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
Travel booking fraud (Speedtravel Tour and Travels) Open
They have cheated me with my money. They have repeatedly kept asking for money for my sikkim tour Booking first they asked for a payment of ***** to confirm flight and land package. Then they changed words and asked for ***** more or they won'...
Apr 05, 2021 by Sanjana
Travel agency doing fraud with customers (Shree Vijay Travels ) Open
Hello sir/mam, I had booked travel tickets from Ahmedabad to Thane (Airoli) and boarded the respective bus on time but At Baroda bus was stop upto *hrs for passing issue due to covid**. After that they are changing the route of there bus withou...
Apr 04, 2021 by omprakash jogdankar
Cab refund not received for deficient services (Uber India Pvt Ltd) Open
Hi. I had booked uber cab on *st April **** from Kolkata Airport to home. The assigned driver refused to switch on AC in fresh mode even after requesting for the same. I had to travel in extreme heat & humidity in the hot weather. I approached ...
Apr 03, 2021 by Kunal
Refund for PNR (Irctc Indian Railways) Open
Hi, I would like to raise a compliant with regards to the refund of the above PNR. The reason for TDR filing is incorrect as it was a family ticket and only * ticket was confirmed out of the * passengers, so no one travelled. I did try...
Apr 02, 2021 by Manish Rout
Ola app charged me 757 rupees while the estimate was 341 rupees (Ola) Open
I was incorrectly charged by your app for ride CRN **********. When I booked the ride from Nikoo Homes *, Bhartiya city to Purple Monk Tattooz, Koramangala, the estimate fare was Rs. ***. We reached the destination within the estimated ti...
Apr 01, 2021 by Kartik Rajan
Travolook fraud (Travolook) Open
I have booked a indigo ticket from Bangalore to Delhi on **th March. But immediately after the payment is made, I got a call from this company saying that indigo has increased the fare and your booking got cancelled. I guessed some fraud in t...
Apr 01, 2021 by Karunakaran
Travolook fraud company (Travolook) Open
i booked a airline ticket from travolook as it was couple of hundreds lesser than other websites. it charged me on the credit card and in ** minutes, i got a mail that my booking is rejected due to fare difference. it has been ** days and i...
Apr 01, 2021 by Rishi
Wrong Refund Given (Happy Easy Go) Open
I did a flight ticket using Happy Easy Go for Indigo on * December **** from Delhi to Varanasi. Due to some reason, I canceled the flight on the same day. the refund amount allotted was Rs **** from Indigo but Happy Easy Go refunded only Rs ***...
Apr 01, 2021 by Mayank Pandey
Refund not initiated by Travolook (Travolook) Open
i have booked ticket from del to blr from Travolook.in on ** feb **** but they have not booked my ticket and they have not provided my refund, i am following up with them from past * month and they are stop taking the calls from my cell and eve...
Mar 30, 2021 by shekhar verma
Hotel booking not refunding or modifying (Park Lane Residence Doha Qatar) Open
I have booked a flat in Park Lane Resident, Doha in March **** before the Covid pandemic has started. At that time I didn't know that I would not be able to come due to covid restriction imposed by the Qatar Government. I have been continuous...
Mar 29, 2021 by PRAVEEN GAUR
Thespeedtravel com cheated us by taking full 100 amount for tour package and still did not provide u (Thespeedtravel) Open
As me and my wife were planning to tour for north east states Manipur and Nagaland, I was searching for tour packages online on multiple websites. I enquired on couple of websites like HelloTravels etc. During these searching, I received a call...
Mar 28, 2021 by Saurabh Malav
Travel Refund (Flynote In) Open
I have booked a honeymoon trip to Maldives with FlyNote during March ****. Due to Corona Pandemic, Government has imposed lockdown and the trip was cancelled by vendor. Conversation * : March **, **** We have contacted Flynote via Telephone...
Mar 27, 2021 by Rajkumar Dharmalingam
Non payment of Refund amount (Travolook) Open
I booked two air tickets from Travolook on *th of March and after booking I got a mail from Travolook saying that my booking has been cancelled due to air fare expiration and that my money will be refunded within ** to ** working days. It's bee...
Mar 25, 2021 by Mohammad Hanan Wani
Refund of Booking Amount due to Lock down (Hotel City Park Pitampura New Delhi) Open
On *st March, **** I had booked banquet Hall for the marriage of my daughter to be held on **-**-**** at Hotel City Park, Pitampura, New Delhi, for which advance of Rs.* Lacs was paid vide cheque to hotel city park as advance booking amount. Th...
Mar 24, 2021 by Sushil Kumar Maheshwari
Travolook Booking Cancellation (Travolook Com) Open
On March **th, I have booked a ticket from Mumbai to Delhi with a reference number ********* and soon after I received a call asking for extra amount because of the fare changes and I asked for a refund on which they said I will be getting it i...
Mar 24, 2021 by Paresh Anant Khanvilkar
Honeymoon package amount not refunded (SOTC TRAVEL LIMITED.) Open
I couldn't go to honeymoon as I suddenly got suffered with kidney damage, so I requested for my amount to be transferred back to me, but there is no reply from SOTC and my amount is struck...
Mar 24, 2021 by Sudheer yadav
Travolook flight booking fraud (Travolook Travolook In) Open
I booked flight on *th March **** from Jaipur to Delhi (date of travel – *th March ****) reference no.- REF********* but Travolook didn’t confirm the ticket and replied me that they are cancelling the ticket from backend as Airline has incr...
Mar 24, 2021 by Praveen Singh Chauhan
Ticket amount not refunded for cancelled flight (Travolook) Open
Ticket booked for Pune to Patna of GoAir, flight has been cancelled * days before of travel date. GoAir completed all their formalities of refund but Travolooks not refunding the amount...
Mar 23, 2021 by Subodh Kumar Shukla
I paid via cash to the driver but Postpaid Money Charged (Ola) Open
I took Ola Auto ride from Khandeshwar to Ghatkopar as there was Mega Block. Before booking the Auto Driver called me and asked if I can pay cash, I said yes and ride got confirmed. However, while getting into auto I told the driver OTP and was ...
Mar 23, 2021 by Shubh W.
Refund not credited (Flipkart) Open
Flipkart mentioned refund will be done by ** March. But it's ** March and refund is not done....
Mar 23, 2021 by Siddhanta Kumar Sahu
Credit shell not received (Goibibo) Closed
My flight got cancelled on **st may **** from goa to lko. A credit shell has been issued from indigo,but goibibo has not provided my credit shell yet of pnr ENZE*K.pleasee help me to get my credit shell. ...
Jul 13, 2020 by Ayaz hasib khan
Not refund money (Cleartrip and Indigo) Closed
Sir I have booked my flight from cleartrip then my flight was cancelled and my money was refunded in cleartrip by indigo but they are not refunding my amount into my account. Chandigarh - Srinagar one-way Trip, Trip ID: ************ ...
Jul 13, 2020 by Hilal Hamid khan
Train ticket refund is still with Travel agent (Shree Narayan Tours And Travels) Closed
Hi , Thank you voxya for providing this platform. This is the first time ever there is need for me to file a consumer complaint. So My mom and my aunts had booked train tickets in Feb **** to travel from Pune to Mount abu( to and fro t...
Jul 12, 2020 by Rutuja
REFUND ISSUE (Trip factory ) Closed
I booked euro trip through trip factory, due to corona lockdown they cancelled our trip. After cancellation charges I told them to refund money. Instead they are willing only to give credit note which I don't as subjecting to current situation ...
Jul 12, 2020 by PRASANNA A
Refund never processed (Goibibo) Closed
There were * transactions for INR **** each on first week of June for seat booking for a flight. The amount was debited from my account with the status as successful, but the booking didn't happen. When contacted, I was told that the refund is ...
Jul 12, 2020 by Prajesh
Money not refunded and used for business purposes (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Closed
Hello , Makemytrip have received refund from AirAsia for my cancelled flight. I got the confirmation from an MMT agent over the phone that my money would be returned to me in * weeks. Its more than * weeks and have not yet got the money. Please...
Jul 12, 2020 by Preetam Nalbalwar
Full refull against cancelled flight (GoAir Airline) Closed
I've booked a flight ticket with goair airline which got cancelled from the airline itself * times. I didn't get any call, mails or messages about the cancellation. Now when I call their service number or mail them, they don't bother to reply t...
Jul 12, 2020 by Anil Patra
Refund is not initiated (Experience Andamans) Closed
We have booked andaman trip(*N/*D) with the travel partner experience andamans in portblair. The travel plan was from **th march to **rd march from chennai. We have paid full travel amount of Rs.***** two days before our trip begins . Our trave...
Jul 12, 2020 by nagarajan
Refund not done (Makemytrip) Closed
I have cancelled my airline ticket Of IndiGo & they have processed the refund to MakeMyTrip . I have written emails, no response. The IVR suggesting me a link but that Link never opens which is sent on my email. Can't contact any Customer care...
Jul 12, 2020 by Arvinnd Ssinha
FULL REFUND NOT GIVEN FOR EMIRATES TICKET WHERE EMIRATES HAS AGREED FOR SAME IN LIEU OF COVID (Yatra Com) Closed
This is regarding my international ticket booked through Yatra for travel in Aug ****. This was for Europe trip. Although Emirates has agreed to allow FULL refund as per their terms, I have been chasing Yatra in vain. First they dont have a con...
Jul 11, 2020 by Abhijit C
Flight Cancelled by Airline but Huge amount deducted from me (Make My Trip) Closed
Hello, I booked flight through make my trip. Now Air Asia cancelled the flight due to operational reason. But a huge amount of my booking deducted by make my trip. Total amount of ticket was ₹****. But Make my trip is returning only...
Jul 11, 2020 by Subhra Datta Roy
Refund not processed by MakeMyTrip (Make my trip) Closed
We have booked tickets on MakeMyTrip to Paris via a Jet Airways flight. It got cancelled and we are yet to receive the refunds for the same. Customer service guys keep saying that they are processing the money. Jet Airways' customer care won't ...
Jul 11, 2020 by Srirang Ranjalkar
Train refund not recd (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Closed
Refund not issued yet - NR***************** and NR**************** Irctc has processed the refund on **th june and credited to MMT account. Than why are you guys sitting on my money and not refunding back? Will you pay interest for using custo...
Jul 10, 2020 by Hussain Abbasi
Refund not processed (Happyeasygo.com) Closed
It been * months since i have been chasing for the refund and all i get to hear is that it is under process.I had booked flight in April and due to covid the flight got cancelled. The airline refunded full amount long back but i have got no inf...
Jul 10, 2020 by Teji
Refund Not Received (Oyo) Closed
Booking id - GRIH8174 I haven't got any refund for the aforementioned booking id i have called customer care many times but they are useless and in app there's showing that the refund is successful. I am a wizard gold member i shouldn't be tre...
Jul 10, 2020 by Kanishka Gupta
Refund not being initiated by Cleartrip (Cleartrip) Closed
a regular customer on cleartrip, I made a booking that did not go through. the failed transaction message was sent to me immediately and I was promised the refund latest by ** working days. it going to be close to a month now and I have not rec...
Jul 10, 2020 by rahul
Refund not issued (tatacilq) Closed
I had bought ** kurtas on **/**/** Order ID ********* I received few kurtas on **/**/** out of which I asked for return for two kurtas on **/**/** La firangi brown printed A line kurta Rs *** La firangi Taupe Printed kurta Rs *** One m...
Jul 10, 2020 by mitu
Refund not processed (Yatra Com) Closed
Booked a flight with Yatra from Delhi to Newark (New York) for early march. Flight cancelled by airline and offered full refund. Yatra has not given me refund till date. It's been more than * months. ...
Jul 10, 2020 by Mohd Zaki Hasan
AirTicket PNR AirIndia Booking ID FlipkartTravel neither getting rescheduled nor refunded back (Flipkart travel) Closed
I am very sorry to file a complaint against Flipkart Travel that I have tried several rescheduling dates with several emails but every time I am getting the same reply email that Flight is not available. When I myself try for tickets through th...
Jul 10, 2020 by Dyutiraj Jagadananda Nayak
"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