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
Fraud by Intermiles (Intermiles) Open
I have booked * ticket through Intermiles as redemption booking for **th June ****. Payment and miles both have been deducted and booking was on waiting. I spoke to customer care and they said it usually confirm in *-* hour. If money and miles ...
Jun 13, 2021 by Vikas Jain
Refund is not given for cancelled ticket (Travolook) Open
I booked a Indigo flight ticket with www.travolook.in on *th June - booking ID REF*********. They charged **** rupees for this ticket. The money has been been deducted from my account. A few minutes later I got a call from the customer servic...
Jun 11, 2021 by Narola Harsh
Fraud by CHIS (Country Holiday Inn & Suites ) Open
I have been conveyance for the CHIS membership with the promises of best in class services. The executive explained the membership details and force to buy the membership. They explain everything very good but when it came to bookings everythin...
Jun 10, 2021 by Harishankar Rajpali
FRAUD COMPANY COMPANY IS NOT REFUND MY AMOUNT (Nirmiti Resorts & Clubs) Open
Respected sir/Madam, I, Tutiki Sudhir from kolkata, I was on a family tour to GOA on **/**/****. A guy (Name : Raj and Sudhir Dicholkar)approached us, (my wife and myself) with a scratch card of Nirmiti resorts and club holidays near our Hotel...
Jun 02, 2021 by TUTIKI SUDHIR
Refund Fraud (Travolook Www Travolook In) Open
REF********* Respected Sir, i booked my flight on * may **** from delhi to gorakhpur and ticket is cancelled due to operational issue, but i dont get any refund amount till now. As there refund policy it takes ** days and it is also complet...
Jun 01, 2021 by Shashank singh
Airasia Refuse to Pay Refund (Airasia Airline) Open
Airasia refuses and holding our refund under PNR number- HZ*HKP & M*NRWZ Since One year. Complaints has given various authorities But No resolution. Humble request to get justice under the experts of this forum . We have all the Solid real evi...
May 23, 2021 by SHAJI PAPPACHAN
Refund Not Received for past 15 Months (Cleartrip ae) Open
I had made two international flight bookings through Cleartrip AE in Feb ****. As the airline cancelled my flight, I am eligible for full refund. But its been ** months now and I have not received the refund or any proper response for my requ...
May 21, 2021 by Abhijith Jayakumar
Holiday travel booking amount not refunded (Travel Triangle ) Open
I had booked a holiday package to Thailand on ** Jan ****. Due to Covid, the we were not able to go to the trip. As per there request, I waited for * year so we can plan the same trip again. But now i have lost hope of traveling. When i asked f...
May 17, 2021 by Arun Kamath
Ola driver misbehaviour (Ola) Open
Booking Details: Imtiyaz Ahmed Ola Prime Play - White Xcent WB**D**** Operator State/UT: West Bengal Customer Ride Number - CRN********** The ola driver started misbehaving from the beginning of the booking stating that he won't go if the...
May 15, 2021 by Anasua Dey
Wrong billing By OLA for outstation ride for KM which was not travelled (Ola Cab Hyderabad) Open
I booked OLA outstation ride booking ID: CRN ********** on **thMay**** to travel on **thMay**** at *AM. After my ride when I saw bill I was surprised looking at Kilometres that was mentioned. My travel distance was less than ***km but OLA charg...
May 14, 2021 by Mohammed Ashfaq
Cash refund given by Indigo but not refunded to the customer by Happyeasygo (Happyeasygo) Open
We had booked * tickets CHENNAI - VARANASI - CHENNAI on **.**.**** / **.**.****. Most of us are senior citizens and we had planned to fulfil our religious duties to our forefathers and to pray in Kashi Vishwanath, Mata Annapoornai, Shankata...
May 10, 2021 by S THYAGARAJAN
Make My Trip Refund not received (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
Refund not received yet for booking Id NL************* I paid *,**,*** rupees to MakeMyTrip on Feb **, ****, and was supposed to get a refund of **,*** rupees back from MakeMyTrip in around **days. Four months is about to come from the date o...
May 09, 2021 by Ashish Singla
Amount not refunded (Travolook in) Open
I tried to book a flight ticket from travolook.in on *rd April **** and amount Rs.****/- also got debited in my credit card a few minutes later a customer care executive called me from travolook and she told me my tickets not booked due to fare...
May 07, 2021 by ANOOP NARAYANAN KOMALAM
Money not refunded (passportindia org in) Open
I wrongly entered all my details for passport in passport.india.org as i had the urgency to get the passport and when i was about to pay the amount , i realized it is some private site . when i tried to cancel the payment , i could not cancel a...
May 06, 2021 by Nibedita
Refund not received for cancelled tickets (Ease My Trip Private Limited) Open
I had booked tickets for BOM-LKO-BOM roundtrip departing mumbai **/**/**** and return trip on **/**/****, but due to current pandemic, I had to cancel the ticket. Further it should be noted that the flight was booked through GO Air and the comp...
May 06, 2021 by Prashant Malvaniya
Refund given by airline but not refunded by Happyeasygo (Happyeasego) Open
Booked airasia flight for travel from Mumbai to Delhi for five passengers travel date **th April - since flight was canceled the ticket refund was provided by the airline on *rd April itself and the same was conveyed to me via mail - I have bee...
May 05, 2021 by Arun Batra
Undue charges for a trip (UBER) Open
Cab was booked from bangalore airport to Mysore(***+ km) . Amazon pay was selected as payment option. Trip started and after ** kms driver said that he wants cash to fill fuel. I was unable to change the payment option on the app. Driver ended ...
May 03, 2021 by Abhishek Gandhi
Refund not received (Travolook) Open
I booked flight to goa for * people for **k on March *,but due some technical it was booked for wrong date. So asked for refund from them and it has been * month I haven't received refund. They are providing me with mail that wait for this many...
May 03, 2021 by Hardeep
Not Refund of Flight Ticket (IRCTC Ltd ) Open
IRCTC Transation ID: **********,dt:*-*-****,Goair PNR no: Y*PN*M, we got a email from Goair dated on: **-*-**** the refund of Rs **,*** has been done, Credit note no: **********Y*PN*M,dt: **-*-****,So for we didn't get the refund amount to ou...
May 01, 2021 by MANJUNATHA V
Not Received Refund (Travellook) Open
I had booked flight ticket from Chennai to Coimbatore up and down on April **, money deducted and then it automatically cancelled stating that due to operational issue. Still now I haven't received the refund amount and I'm trying to contact th...
Apr 30, 2021 by Perumal Raj M
Refund not provided (Yatra.com) Closed
I HAVE BOOKED TICKET VIA YATRA.COM BOOKING ID ************* AND THE FLIGHT WAS CANCELLED ONE DAY BEFORE ON * JUNE **** BUT STILL I HAVE NOT GOT ANY REFUND FROM YATRA.COM ...
Jul 26, 2020 by RAJINDER SINGH
Taking wrong fare always with customers (Uber Cab) Closed
I have take ride and pickup and drop.location both are of same city delhi but even that the cab shows toll taxes to earn extra money and toll amount is *** but they take *** for that and Due to the driver fault driver goes towards noida nad tol...
Jul 26, 2020 by Sangeeta
Not refunded the complete amount of a cancelled flight (Happy Easy Go) Closed
I have booked flight for two person from Jaipur to Kolkata on **.*.**** through Happy easy go. The airlines Goair has cancelled the flight and phoned for full refund. But Happy easy go has dudected a considerable amount. They have returned only...
Jul 26, 2020 by Vijay Kumar
Want Refund form IRCTC for train left one day before (IRCTC) Closed
Dear Sir, My PNR number is **********. When I book the ticket for traveling from Titlagarh to Bhubaneswar, at that time, the train boarding time was **.**, dt.**.**.**. But the train left one day before that is dt.**.**.** at **.**. I have als...
Jul 26, 2020 by Rajesh Kumar Sahoo
Money not refunded (IRCTC Ltd ) Closed
PNR ********** ticket cancelled, Amt *** will be refunded in your a/c with in *-* days. Please check your account/instrument from which this tkt was booked. As per the above mentioned message the deducted amount has not been transferred....
Jul 26, 2020 by VIKASH PRAKASH
Refund from Yatra com (Yatra) Closed
I am having a horrible experience with Yatra.com. I had booked flights on Yatra.com using my credit card in November (Amount *****). Later the flights got cancelled due to Covid lockdown. Yatra.com informed me that they have refunded the amoun...
Jul 25, 2020 by Praveen Chapa
Twice payment made (Uber Cab Service) Closed
I booked UBER from IGI T* to my home address...uber told me to add some money in Paytm I added ***rs in my Paytm wallet but when my destination arrived the driver said he didn't receive the base amount but after looking in-app the payment was d...
Jul 25, 2020 by Aayush
Refund (Ease my trip) Closed
Hi, Raising a complain against Ease my trip.com for a refund of INR 1210. Attaching the proof...
Jul 25, 2020 by Sathya Ram Sudan R
Refund for bus cancellation (Yatra.com) Closed
I booked bus on *th july **** . On ** july there is some lockdown n all int he city so all the bus was cancelled so i cancelled the bus. I got tje messege of cancellation n it iwas showing in the app that ur bus is cancelled. After few days, i...
Jul 24, 2020 by Abhishek sahu
My money not refunded even after 4 months (Happy Easy Go) Closed
I had a Vistara flight from Bangalore to Delhi on **th **** having PNR NO "SDGAMF" but due to COVID I cancelled that and Vistara refunded whole amount on the same day to Happy Easy Go. But after * months I still haven't received any single pan...
Jul 24, 2020 by Mayank Jindal
Refund of my flight cancellation (Ixigo) Closed
I cancelled the flight which I had to travel but I couldn't due to the covid ** situation so now I m asking them the refund but they are giving excuse and aren't helping me with anything....
Jul 22, 2020 by Aryan Sharma
Flight fare not refunded (Cleartrip Com) Closed
Hello my trip ID is ***********, from seoul to gold coast. This trip was cancelled due to covid by JetStar airlines and the fund for the same was refunded to cleartrip on march ****. After numerous emails and reminders till date i have not rece...
Jul 22, 2020 by ishika
Refund not initiated (Yatra) Closed
I booked two tickets with the reference number ************* on **th july. On **th July the Airlines cancelled the flight. I cancelled the tickets at Airlines portal first then in Yatra. I didn't get any option while cancelling my ticket. * da...
Jul 22, 2020 by Tapas Chakraborty
Fraud company who ran away with the money (Travbond travel agency) Closed
I had booked for Dubai package. And payed ***** for the same. Neither did they book the package to me and send me to dubai. Nor have they been traceable ever since. Please help me to track them...
Jul 22, 2020 by Dr Nadia
Cleartrip not processing the refund (Cleartrip) Closed
I booked a round trip BLR - DEL on **th July ****. Trip ID: ************. The payment failed, but I was charged for unconfirmed tickets. I got message from Cleartrip saying that the amount will be refunded in * - ** working days. I haven't rece...
Jul 21, 2020 by Jaggdish R
Did not get the complete Refund (Make my trip) Closed
I booked a flight in pre covid times. Air Asia cancelled the flight and refunded entire amount to Makemytrip. Now - Makemytrip has deducted **** rs without giving any reason. I have raised complaints on customer support and Social Media...
Jul 21, 2020 by Nikhil Patwari
Cleartrip Refund Not Received (Cleartrip) Closed
Booked * tickets from clear trip website for **th July **** fly dubai Tickets from Hyderabad to dubai but later I got a E-Mail from fly dubai stating that flight has been cancelled and will not be operating I got a fly dubai E-Mail on **th Jul...
Jul 21, 2020 by Sohail ahmed
Domestic flight amount not refunded (Yatra) Closed
I booked a flight on ** Jul **** which unfortunately did not get book but the amount got deducted. There is no response from yatra team regarding the amount refund initiation. I sent them email * or * times and escalated the issue by submitting...
Jul 21, 2020 by Aditya Kachru
REFUND OF MY CREDIT SHELL AMOUNT (Yatra) Closed
I booked a round trip from Chennai to Varanasi through yata for the dates ** March **** (Indigo) and ** March **** (spicejet) respectively. Due to lockdown flights were cancelled and Refund was made in the form of Credit shell by the airlines....
Jul 19, 2020 by RISHABH GANGWAR
Refund Not Processed (Yatra com) Closed
I have booked the domestic holiday package from Yatra.com in the month of February . My travel date was from *st May till *th May ****. Despite sending multiple emails to Yatra.com regarding cancellation of my holiday package since March, they...
Jul 19, 2020 by Varnit Jain
"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