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
Refund not received (Make My Trip) Open
Legal notice was sent by adv prashant jaiswal on **th June ****, giving ** days time so far no update. Pls check and revert....
Jan 04, 2022 by TRUPTI RAJESH KUNDER
Flight got cancelled but Refund not received (Go First Airline) Open
Flight got cancelled one day before and still did not received any refund after ** days. Below are the details. Dear GO FIRST Flyer, Warm Greetings from "Go First". For your PNR O*ZWFP on Go First flight G*-**** from Amritsar (ATQ) to Mu...
Jan 04, 2022 by Gajanan Ramdas Vaidya
Refund not received even after multiple requests (Travolook) Open
I had booked a flight ticket on ** Dec **** after payment of the ticket, my ticket got cancelled and I had received a mail that I will get my refund in **-** days but it is now **nd day of my waiting process, their customer care support is not ...
Jan 04, 2022 by ABHISHEK MEENA
Travel Agency Not Doing Refund From My Agent Portal (Riya Cabs & Trip Private Limited) Open
I had Agent Portal for Flight & Hotel bookings With Riya Cabs And Trip Pvt. Limited. Company. Website was Agent.riyatrip.com . I booked few of Flight tickets, but now few months Ago they Changed the Portal Website. Now its new name is Fd.Riyatr...
Jan 03, 2022 by Sulinder Singh
Hotel not booked (Agoda) Open
I booked hotel on Agoda.com with Booking ID # ********* on **th for **th night stay in Varanasi. On **th at *.** PM I got message from hotel that there is no rooms are available into hotel and you need to book other hotel. I called hotel and th...
Jan 02, 2022 by Ashutosh Pandey
Fake hotel booking (Agoda) Open
I booked my hotel accommodation through agoda and when I went to hotel they refused and said they didn’t get any booking from agoda as they are overbooked already and the same fraud was done with other couple of customers standing at the hote...
Jan 01, 2022 by Sandeep Singh
Bus cancelation refund (PayTM) Open
I booked Msrtc bus ticket of price *** rs on date ** April **** , Because of Some reasons bus canceled but till date I diget any refund from paytm. I raise lots of requests in paytm company but till date I haven't received my money. So please h...
Jan 01, 2022 by Nilesh Kailashrao Wagh
Fraud membership sold by park holiday (The Park Holiday International) Open
They sold me a fake vacation package they are not refunding my amount. And not booking the hotel . Whatever they promised they are not agreeing to it Please help to recover this amount...
Dec 31, 2021 by Sakshi Nirmal
Membership Cancellation (Club Mahindra Holidays) Open
I wrote an email asking for the cancellation of membership on May **, ****, as I was undergoing a lot of financial stress due to Covid ** situation. I was not in a position to take care of the entire family when people were down with their heal...
Dec 31, 2021 by Manjunath B R
Payment done booking denied (Agoda) Open
I made a hotel booking from agoda application from my mail adress rahulnagdev****@gmail.com i have made a payment of *****.** inr i didn’t got any booking id payment was sucessfull i talked to bank custmer care they gave me a payment refer...
Dec 30, 2021 by Rahul srichand nagdev
Hoax 4 Star hotel booking (Make My Trip) Open
I had booked an all inclusive trip via MMT from Mumbai to Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Delhi and back from **-** Dec. All hotel stays were shown as * Star hotels. (Booking ref NL ************* through Ms.Varsha Pravin Fulzele). On reaching Delhi we found...
Dec 28, 2021 by Manoj Gurudialdass Aurora
Agoda app scammed us Hotel in Shillong did not let us check in saying that Agoda showed vacancy with (Agoda app) Open
in Shillong denied check in to us as his property had no vacant rooms but Agoda app showed vacancy in the hotel and we also made payment of Rs *****.* via mastercard for two nights of stay. Had to spend a night on street. Please give our money ...
Dec 28, 2021 by Nilakshi Chakraborty
Make my trip Harassment and hooliganism Booking id (Make my trip) Open
I have made my transaction through makemytrip application for Patna to Pune airflight on **th dec. This was done through mobiwki wallet transaction by adding money through credit card for INR ****. Transaction failed on makemytrip and money got...
Dec 27, 2021 by Ashish Kumar
Refund not credited (Goibibo) Open
I didn't get refund of my train journey ticket on * December from Nagpur to Mumbai Duranto Express. I had booked my ticket from Goibibo app. My ticket was cancelled because of waiting list. Still I didn't get the refund of the same. The app is ...
Dec 27, 2021 by Dipak Mahadev Khade
HappyEasyGo Refund not recieved (Happy Easy Go) Open
Booked flight ticket in Malaysian airlines via Happy Easy Go from Chennai-Manila but the return flight was canceled by airlines due to corona and Happy Easy Go has not refunded the money as promised by airline stating that they haven't received...
Dec 26, 2021 by Akil Raghuthaman
Refund not received (Travolook agency ) Open
I had booked a flight on November ** it got cancelled due to last minute transaction. After one month still not received refund yet. ...
Dec 26, 2021 by Sidharth UC
TataCliq Showing False Offers (Tatacliq) Open
On **th November, I placed an order for the Dyson Airwrap Hair Styler from the TataCliq website. There was an offer on the product, wherein I get to claim * free accessories for * rupee. After placing the order, the TataCliq team very convenien...
Dec 25, 2021 by Aafreen Khan
NOT GETTING DISCOUNT INSPITE OF RIGHT CODE (Easemytip) Open
Booking ID : EMT******** Booking Date : Saturday, December **, **** Booked tickets from delhi to atlanta with code of icici bank credit card , discount of ** percent. ticket purchased but discount not came...
Dec 25, 2021 by bhavenkumar shah
Courtyard Holidays Not refunding membership amount (Courtyard Holiday World Pvt Ltd) Open
I was tricked into purchasing the ** year membership of Courtyard Holidays at LeMeridien, Gurgaon by promising excellent vacations at **,*** (* and * star hotels) round the clock **x*x*** days and during busy and overbooked dates. I have paid *...
Dec 24, 2021 by Gaurav Chaurasia
Uber rental fraud (Uber Cabs) Open
In Delhi, we booked an Uber cab rental for * hours. Date: ** Dec ****, **:** am Vehicle: Hyundai Xcent Driver Name: Mahinder Our first stop was at Turtle Cafe, we stopped there for **mins to read a book and have coffee. When we were back...
Dec 22, 2021 by Navin Viegas
Refund not received (Yatra Com) Closed
I had a flight booking from Mumbai to Kolkata on **/**/**** but due to covid** pandemic it got cancelled as informed from airline they have initiated my refund and told me to contact my travel agency,but till now I haven't got my refund.....
Oct 23, 2020 by Shibnath das
Flight ticket booking scam (WING IN TRAVEL ADVISORY PRIVATE LIMITED ) Closed
Hello, I booked my flight ticket on www.travolook.in with Reference ID# REF********* on date **/**/**** for route Bhopal to Chandigarh and on the same day, I booked my account on this website. I did the booking and after doing payment I receive...
Oct 22, 2020 by Satinder Singh
Refund not received (Easemytrip.com) Closed
Booking id EMT********. The airlines get air has refunded the amount on * Oct ****. But since the ticket was booked from ease my trip, I needed refund from there. Even after multiple mails and calls and chats, it isn't resolved. They keep sayin...
Oct 20, 2020 by Sandeep mishra
Yatra domestic flight ticket not booked but amount debited from account (Yatra Air india) Closed
Dear Sir / Madam, I am writing to you to raise an issue about: Airline Tickets and Fares The issue that I have experienced was: I tried booking domestic flight from Chennai to Bangalore on **th October in yatra website. Booking was not co...
Oct 19, 2020 by Vidya Shree N
Refund initated by airlines but yatra isnt responding to it (Yatra.com) Closed
I booked * tickets from Hyderabad to Goa and return on ** Oct **** (reference no - *************). The booking dates were wrongly mentioned so i tried re-scheduling the tickets, the site notified that i have to call the airlines directly to...
Oct 19, 2020 by Anusha
Accepted booking for a closed hotel and refund not intiated (Yatra) Closed
I had an official work at Swargate Pune on **th October. Hence booked a hotel at FC Road, The Ashish Plaza. I was taken aback when the hotel management told me that they closed since March **** and no booking is accepted since then. Yatra.com s...
Oct 19, 2020 by Ganesh Pathare
I have booked a cab and paid pre booking amount but no invoice and booking detail generate (Yatra) Closed
I have booked a cab from yatra and pre booking amount has been paid and my money has been decuted and no invoice, not booking confirmation has been received and now in booking section it is showing no booking has been done on ** th Oct ....
Oct 18, 2020 by Anil Rana
My references no of yatra is ************* my flight is already cancelled by the airline they give me full refund amount bt my mediator yatra is not giving my amount after so many complains the are not giving any reply.... ...
Oct 18, 2020 by Ravi bansal
Refund not received (Yatra Com) Closed
I booked a Flight ticket worth Rs ****/- on **.**.**** on yatra .com. As flights were cancelled due to Covid, An amount of Rs. ****/- was transferred to my credit shell by yatra.com after deducting the service fee. Although, later I applied for...
Oct 17, 2020 by Abhinav Tiwari
Flight Payment deducted but I haven t received booking details (Goibibo) Closed
I had booked a flight from Bombay to Kolkata on *th october. Payment is done and deducted from my account t i haven't received ticket booking details yet it's been **days already i tried contacting through customer care number and help desk but...
Oct 16, 2020 by Khushbu surana
Refund status not provided (Yatra.com) Closed
I have booked flight ticket via YATRA and had to cancel it since the timing slot was wrongly selected. I cancelled the ticket by contacting Indigo who provided me cancellation with full refund. They told me to contact yatra.com for details of t...
Oct 15, 2020 by Unni Mathews
I booked a ticket for * Oct and bus operator had cancelled the bus but I did not get any refund yet. Can you please confirm when will get the refund. Please find the message which is received on **th Sep. Ticket with PNR:***** on service:De...
Oct 14, 2020 by Rajat
Travel Triangle is not returning the flight booking amounts (Travel Triangle ) Closed
Respected Madam/ Sir, I have booked a Group Trip on **th Feb **** from an online Travel Agency ( https://traveltriangle.com/ ) having Trip id Trip ID *******. We supposed to travel to Kerala on *th May **** and Return on **th May ****. But d...
Oct 13, 2020 by Prabhupad Behera
I had booked a bus on ** mar ****...on lockdown starting time..they ensuring that the bus will be reaching Bangalore.. unfortunately couldn't happen..so I request you to refund my amount of *** ...
Oct 12, 2020 by Suman.s
Money Deducted booking not confirmed (Yatra) Closed
Hotel booking from Yatra Mobile App. Money got deducted, booking not confirmed, didn’t receive any email, didn’t show up in app. Couldn’t contact Yatra customer care. ...
Oct 11, 2020 by Aravind Kumar N
I booked a flight with pnr QCN*QW but due to covid it was reshuduled and it was cancelled theb i raised a refund request i got reference number ************* but after I didn't got any response ...
Oct 11, 2020 by Shahid
REFUND NOT MADE (Yatra) Closed
INDIGO CANCELLED OUR FLIGHT AND HAVE ALREADY REFUNDED FULL AMOUNT TO YATRA BUT YATRA HAS REFUNDED US THE AMOUNT YET AND NO WAY TO REACH YATRA. YATRA BOOKING REF No:-*************...
Oct 10, 2020 by Vishal Shangari
Refund not Received (Easemytrip.com) Closed
Hi booked ticket on **th September ticket booked my account is debited twice. Called customer care they replied will come within the week. It's ** days gone no refund and no response kindly refund my amount....
Oct 10, 2020 by Basharat Shah
Refund amount of flight booking (Yatra.com) Closed
This is with regards to Kolkata to Shillong flight (**/**/****) with booking number ************* from Yatra.com. Due to COVID, indigo had cancelled this flight and provided me a ***% refund for the same. But Yatra has provided me ecash and no...
Oct 09, 2020 by Sangeeta Naik
Flight not booked but amount charged (Yatra Com) Closed
I have tried booking a flight from Gauhati to Delhi on Yatra.com using Zestmoney EMI. The flight not confirmed but the loan has been activated by Yatra.com. Now I want to cancel my loan for which Yatra should refund the money to Zestmoney , ...
Oct 08, 2020 by Ujjal
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Mamta D
Complaint filed against: Byju's