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
Refunds and recheduling (Goibibo airlines) Open
With extreme disappointment I would like to bring it to your notice that its been a hard time for me to keep taking a followup for my refund flight request since last eight months. As gobibo is not entertaining any customers with existing bo...
Jan 13, 2021 by varda chandrakant bora
Executives at Make My Trip manipulated the bookings on trip which was paid earlier (Make My Trip Pvt Ltd) Open
This is regarding an issue with MMT having booking id: IN*B************* The executive assigned on this booking has cheated the customer and manipulated the bookings. Have enough proofs for the same. Few of the Vouchers & booking confirmation...
Jan 13, 2021 by Adit Desai
Incomplete refund (Easemytrip) Open
I booked (on **/**/****) a GoAir return flight via EaseMyTrip, MCT-BOM-MCT, travel dates **/**/** & **/**/**, costing ₹.*****. GoAir cancelled the flight on MCT-BOM sector on **/**/**** due to citing the reason to be beyond their control. ...
Jan 11, 2021 by Amith Samuel Tauro
Service not provided as advertised (Make my trip) Open
MakeMyTrip has cheated us by Advertising and service not Provided in Reality. Hotel Bookings as advertised and after payment and arrival none of the advertised amenities provided/serviceable. We are cheated by MakeMyTrip....
Jan 11, 2021 by Anirban Singh
Travolook have not refunded the amount (Travolook) Open
I booked a ticket on December *st **** from travolook and the Reference Number is - REF********* date of travel was *th January **** from Delhi to Bangalore but after the ticket was booked they sent the mail saying it got cancelled and also cal...
Jan 11, 2021 by Harshpinder Singh
Fraud Tour Package (Pioneer Global Services) Open
I have done registration with pioneer in Jan ****. It was very difficult to contact them. All promisses made were just false. In the Nov **** we had booked the package for udaipur rajasthan. The team gave us booking confirmation however on reac...
Jan 10, 2021 by Pankaj Gujar
REFUND RELATED (Travolook Com) Open
I BOOKED FLIGHT ON ** DEC AND THEY CANCELLED IT TILL *TH JAN I HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE REFUND AGAIN TODAY ON *TH JAN I BOOKED TICKET CANCELLED FROM THERE SIDE WITHOUT ANY CONFIRMATION GIVEN FULLISH REASON OF CANCELLATION YOU GUYS ARE GIVING BULL...
Jan 09, 2021 by SWATI KUMARI
Refund from MakeMyTrip (Make my trip) Open
For the booking ID-NF**************, I am supposed to get a refund of INR ***** (*****+*****). Despite repeated acknowledgement by MMT, they have failed to refund this amount. I have attached emails from them along with screenshot of my MMT acc...
Jan 08, 2021 by abhijit sinha roy
Taken money Membership declined and not providing refund (karma resorts and hospitality) Open
Hello there, One day Sumit Sony - an agent from Karma resort came to my home to sale the membehsip of karma resort. He told me that price of membership is *.**L for * years which offers *N and *D for domestics trips. I was not wanted to ...
Jan 08, 2021 by Kashyap pujara
Complaint regarding refund from Oyo life (Oyo Life) Open
I was staying in Oyo life property from ** December **** to ** January **** ..The amount was paid online with * month security amount and now during the refund time they have deducted extra **** amount and even the rest amount is also not credi...
Jan 07, 2021 by Sonali Biswas
Complaint regarding refund from Oyo life (Oyo Life) Open
I was staying in Oyo life property from ** December **** to ** January **** ..The amount was paid online with * month security amount and now during the refund time they have deducted extra **** amount and even the rest amount is also not credi...
Jan 07, 2021 by Sonali Biswas
Payment successful but flights tickets not received (Travlook In ) Open
I booked flight tickets by using www.Travolook.in Payment ID : pay_GM*C**CFVRYQ*c Payment Date: *th Jan Got an email from no-reply@razorpay.com Payment Successful for Wing IN Travel However, I haven't received confirmation booking referen...
Jan 07, 2021 by Uday Kumar Yalakanti
Refund from hotel (ponmari Residency Ooty) Open
I had booked * rooms at ponmari residency ooty on *nd November **** and check in date was **th December ****.And paid them advance of Rs **** on *th November ****. Due to change in plans I had to cancel the booking and booking was cancelled on ...
Jan 05, 2021 by Nithin paul
Refund from happy easy go (Happy Easy Go) Open
Indigo airlines had refunded my cancelled flight money in july due to pandemic but happy easy go has not refunded it to me till date....
Jan 04, 2021 by Nitin Puthran
Unnecessary phone calls messages and threats (Ola) Open
I have been literally haunted by ola money to pay for ola postpaid amount of Rs*** since June ****. I have reiterated to them that i had mistakenly activated the ola postpaid , however, i have paid for the rides in cash and never opted with th...
Jan 01, 2021 by Sonali Chavan
Unfair practise by travel triangle (Travel Triangle ) Open
I have been raising refund request towards booking ID *******, since on going pandemic is still not over but agent is following their traditional cancellation policy however traveling from * state to another requires covid clearance hence there...
Dec 30, 2020 by Anand kakkar
Flight cancelled refund not yet received (Makemytrip) Open
MakeMyTrip jet airways flight was cancelled April ****. Refund not yet received. ...
Dec 30, 2020 by Xaveriano Cirilo Rodrigues
No Refund after 90 days (Travolook) Open
I have booked a flight ticket from travolook site on **th October ,**** ( Booking Ref: REF*********),which was not done but the amount was debited from my account .But even after more than ** days , they are not refunding the amount , Every t...
Dec 29, 2020 by Bhaskar Singh Rautela
Refund Scam Happy Easy Go (Happy Easy Go) Open
Trip ID : ******************. Spicejet has already processed the refund to the agency in May, **** and I have received confirmation from them as well. But the agency is claiming they are yet to receive the amount from Spicejet. I am yet to rece...
Dec 29, 2020 by Sourav Kumar Ghosh
Cheating by Genial holiday club representatives (Genial Holiday Club Sco Sec 8 C Chandigarh) Open
Genial club organised a promotional event at Hotel D*M Mansa, (Punjab) on **.**.**** and called me and my wife to that event by making calls from mob. no.**********. Company representatives ... *. Manoj Kumar Mob.********** *. Sukhdeep Singh...
Dec 29, 2020 by Narinder Singh Manshahia
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
Ticket refund (Yatra.com) Closed
I booked my ticket through yatra.com and my flight got cancelled on **th june then again i extend my date of travel on **th june then again flight got cancelled then goair told me that they refunded the full amount thenafter i cancelled my tick...
Jun 26, 2020 by Ashutosh kumar
Flight cancelled by Airline apply Heavy Cancellation (Easemytrip.com) Closed
I have booked flight for my parents on EaseMyTrip.com for date ** May **** from BOM-AUH-BOM with GoAir flight and for this booking I have paid Rs. *****/- GoAir Advisory On Coronavirus:- https://www.easemytrip.com/goair-waiveroffer-during-c...
Jun 25, 2020 by Avinash Patil
Refund of air fare (Yatra.com) Closed
Me & my wife were to travel to US on the **th of May & back on *th June. (Chennai to New York & back) But due to uncertainties around Covid** we cancelled our ticket (Ref No ] on the *th of April itself & got confirmation from Yatra website tha...
Jun 24, 2020 by Muthuraman Ramanathan
Hotel denied checkin after payment and confirmation on goibibo (Goibibo hotel) Closed
I hv booked Hotel Panchvati in Andheri West on Goibibo , received confirmation on the same, but when I went to the hotel, it was closed and no response from Goibibo as well as hotel number available, after much of try I got the number from secu...
Jun 24, 2020 by Arbaaz khan
Oyo hotel complaint (Oyo) Closed
They charged *.* day **** ,there is no eminities providing , waste hotel Oyo no *****, vijayawada , bsr ritz hotel ...
Jun 24, 2020 by M sai krishna
Refund not received of cancelled flight (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Closed
I had booked a flight from Delhi to Dehradun for **th April which was cancelled due to the lockdown period going on. I had paid using the my cash wallet of MakeMyTrip. As per government directive, the full refund was to be issued to everyone. R...
Jun 22, 2020 by Shrey Krishna
Refund not initiated in bank account (Yatra) Closed
I had a flight booking with yatra from bangalore to kolkata. On **th april i was supposed to travel but due to lockdown extension i couldn't. My flight got cancelled. After zillion follow ups with yatra, it initiated me the refund into the yat...
Jun 22, 2020 by Asmita maity
Refund on Booking ID (Make My Trip) Closed
We had made a booking on Jet airways through Make My Trip. The Flight was cancelled in April **** by the airlines. Till Date we have not received a refund nor do we get any update from Make my Trip. have been following up for a year now and its...
Jun 22, 2020 by ROHAN KRISHNAN
Internation Flight Ticket refund (Goibbo) Closed
Booked flight tickets from Guangzhou to New Delhi for the month of April, but due to Covid ** outbreak, the flights were canceled, however, there is no response from GoIbibo after endless calls and mails. ...
Jun 22, 2020 by Ishika
Refund not received (Oyo) Closed
Booking Id: KMFU**** Summary: I had prepaid and booked a hotel. On reaching, I found out the pictures on app were of a different hotel and were vastly different from the hotel I reached. This was dated xx I mentioned the same to OYO on that d...
Jun 22, 2020 by Santam Baul
Cleartrip not refunded airline ticket amount (Cleartrip) Closed
Airline refunded amount * months back but Cleartrip hold the amount for **+ days and refunded only Rs.*** instead of full amount Rs.**** which was refunded by airline. No details were provided why they deducted the money. Contacted the custome...
Jun 22, 2020 by Sirisha
Cleartrip not refunding cancelled ticket amount (Cleartrip Com) Closed
I booked flight ticket through Cleartrip for travel on **th April **** from Kolkata to Bangalore on Indigo airline. Trip Id- *********** PNR- NETW*V Due to COVID-** situation, my ticket got cancelled. The total amount of ticket was Rs. ****, ou...
Jun 21, 2020 by KUSHAL BISWAS
Since my bus is canceled for travel on may ** it's been a month till now I'm not provided with the refund and customer care email is not responding to any of my emails support@yatra.com and bus@yatra.com both are not responding ...
Jun 21, 2020 by Nithya K
Refund is incomplete (Goibibo) Closed
The flight is cancelled due to covid and I booked the flight from Goibibo on March **,**** opting for insurance even to get the full refund in the event of flight cancellation. But, i didn't get the refund till June *st week even on continuous ...
Jun 21, 2020 by Varun Kumar Manne
Didn t get my refund (Yatra) Closed
I booked * domestic flight tickets through Yatra on April * and my journey date was April **th. My flight was cancelled by airlines. As per government regulations i am eligible for a full refund. But Yatra transferred my amount their e-wallet t...
Jun 21, 2020 by IJAZ E
Flight cancelled but no refund yet (Yatra.com) Closed
My travel date was on **rd April'**** with Qatar Airways. Due to Corona outbreak flight was cancelled. I started writing mails to Yatra from *th April and on **nd April got a confirmation mail that they are processing my full refund. Its been *...
Jun 21, 2020 by Arindam Ghosh
Trip was cancelled due to COVID19 No refund since March (Travel Triangle ) Closed
Due to COVID-** we had to cancel the trip and had informed the team before * month of the trip. Have been following up since month of March but there is no update on the same ...
Jun 21, 2020 by Bhabna Acharya
"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