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 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
Air Ticket Amount not refunded since 23 Jul 2020 by Cheapticket (Cheaptickets Co In) Open
*/ Air ticket booked through Cheapticket on ** Nov **** for * Apr **** travel vide E Ticket Booking ID ******** */ India went into Lockdown in March, travel ban and so on which lead to no flights from Turkish Airline */ I took Vande Bhar...
Feb 01, 2021 by Aman Bhardwaj
SCAM HOLIDAY PACKAGE COMPANY (Empleado First Services Pvt Ltd mumbai) Open
Dear Sir I want to bring your attention towards a scam holiday booking travel agency company this company called us in hotel myriad opp. Indian Oil Petrol Pump, Sai Baba Nagar, Mira Road, Mira Bhayandar, Maharashtra ****** . they told us t...
Jan 29, 2021 by dhiraj shetty
Make my trip not refunding money (Make my trip) Open
We had booked a water villa in maldives for **th January **** on *st January ****. When we reached there we got to know that the hotel had cancelled our booking on *nd january itself but make my trip neither informed us about this nor did they ...
Jan 28, 2021 by Swapnil Jadhav
Refund Issue of HappyEasyGo (Happy Easy Go) Open
I have booked the flight tickets from the Happy Easy Go website, for some reason, flights are canceled and from the airline the amount returned to Happy Easy Go and I confirmed the same from HappyEasyGo and Airline. But It has been a year I am...
Jan 27, 2021 by Rajsekhar Patnaik
Refund or credit of travel expenses (Shoes on loose travel company ) Open
we group of * people had booked trip for Kashmir in the month of February **** with Shoes on Loose Private Limited based in New Delhi. Since due to covid-**, our trip got cancelled. Hence we contacted the owners through email and phone. Sever...
Jan 27, 2021 by Ami Doshi
Bad hotel booked (Bookemitrip) Open
This is the worst experience , I had faced with your travel company. I had paid money for the hotels in advance and Mr. Neeraj had confirmed to gave me the best hotels and with balcony view. Here, in Zara Resort I reached at *:** and there were...
Jan 26, 2021 by Vipul Gupta
MakeMyTrip refund for cancelled tickets by airlines (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
Hi I had booked flight ticket from Mumbai to Bali Travel date was *th March **** but return flight got cancelled by airlines as that was via Thailand. Hence MMT has cancelled full ticket but denying to refund the amount....
Jan 25, 2021 by Pankaj Kumar
REFUND AMOUNT NOT RECEIVED (Travolook) Open
Dear Sir We are booked Flight ticket through Travolook ,We are not received Flight ticket & Refund amount also . Booking Reference No : REF********* (BLR TO DEL ) Rs : ****, Booking Reference No : REF********* ( DEL TO BLR) Rs : ****...
Jan 25, 2021 by KRISHNAKUMAR SUBBARAYALU
Ticket booking (Yes Tee Yes Travels Anna Nagar) Open
I gave the amount for takal booking, he said i tried in takal but it's not getting i ll book general quota Waiting list and through EQ i ll make it confirm but it's not confirmed... Then i said u go for flight ticket .. worth of flight ticket i...
Jan 25, 2021 by Mohan raj
NOT RECEIPT OF REFUND FROM FLIPKART TRAVEL (Flipkart travel) Open
Sir, I had booked a flight on flipkart for my brother Mr. Satinder Singh on dated **.**.**** through flipkart for dated **.**.**** from DEL-FCO BOOKING ID:-FF*************, PNR NO. KC*RQ* but due to COVID** LOCKDOWN I rescheduled it on dated *...
Jan 25, 2021 by GURCHARANJIT SINGH
No Refund (Make My Trip) Open
Good Evening, I booked a flight from ENTEBBE to CAPE TOWN and back through MAKE MY TRIP from ** MARCH **** to ** MARCH ****. Due to the enforcement of lockdown in Uganda and South Africa I was unable to travel. I have generated the issue o...
Jan 22, 2021 by Deepak Parihar
Holiday Package cancellation issue (Make My Trip) Open
Package booked on **st February (Booking ID - NL*************) with the advance payment of ***** INR and travel got cancelled/postponed due to COVID. Make My Trip initially conveyed to adjust the package after few months and declined the refund...
Jan 21, 2021 by Deepanshu Goyal
Refund not received since (Zoomcar India Private Limited) Open
I have cancelled the trip on **th April **** as my trip got cancelled due to lockdown, still waiting for refund, every-week I call they tell me next week, it's more then **month, called more then ** times, dropped numerous mail, still no update...
Jan 20, 2021 by Pradeep Nayak
Fraud by MAKE MY TRIP (Makemytrip) Open
I booked a flight ticket in MAKE MY TRIP and after that I cancelled it for some reasons. The refund for that cancelled ticket was not initiated to me till now. I raised a refund request and it's been more than * months. Not even a single penny ...
Jan 19, 2021 by Balaji Vishnu Sai Vanapalli
Make my trip not provided full refund (Makemytrip) Open
I had booked tickets per MakeMyTrip vide booking ID NN*************. Flights got cancelled owing to COVID and Emirates airlines informs full refund provided but MakeMyTrip has not even refunded ** percent of fare paid...
Jan 19, 2021 by Gopinath pullot
HOTEL BOOKING REFUND (Goibibo) Open
BOOKING ID-HTLKM*E**S I HAVE CANCELLED ON **.**.**** FOR RS.****/- BUT TILL DATE NO REFUND RECEIVED FROM GOIBIBO AFTER SO MANY CALLS AND MAILS...
Jan 17, 2021 by PRAKASH SINGH PAPOLA
Ticket is not booked (Travolook Com) Open
I have booked flight ticket from guwahati to delhi by using travolook.in ,money is deducted my account and i got a email that your flight is inprogress it will take ** minutes. But i have not got any ticket. please help me for refund my money....
Jan 16, 2021 by Nitin kumar sharma
Ola Charged me twice for same ride (Ola) Open
Ola charged me twice for the same ride. Once via UPI payment and at the end of the ride it not show up in the driver app so he took the cash to complete the ride. I was charged ₹*** extra for the cab ride from airport to my home. The CRN# is ...
Jan 16, 2021 by Parmesh Gutti
Cleartrip processing refunding since March 2020 (Cleartrip Com) Closed
I had booked a flight on Feb ** **** for the Flight Srilankan Airlines from (Mumbai to Male) scheduled on March **th **** (Trip ID: ************) via Cleartrip and paid ** k for four passengers. The flight got cancelled due to COVID situation o...
Jul 02, 2020 by Abhijit Jadhav
Goibibo denying to raise cancellation for a refund (Goibibo) Closed
AIRLINE HAS BEEN PROVIDING FULL REFUND BUT GOIBIBO CONSTANTLY DENYING TO RAISE CANCELLATION AND PROVIDE FULL REFUND , I HAVE EMAIL CONFIRMATION FROM THE AIRLINE THAT THE REFUND REQUEST IS NOT PLACED ...
Jul 02, 2020 by Saheb singh
Ticket cancellation (Travels office ) Closed
I have booked a ticket from latur to solapur in aakshata travels but on time of departure travels refuse to go to solapur without prior intimation loss due to this trip travels ticket latur to solapur : *** /- train ticket from solapur ...
Jul 02, 2020 by Arjun Gambhir
Cancellation fee not refunded (Vedic Village Health Resorts Private Limited) Closed
I booked one room and then cancelled it within a day following the cancellation rules. This happened in the month of December,**** and still today they didnt refund me back. i mailed them lot of times and also called but they always gave some e...
Jul 02, 2020 by Rishav Ghosh
Money debucated bt ticket not Confirm (Ixigo axis) Closed
Transection done by ixigo flight but ticket not confirm ...
Jul 02, 2020 by Anil sharma
Refund not processed (Goibibo) Closed
I requested to cancel my flight to Zurich of **st May on **th May but still didn’t receive the refund. The app shows status as reschedule available however I have canceled the booking and have the mail also....
Jul 01, 2020 by Harsh Maheshwari
Refund of flight cancelled due to COVID 19 (ixigo app) Closed
I booked a flight during the lockdown period of **th April but due to lockdown extension flights were cancelled and according to govt. policy the refund should be made for bookings between March ** - May *rd. Now airlines have issued my refund ...
Jul 01, 2020 by PRANOV PUNIA
Refund not initiated even after 9 months (Safe My Tour) Closed
The travel agency is the worst on can trust for there safe travel. We had a booking of helicopters for kedarnath in the month of September last year and had to stay there a night extra because of their non functional helicopters. When asked for...
Jul 01, 2020 by Pratikshya Singh Paichha
GSRTC tickets booking cancelation purpose (GSRTC Gujarat state Road Transport Corporation ) Closed
Kindly note that I have update complain in national halp and complain no is "*******".I have * tickets book from gsrtc.in site but now I don't traveling require and I contect to gsrtc Coustmor care he says me tickets can not cancle, you update ...
Jul 01, 2020 by Arjun dineshbhai malaviya
Dear Team, This is Packiyaraj from Bangalore and i've planned my vacation on April **th to **th.Using Goibibo booked my flights.Due to Covid ** crisis all flights has been cancelled.Airline has refunded my amount after complaint with Airsewa a...
Jun 30, 2020 by Packiyaraj
Refund pending from last 4 months (Happyeasygo.com) Closed
I had cancelled my air ticket with airlines in march. They had initiated the full refund which will go to vendor and then vendor further had to push the refund. Vendor i.e. happyeasygo gave me ** days for which i waited patiently but still no...
Jun 29, 2020 by Keshav rastogi
Due to COVID19 flight was cancelled and in return getting a voucher which is valid till dec 2020 (Make my trip) Closed
I'm a student doing my masters and wanted to visit my family for Easter, due to covid I had to get an earlier flight which I booked via Makemytrip and came back to India from London. But since the time I landed home I'm trying to reschedule my ...
Jun 28, 2020 by Saloni
Refund not received (Makemytrip) Closed
I couldn't cancel my ticket from Delhi to Bangalore due to heavy traffic on MakeMyTrip website, even their customer mobile number was not reachable. I am not given any refund because of no-show at airline....
Jun 28, 2020 by Ketan Kaul
Yatra com refund issue (Yatra Com) Closed
Although the Airline refunded the whole amount to Yatra, the company is not giving my money. Yatra has put all the money in wallet, which is against the SC instructions, also they have deducted *** Rs forcefully. No one is responding of emails ...
Jun 28, 2020 by Sayantan Dutta
Refund not received of flight cancelled (Goibibo website) Closed
I booked an flight by Goibibo but it was cancelled by Vistara due to COVID ** and said that you can take full refund by goibibo but goibibo is not giving refund from last * months ...
Jun 28, 2020 by Tanveer ali
Booking ID Incorrect Refund amount (Goibib Website) Closed
Goibibo fee of Rs **** has been charged to me for my flight on **June'** that was cancelled and airline has processed a full refund to me. Even one of your customer care executive had told me that no goibibo charges will be changed and a full ...
Jun 27, 2020 by Rahul Tandan
Not refunding money even though refunded by the airlines (Yatra) Closed
My ticket got cancelled during the lockdown. It was booked via Yatra.com. Indigo agreed to refund **** out of total of around *****. Indigo refunded the amount to Yatra around a month back. But Yatra is still not refunding that money to me. ...
Jun 27, 2020 by Pranav shah
Make my Trip Flight Refund (Make my trip) Closed
This is with regards to my booking from Mumbai to Kolkata via Delhi (Booking ID NF**************) made on April *, **** (Travel Date - April **, ****) which was cancelled due to COVID-**. I made a payment of Rs **,*** (Fare Charge - Rs **,***; ...
Jun 27, 2020 by Rahul Verma
Refund not received (Yatra.com) Closed
I had booked two tickets in yatra.com for journey from Guwahati to Goa (*th April .PNR -QC**SR Indigo) and Mumbai to Guwahati (**th April. PNR-ODWR*Q Spicejet). As i had to cancel my tickets for the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Yatra.com has ...
Jun 27, 2020 by Imdadur Rashid
Incorrect refund processed (Yatra) Closed
Hi, I cancelled my domestic flight booking with reference number - ************ ; While checking the cancellation charges on mobile app the refund amount was shown to be - Rs. **,*** and I got an email also saying that the refund amount ...
Jun 26, 2020 by Piyush
"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