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
Purchase of Air Ticket (travolook Pvt Ltd) Open
I made a ticket of Mr P Raja from Delhi to Raipur on **/**/**** (Complaint Ref No.********* & ****** for @ ****/-) my refund in my account....
Mar 15, 2021 by VIJAY KUMAR
Misselling of contract (KARMA RESORTS HOSPITALITY LLP) Open
SATYAM & MEHFUZA agreed that Azar missold the agreement and now I am stuck with them and had to pay **k to **k more. I do not have proof as they are not sharing anything on email....
Mar 11, 2021 by Sneha K
Refund (Clear Trip) Open
I made a booking on **th February ****, via Cleartrip . The Trip ID is ************. Same day after a couple of hours, I received an email from Clear trip stating : We are writing to let you know that the payment for the trip below was un...
Mar 10, 2021 by Nitasha Chawdhary
My ticket is cancelled without prior notice (Akbar Travels Of India Private Limited) Open
I am a Professor in University, Jeddah. I have booked a ticket on March * for a travel from Muscat to Jeddah. Travel date is on March **. Booking reference number is AT*********. My passport number is S*******. After that there was a mail fro...
Mar 04, 2021 by ABDULLA
DRIVER CHEATED MY MONEY (OLA CAB BANGALORE) Open
I took a ride from Bangalore airport to Kudlu gate on feb **th mid night around *am. After the ride I paid the driver to his upi. The amount was debited from my account but the driver didn’t receive the money so I asked him to wait till next ...
Mar 02, 2021 by Iniya shree
Refund not received from travel portal (Happyeasygo) Open
The flight was cancelled by the airline and full refund was issued to the travel portal. I requested for my refund and was told the same to be sent to me within * working days. It's been * month since then and no refund being processed till now...
Feb 27, 2021 by Saket Sahai
OYO hotel booked but there wasn t room available (Oyo) Open
I booked OYO flagship ***** Narayan nagar hotel at Hinjewadi, pune dated ** Feb ****. Booking id is UP*M****. I suffered a loss of **** INR because of emergency booking done in the other hotel and cab expenses. OYO didn't helped me in this sit...
Feb 25, 2021 by KAPIL KISHANRAO SHELKE
Dissatisfied with Bus Operator PAAVAN S (Paavan Travels) Open
I had * tickets booked online for Mithapur to Ahmedabad travel on Feb. **, **** in Paavan's Travels. The bus operator didn't even cared to call me once when I could not pick up point on time and I had to catch up with bus taking private vehicle...
Feb 21, 2021 by Wasim Bukhari
Refund not received (Make My Trip Gurugram Haryana India) Open
I had booked flight tickets for two sectors but due to the Covid ** pandemic the flights got cancelled. After a year I received refund for only one sector, Make my trip is still to initiate refund for the balance sector. I am trying to connect ...
Feb 20, 2021 by DEBJEET CHOUDHURY
Happy easy go not refunding money even after 8 months (Happy Easy Go) Open
Booked a AirAsia flight ticket on Happy Easy Go bearing order id ****************** on **/**/****. Due to Covid-** lockdown, my flight was cancelled by airline, and full refund was issued by AirAsia on **/**/**** itself. Till date Happy Easy Go...
Feb 18, 2021 by Raghwendra Singh Negi
Additional charges for outstation ride (OLA cab Pune) Open
I have booked ola return trip from pune to Mumbai. Total distance including return trip was *** km but they gave charged for *** km. When I returned back from Mumbai to Pune. I had asked to drive should I set return location, driver said no...
Feb 17, 2021 by Arvind Yadav
Refund not received for non confirmation of booked ticket (TRAVO LOOK TRAVEL AGENCY) Open
Ticket booked on **/**/**** for flight between Delhi to Bengaluru vide booking no REF********* on payment of RS ****/-.This was subject to confirmation by Travolook.Within thirty minutes message is received that ticket not confirmed and compl...
Feb 16, 2021 by OM PRAKASH BAGARIA
Overcharging and continuing threats (Ola) Open
This is related to my earlier complaint id ****** posted on *st Jan ****. OLA is overcharging me for Rs*** through their postpaid subscription which has already been paid in cash for the trips to the driver. I had received a call from OLA re...
Feb 16, 2021 by Sonali Chavan
Cancelled Train Ticket refund not received (Irctc Indian Railways) Open
Waiting for my refund of cancelled train ticket from last more than two weeks. Now, not getting even any response from care email id, only getting Ticket number. Please look into the issue & refund my money at the earliest. PNR No. ********** ...
Feb 14, 2021 by RAJESH LAXMAN SHETTY
HOTEL AND RESORTS COMPLAINT (Goibibo) Open
I HAVE BOOKED * NIGHTS IN MALDIVES- TWO NIGHTS IN BEACH RESORT AND TWO NIGHTS IN WATER VILLA.BUT ON ARRIVAL HOTEL MANAGEMENT IS DENYING TO ENTER WATER VILLA SINCE THEY RECEIVED BOOKING OF BEACH RESORTS FOR FOUR NIGHTS. GOIBIBO CHEATED ME . IT...
Feb 11, 2021 by MOHIT MAHAJAN
Money not refunded (Make My Trip.com) Open
I have booker my trip from by MMT in Oct -**** from Delhi to Bhopal ( E-TICKET NO. -***-**********) but due to Covid ** the fligh got cancelled from airline side. But i haven't received my monay yet....
Feb 09, 2021 by sachin
Refund not received (Cleartrip) Open
I've booked my air ticket from Mumbai - Kochi on **th March ****. My trip id is ************. Due to COVID our flights were cancelled and we requested for refund and to which they're not responding anything via email or phone. There is no conta...
Feb 09, 2021 by Kaival Mehta
Ola Cab Ola Money (Ola Money ola Cab) Open
Hello, It's been * years till now ola executives are harassing me for make unnecessary payments. I took a ride in January **** for which I paid the driver in cash but after that I got charged from ola postpaid regarding which I inform the...
Feb 06, 2021 by Sakshi Sharma
Travel Agency for Flight Booking (Travel Toogle) Open
I want to book a holiday trip, So i have contacted Travel Triangle Agency. I have sent request then its third party (Travel Toogle) has sent me some quotation from executive (Diksha). I have agreed for that before i need to confirm for flight b...
Feb 04, 2021 by Priya Kumari
Ticket cancelled by Travolook and refund not processed (Travolook) Open
I have booked a flight ticket on **th Jan on travolook website. I got a confirmation ticket after ** minutes. On *st feb, I got a call saying that my flight is cancelled due to operational reasons. I checked with indigo and found that there is ...
Feb 02, 2021 by santosh behera
Refund not received (Clear Trip) Closed
Hi, Please find the details of trip for which I needrefund email id - shubham******@gmail.com, trip id -************ and ************. They do not respond at all. There is no customer service to check on and follow up....
Jul 07, 2020 by Shubham Kumar
Refund Not received for almost 5 Months (Yatra) Closed
My Flight booking with Yatra was Autocancelled on **th Feb ****. The same day i received mail that i would be getting my refund. But i was shocked when i got call from my Credit card that there is huge Debit Amount in my Credit card since **th ...
Jul 07, 2020 by Pankaj Purohit
PNRs refund (Yatra Com) Closed
Against three PNRs, original airline is already refunded by cash against one PNR and Credit shell against two PNRs. But Yatra is not updating the same. I want my money credited back to me immediately for future use. ...
Jul 07, 2020 by BIDHAN SAMANTA
Refund (Chicago pneumatic) Closed
I have booked on ** th June **** to travel on July *st but due to personal issues I cancel my ticket as a result I have to get refund of **** approx out of ****. I wrote a mail to travolook regarding this issue..but no reply from them...
Jul 07, 2020 by Rajesh Thota
Yatra refund not received (Yatra Com) Closed
My international flight was cancelled by airline due to Covid, airline has already refunded to Yatra, but i have still not received my refund. Flight was cancelled in March but still no refund received. Have called customer support many times, ...
Jul 07, 2020 by Nital Shah
Booked ticket from shiridi to chennai with zero cancellation but gobibo cheated (Goibibo) Closed
I booked tickets with zero cancellation on March my travel date stopped due to covid-**. I paid ***** during my booking after * months of the request they are cheating and giving ****. I booked with extra amount for zero cancellation in spiceje...
Jul 06, 2020 by Anuradha
Travel agency fraud (Easy your holiday) Closed
We have paid advance of Rs *****, due to covid our trip was pushed and they said we can have a trip reschedule in a year. now their website is closed, phone is switched off and no reply to emails. We want our money back. Please help...
Jul 06, 2020 by Vishakha Chandak
Easemytrip com Airline cancelled flight but refund not provided (Easemytrip.com) Closed
I have booked my flight on dated **-june-**** from Delhi to Kolkata ,but now it is showing that the flight has been cancelled by the airline.So I want my money to be refunded as early as possible. Airline: Go Air, Booking Site: Easemy trip, ...
Jul 06, 2020 by Mahendra Singh
Yatra com Refund Not Credited In Bank Account (Yatra.com) Closed
I have booked our below mentioned international travel tickets from Yatra.com on *th November **** with full payment on booking the flight tickets. The scheduled travel dates were from *st May **** till **th May **** to the destinations mention...
Jul 06, 2020 by Dhiraj Rankhambe
Did not recieve refund (Oyo Life) Closed
I had cancelled the booking in OYO LIFE BLR**** Nr BTM Layout * days before the commencement day. I had to pay Rs.***** as advance and one month rent. After that, till now i have not got the retund. ...
Jul 06, 2020 by Venkateswar Viswanath S
Reimbursement not done (Make my trip) Closed
I booked ticket from make my trip from mumbai to delhi for **th february,** for two of my relatives who are senior citizens. After reaching the airport they are being told that there ticket is cancelled and they do not have any booking. Afte...
Jul 06, 2020 by Anukriti Kaushik
Airline ticket refund (cleartrip com) Closed
I HAD BOOKED A TICKET ON CLEARTRIP.COM FOR INDIGO AIRLINES FOR TRAVEL FROM MUMBAI TO KOCHI AND IT IS SCHEDULED FOR **/**/****. I WAS WORKING IN MUSCAT AND I HAVE LOST MY JOB AND SCHEDULED TO RETURN TO INDIA THROUGH VANDE BHARAT FLIGHTS. SINCE I...
Jul 06, 2020 by ANTHONY JOSEPH CHITLAPULLY
Full refund for air ticket not given during COVID19 Cancellation (Yatra) Closed
I had booked tickets for * members of my family. Due to COVID-** situation I had visited Mumbai Airport on **th March to enquire about my Flight status at AIR INDIA office (with in Airport). From there i came to know all departure for Air Indi...
Jul 05, 2020 by Nirav Shah
Yatra com Refund Issue and Pathetic Customer Service behavior Flight cancelled due to but Yatra com (Yatra.com) Closed
Booked flight ticket via Yatra Online Pvt Ltd Want to share a ridiculous and pathetic experience with this platform. Flight booked on June ** **** Travel date : June ** **** On June ** I got flight cancellation notification by the airline (...
Jul 04, 2020 by Rakesh Rana
Refund not received (IRCTC) Closed
Pnr no.********** Date of cancelation: ** June **** Journey from LTT to BGP ...
Jul 04, 2020 by Kapil
Ola postpaid harresment call (Ola Cab Ola Money) Closed
Ola money is not been used by myself. But the insist me to call to the number they give and ask them to pay back the money. That isnt my job. So stop calling me....
Jul 04, 2020 by Geetha
Airline cancellation refund (Make My Trip) Closed
I booked a round trip by Make my Trip for Go Air flight from Mumbai to Delhi and back, Booking ID - NF**************, the flight was cancelled by Airline and they informed the refund the processed to Make my Trip, on ** May I got a confirmation...
Jul 04, 2020 by Santosh Walnekar
AIRLINE REFUND AMOUNT BLOCKED BY GOIBIBO AGENT (GOIBIBO COM IBIBO GROUP PRIVATE LIMITED floor Tower A B C Epitome Building No 5 DLF Cyber City Phase III GurgaonIndia) Closed
Due to Covid **, I am jobless and i am in financial crunch. I have booked the tickets from Mumbai to Madurai connecting chennai for the travel date **.Jun.**** through the travel agent GOIBIBO vide PNR: L*E*VF . The flight operator is Spice Jet...
Jul 04, 2020 by SUGANYA ELANGOVAN
IndiGo changed flight without confirmation and intimated 2 hours before departure (Indigo Airline ) Closed
I had booked a flight (PNR: GWTKRH) from Chandigarh (IXC) to Hyderabad (HYD) on July *, **** at **:**. On June **, IndiGo cancelled this flight and sent a link to choose another flight. I chose a connecting flight IXC-DEL/DEL-HYD on July *, ...
Jul 03, 2020 by Jugal Kishore Garg
Flight ticket not booked but payment deducted (Easemytrip) Closed
I tried to book ticket twice on easemytrip from Delhi to Pune for date *th July **** .My payment was made but got message booking status as failed . Total amount deducted was *****.kindly check on same ...
Jul 03, 2020 by Zehra
"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