
Refund not initiated of the ticket that we never received even after booking in full payment (Make My Trip) Open
I had booked * tickets to Ferrari world general admission through Make My Trip app on **nd November ****. I did not receive any QR code (ticket) to enter the Ferrari World Theme Park. I wasn’t allowed to enter the same even after doing a f...
Dec 20, 2022 by Akash Rai
ONLINE TICKET BOOKING (WING IN TRAVEL ADVISORY PRIVATE LIMITED ) Open
I have booked online ticket from website www.varafi.com and company name is wing in travel advisory pvt ltd. They have sent their confirmation id with ticket but no call or confirmation from airline. the amount paid is **** . I think these peop...
Dec 19, 2022 by NIKET KAPOOR
Cash not refunded for the unhappened trip (Travbond travel agency) Open
I have planned a * day trip to Andaman and Nicobar islands on May**th via travbond and they have shared us with the itinerary for the same. Once the itinerary was send they have asked for the payment for flight tickets and partial room booking ...
Dec 18, 2022 by Vini Varghese
I booked the room on **st Aug **** due to some problem I got the booking canceled and they promise me wait for * to ** days for refund till now fefund was not credit the make only false promise...
Dec 17, 2022 by VIVEK RAJAK
Ola Cab Demanded me amount with taking me to destination (Ola cab delhi NCR) Open
Hello Tania, It is very unfortunate that after long discussion and confirmation with Saurabh Kumar (Customer Care Executive) and then with you, I have to still write it down to you the all incident again. I don’t what is the purpose of rec...
Dec 16, 2022 by Naveen
The company denied to send my money back and didn t cancelled my membership (Genial Exploring Private Limited) Open
Genial Exploring Pvt Ltd has given me a membership of rupees *****/- and also they have given me the option for ** months EMI and promised me to refund the interest amount Rs.*****.*/-. It's been a year. They have also promised to provide Rs. *...
Dec 15, 2022 by Vaibhav Khatik
Charged me 5 times the amount mentioned (UBER) Open
Technical glitch alert/Fraud Alert? I had a recent issue with my trip. We took uber from Airport uber queue. The pin was shared with the driver but ride didn't start on our app We kept telling him but he said it could be network issues and ...
Dec 11, 2022 by Siddhartha Bhattacharya
DOUBE PAYMENT (Uber Cab Service) Open
I booked Uber on **-*-**** under compulsory Non cash - giving Paytm mode . A hold for Rs **** was created. I travelled by Uber on **-*-**** reached Airport but could not pay thru paytm since there is no any such tab /mechanisam to pay, Henc...
Dec 10, 2022 by Ravindra Bhide
REFUND DECLINED BY RAILWAY FOR TDR FILLED WELL BEFORE THE TIME LIMIT OF 30 MINUTES BEFORE SCHEDULE D (IRCTC AND INDIAN RAILWAY) Open
I had booked e-ticket from irctc having following details PNR: ********** ASR KIR EXPRESS (*****) AMBALA CANT JN (UMB) to GONDA JN (GD) Journey Date: ** Jun **** Scheduled Departure*: **-Jun-**** **:** The ticket status after chart prep...
Dec 09, 2022 by RAKESH SHARMA
Refund not yet initiated (Happy Easy Go) Open
Payment Id: pay_KeFmWI*k**dHsb I have booked a ticket on happy easy go on **th November and have paid through a credit card for the same amount, but the payment got rejected and ticket was also not booked inspite of the money getting debited ...
Dec 09, 2022 by CH MAHEEDHAR REDDY
They changed my drop location (Rapido auto) Open
I have traveled to this location multiple times using the same app & the location is saved in my phone, this time I got dropped **km away from the place where I was supposed to get dropped. The driver agreed that it was a technical issue as the...
Dec 03, 2022 by Kavitha D
Ticket booked without authorisation (happyfares) Open
I had booked a ticket on Dec *st and paid full amount upfront, after the amount deduction there was no confirmation of ticket. I called the **x* helpline number multiple times but nobody picked up the call even when they did they immediately d...
Dec 03, 2022 by Danish Khan
No response to the mails I ve been mailing them since yesterday not even single reply came back 24 7 (Ease my trip com) Open
No response to the mails ,I've been mailing them since yesterday only one reply came back that to irrelevant, I've some issue with the name in the ticket I contacted the ease my trip and they said they send a mail to airlines regarding this iss...
Dec 01, 2022 by Mithun chakravarti
My money got deducted (Yatra Com) Closed
While booking flight ticket from Yatra.com on **th February **** at *.**pm, my amount of Rs ***** got deducted and it showed payment failed so the ticket and PNR number has not been confirmed. Yatra.com have no proper helpline number, and they ...
Feb 27, 2022 by Prastuti Priya Hazarika
Yatra is not providing refund of 5957 Rs for the flights canceled through Indigo Airlines (Yatra Com) Closed
As Per The Attached Evidence, Yatra Has Charged **** Rs. (GHP*NV) And **** Rs. (GP**GN) As Yatra Service Charges And Then You Have Subtracted Them As Well. So If You Have Not Charged The Yatra Service Fees As Per The Invoice Then How Can You De...
Feb 23, 2022 by Mansi Gupta
Wrongful denial of refund (Make my trip) Closed
Dear Sir / Ma'am, I had requested a refund for my booking ID mentioned in the subject line on ** November ****, however, after * months when I called, I have just received a whatsapp message from MMT stating that refund is not applicable. ...
Feb 22, 2022 by Amar Singh
Refund amount yet be receive passed (Travolook) Closed
i have purchased a flight ticket through travolook site on **nd jan **** but same has been canceled by travolook due to some issue at their end, Rs. ****/- has been deducted from my bank account so I have requested travolook for initiate my ref...
Feb 19, 2022 by MANAS RANJAN DAS
Want refund of for not providing a services (Red Season Holidays) Closed
I am Avinash Chaudhari. I have purchased Red season holidays holiday package of ***** on the name of my wife Pinal Chaudhari on ** July ****. Membership no is RSH***. Now at the time of bookings they are not responding. Also they are not refund...
Feb 14, 2022 by Avinash Chaudhari
Yatra is not providing refund of 5957 Rs for the flights canceled through Indigo Airlines (Yatra Com) Closed
Yatra Fraud Company: I want my full refund of **** Rs. in my credit card(First Preference) or Yatra wallet without any expiry (Second Preference). I will reach out to every social media platform for my complaint. As Per The Attached Evide...
Feb 14, 2022 by Mansi Gupta
I would like to take your concern on my problem that I book the ticket on **th of January **** from Bengaluru to patna in indigo flight in which I have make the payment but after payment was done the app showed a glitch and didn't book the tick...
Feb 09, 2022 by Abhishek Anand
Yatra is not providing refund of 5957 Rs for the flights canceled through Indigo Airlines (Yatra Com) Closed
Yatra Please Share The Link Of Your TnC. When I Have Booked The Flight Then You Have Not Taken My Consent For Any TnC. Then How Can You Impose Any Ridiculous TnC On The Common Man. I Have A Family To Feed And I Have Earned This Money With So Mu...
Feb 08, 2022 by Mansi Gupta
Non receipt of refund amount from Easemytrip (Easemytrip.com) Closed
Dear Sir/Madam, I wish to draw your kind attention towards the fraud on non-refund of Rs ****/- by Easemytrip towards booking of ticket with ID- EMT********, PNR **D**D which was booked on December **, **** for my relative Smt. Meenalochani G...
Feb 07, 2022 by Prasanna
Money deducted but ticket not booked (Ease my trip) Closed
Reference number: ***********IGAMYQPVI* Bank : SBI Date: **/**/**** I was booking a flight ticket for **/**/**** from Dehradun to Goa but even after I made the payment, the ticket was not booked. ...
Feb 06, 2022 by Disha Gupta
Account Deactivated Even After Paying Bill (Hathway boardband Hyderabad) Closed
Ac. No. - ********** I paid the bill on **th Jan'** as my expiry date is *nd Feb'**. Don't know why my internet has been deactivated . I tried calling customer care & the lady was too rude to me saying that she can't do anything about it. I...
Feb 03, 2022 by Gunna Sreekar Reddy
Yatra is not providing refund for the tickets canceled through Indigo Airlines Yatra com (Yatra Com) Closed
I Have Booked Indigo Flight Tickets With PNR No. GHP*NV (**th January) ***** Rs. And GP**GN (**th January) ***** Rs. From Yatra.Com. Indigo Has Canceled The Above Flights And I Contacted Them, So They Confirmed Me That They Have Refunded Total ...
Feb 01, 2022 by Mansi Gupta
I tried to book my flight ticket on yatra app from Bangalore to patna on **th of January after all the process by making payment by card the app shows glitch and took the money but didn't get the ticket. I really need my money back please...
Jan 31, 2022 by Atulya Milind
Hotel Reservation Refund (V are Family) Closed
I have booked a property for a holiday in Goa. I had to postpone it due to pandemic. Now they are saying that the property I booked is no longer available and are not able to provide alternate property in same tariff range. Hence I am requestin...
Jan 27, 2022 by Satyajit Vaidya
Full refund of flight fare which was rescheduled by Vistara Airline (Ease my trip) Closed
I had booked a flight via EaseMyTrip for **th Jan **** from Delhi to Trivandrum in the morning and wherein the return trip also was scheduled for the same day back in the night from Trivandrum to Delhi .However the morning flight was reschedul...
Jan 25, 2022 by Nisha Shajan Varghese
Was not allowed to enter the bus (Redbus) Closed
Hello All, I had booked a ticket from redbud to travel from Pune to Bangalore on Jan ** **** and when I reached the boarding point the bus driver did not allow me to board the bus cause I was not having the rtpcr test which I was not aware a...
Jan 24, 2022 by Siddharth koli
Amount deducted but ticket not booked (Yatra) Closed
Incident date- **rd Jan, **** Ticket- Guwahati to New Delhi for **th Jan, **** Amount debited- ****.** Issue- ticket not booked, no tickets sent in email and whatsapp, no ticket seen in yatra app Transaction number- ************...
Jan 23, 2022 by Shambhavi Devi
Easemytrip took money to reschedule my two bookings but did not issue the tickets I had to cancel th (Easemytrip.com) Closed
I had made two bookings from Easemytrip.com for Pune- Delhi sector on **nd January **** which includes senior citizens and kids. Due to increased COVID cases and curfew being imposed in Delhi I requested EMT to either give refund, credit shell ...
Jan 22, 2022 by Anjana Chaudhari
Payment debited but booking details not issued (Yatra.com) Closed
On **st January ****, at **:** I booked a flight tickets from Bangalore to Delhi round trip. I completed all the step and also i did my payment process by using my Bajaj finserv emi card . And also the payment is successful. But after the payme...
Jan 21, 2022 by Mudhaseer S
Full Refund not given nor accepting the option of open ticket provided by the Airline (Ease my trip) Closed
I had to cancel my ticket as my parents are covid positive and i have to be in quarantine. I spoke to the Ease my trip customer care and she told me to speak to the airlines regarding this. I have been issued an open ticket valid till **t...
Jan 16, 2022 by Dr Madhulika Mittar
"I was unable to get in touch with anyone in Byjus nor with my counselor regarding my problem for 3 months. But Voxya team helped me solve my issue very soon. Thank you!"
Mamta D
Complaint filed against: Byju's