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
Travolook is not refunding flight fare (Travolook in) Open
I booked a flight ticket from Travolook where the booking was cancelled but the deducted the amount . I have mailed their customer care numerous time .Every time they respond like it will be refunded in next * days . The booking date was **...
Sep 16, 2020 by Prasun Majumder
Air ticket refund (travolook com) Open
the air ticket was booked from Mumbai to bangalore on *st aug **** , booking got cancelled from the vendor side pnr was not generated from travolook. Transaction id -*********, booking ref -********* pls find the mail confirmation about the ...
Sep 16, 2020 by vishal kumar kv
PNR GGWSHC Goibibo (Goibibo airlines) Open
Due to COVID-** pandemic situation our flight tickets got cancelled and tried to reach out Goibibo to utilized credit shell amount however credit shell option is not available on desktop version under my account. Till now i have sent ** email ...
Sep 16, 2020 by Anirudh Goel
Failed transaction (Make my trip) Open
I was booking a deal on makemytrip from starting i selected the deal then on next step i filled my details (not login) then i was directed to payment when i paid my transaction was failed and money was deducted it was on *th september **** but ...
Sep 14, 2020 by Bhavya kumar
Convince Fee Deducted in Refund (Goibibo) Open
My PNR Number is GFBMFF. I had booked tickets from Goibibo and my travel date was **.**.**** and return on **.**.****. Due to COVID flight was cancelled and I should have been given full refund. Flight company Indigo had given full refund but G...
Sep 14, 2020 by Bhavin Sanghavi
I do cencle my file of visa (Rudraksh Group Mohali (punjab) ) Open
My name is Harjeet Kaur My village : Haryau District : sangrur Sir hm ne Rudraksh group company mohali (Punjab) me apni file lgaei thi ab nahi lgaani sir hm ne apni file cencle krni hai par wo koi response nahi de rhe or phone b nahi chak ...
Sep 14, 2020 by Harjeet kaur
REFUND NOT ISSUED (Make My Trip) Open
My booking Id-NN************* PNR-MKZT* TICKET NO-***-********** I already applied for refund on *th of july and still got no response from MMT.airlinnes says to contact the booking agency . But Booking agency shows no intrests in exesting c...
Sep 13, 2020 by NEERAJ KUMAR PANDEY
Travel Scam (Sri Krishna Rath) Open
I booked * ticket with Sri Krishna Rath for traveling from Ranchi to Patna on ** sept ****. I booked the tickets online on paytm on * sept **** and selected seats * & *. However on the day of journey when we boarded the bus the tickets were ...
Sep 13, 2020 by Manoj Kumar
Refund not received (Paytm Travels ) Open
I booked an air ticket for Indigo airlines using Paytm vide Order # *********** . The amount paid was Rs. ****.(Rs **** using Paytm gift voucher + *** from Paytm wallet) Due to lock down the flight was cancelled and the airline initiated ful...
Sep 12, 2020 by Pooja Aggarwal
Refund not received (Goibibo) Open
I had done booking for * passengers from Delhi to Singapore from *th to **th April via goibibo from Singapore airlines. Singapore airlines confirmed that they have refunded the amount to goibibo. Even received email from goibibo that Rs.*,**,**...
Sep 12, 2020 by Nishika Divya
Refund not done by ibibo (Ibibo) Open
I booked an air ticket with indigo.com on **st of May **** and was supposed to travel on *th June ****, but due to covid **, the airlines had cancelled my ticket. Now for a refund, they asked me to contact goibibo. Hence I claimed to goibibo, t...
Sep 11, 2020 by xavier lindez fernandez
Company denying to refund the amount in cash (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
I have booked a Roundtrip travel(Booking ID: NN*************) to Bali of the dates **th April **** and **th April **** respectively and the airlines was Flyscoot. The Flights got cancelled due to the Covid-** situation. a) I was unable to c...
Sep 10, 2020 by Swaminathan C
Refund has not received (Goibibo) Open
I Have Made Booking For My Flight Tickets To nagpur-delhi and delhi-nagpurThrough GOIBIBO, Flights Got Cancelled Due To COVID , I Got Confirmation From The Airlines That They Have Given Full Refunds For All My Tickets To GOIBIBO, However I have...
Sep 09, 2020 by Yugandhara kale
Refund not processed (Make my trip) Open
Hello there, I have partially cancelled my * tickets which I have booked For **th of July ****,and the amount of refund which have to come in my account was Rs.**,***. But after cancelling I only get some amount that is Rs.**** in my account ...
Sep 09, 2020 by Abhishek Ambasta
Refund Not Received (Happy Easy Go) Open
I booked a flight from San Luis Obispo to New Delhi on **th Mar ****. But i got cancelled due to COVID **, the airlines refunded the money back to Happy Easy Go long time ago, but still Happy Easy Go haven't refunded my money....
Sep 09, 2020 by Shubham Gupta
Refund not issued against travel insurance (Liberty Insurance Co Ltd and EaseMyTrip) Open
I had booked a flight ticket with EaseMyTrip for travel from Guwahati to Bagdogra (PNR OK**MQ) on **/**/**** for INR **** (including INR *** as Cancellation Ins. premium) with ***% insurance against cancellation. I cancelled the ticket on **/**...
Sep 09, 2020 by NISHANT SHARMA
Refund pending for flight cancellation (Happyeasygo.com) Open
I made a booking via Happyeasygo , but the flight was cancelled by airline due to corona lockdown. I confirmed with airline they have already processed the refund but after * and a half months I have not received refund from happyeasygo. I have...
Sep 08, 2020 by Pankaj vaswani
Air ticket Refund not done (Cleartrip) Open
I purchased ticket for my daughter trip from Chennai to Kuwait, Qatar Airways, on *th march,****, the transaction was unsuccessful but my bank account was charged KD ***.***, I did two transactions both were unsuccessful and amount was charge...
Sep 07, 2020 by Shaikh Esdani Basha
Refund not initiated (Goibibo) Open
I booked a air asia airline ticket PNR -DTZNKI dated **/**/** through goibibo, but the flight was cancelled due to covid **, so I cancelled the ticket and apply for refund. But even after * months, I did not get my money back. Even airline com...
Sep 07, 2020 by Pranshu jain
Refund from Make My Trip not received (Make My Trip) Open
Dear Sir, I am writing with great hope that I will get justice. In **** I book Jet Airways ticket (Reference No. **************** : NN*************) for my parents from Pune (India) to Perth (Australia) and back from make my trip portal. I...
Sep 06, 2020 by Joshua Aston
Amount Debited but ticket not booked (Cleartrip) Closed
I have done Flight booking from Cleartrip on **th June and payment was done from ICICI credit card. Amount was debited and ticket was not booked. I have instantly confirm with ICICI customer care and they confirm that if ticket was not booked t...
Nov 14, 2019 by Ravi Tanwar
Refund and received (Yatra.com) Closed
I when I was playing for a trip with yatra.com They asked me to pay a certain amount without planning anything, (when I was still looking at itineraries,) just to lock the dewali offers.I asked them if the amount is ***% refundable and if I ca...
Nov 13, 2019 by Awaiz Khan
Paid twice to ola driver (Ola cab delhi NCR) Closed
I paid twice for the ola trip#CRN **********. First I paid from paytm UPI to the driver, but somehow it was not reflecting to his account immediately. We waited for some time and since it was middle of night, he asked me to pay again in cash an...
Nov 13, 2019 by Ravi Shankar Choudhary
Seats not provided (Goibibo company ) Closed
I was traveling from bhopal to Mumbai by flight air India flight number A* ***, or boarding no. ***, seat no. **b,and my ticket and seat booked by goibibo, but goibibo already deducted money onw my account, for seat or travel, goibibo couldn'...
Nov 13, 2019 by Pancham singh
Refund not provided (Yatra.com) Closed
We had paid Rs.*** two times for seat booking in indigo. This was refunded to yatra.com. yet yatra has not refunded to us...
Nov 13, 2019 by Arun Raman
Refund not approved (Legendbusservice) Closed
Http://www.legendbusservice.com/ This bus operator is not approving my refund since * days. Contact person - Lalit Sharma Contact no. - ********** Following is the problem happened and irresponsible behaviour - I Booked A Bus Ticked...
Nov 12, 2019 by Amit Kumar Sharma
No refund received of bus cancellation (PayTM) Closed
I booked a bus ticked from paytm on ** october. Journey was on * november. When I called on **********(number given on sms of booking) in afternoon to enquire of bus location for boarding the operator told me bus is cancelled. As journey wa...
Nov 11, 2019 by Amit Kumar Sharma
Refund not provided (Wishyourholiday) Closed
Wishyourholiday representative Zoya khan offer me mahabaleshwar deal and rate was finalize (****) with mango Valley view hotel only. She told we will provide same hotel also she has shared room photo also. Then asked for advanced. I had transfe...
Nov 11, 2019 by Avinash Bhalodia
Poor service by company (Experience Andamans) Closed
We have planned a trip to Andaman through Experience Andamans company. They had promised **x* support and any issue will be resolved right away. After * days of our trip, when we reached Port Blair on ** Nov ** at around **** hrs, we have been ...
Nov 11, 2019 by Madhu MS
Less refund of cancellation amount (Make My Trip) Closed
We have booked Flight tickets trough make my trip for our Director and his wife from CCU-Varanasi-CCU on *th and **th with zero cancellation assurance. Lately, when we tried to cancel it, they didn't returned us the full amount though it was a...
Nov 11, 2019 by Devika
Overcharged by ola cabs (Ola Cabs) Closed
I was Charged *** for a **.* km trip over ** mins which is abnormally high for this trip time and distance.i have raised many complaints regarding the same and I was forced to pay this amount by ola by threatening fine and finally fining me ext...
Nov 09, 2019 by Sambuddha Dhar
Fare not received (UBER) Closed
I have been associated with uber as a driver for last * years Dt. I got a ride from uber user for Haridwar to Sonipat on **-**-**** at **.**pm. When I dropped the clien at sonipat end the ride the bill was ****/- shown on my meter but on th...
Nov 09, 2019 by Jalees
Too much Toll Tax Charged (UBER) Closed
I booked a cap on *th Nov from Vasundhara, Ghaziabad to Shahdara, Delhi. Initial amount shown to me was Rs. *** (this was including Rs.*** toll tax) but i end up paying Rs. ***.**. Actual toll tax for this trip should be only Rs. *** as shown e...
Nov 08, 2019 by Ankit Jain
Extra money charged (Ola) Closed
I booked ola mini vide CRN ********** for *.* km ola charged *** rupees during day time while the actual fare was RS *** The detail bill is as under base fair **, distance fair **.*,ride time fair **.** waiting fee *.** fare increase ***.* ...
Nov 08, 2019 by Prabhat kumar verma
Chandigarh hotel scam by goibibo (Goibibo) Closed
Goibibo should be blacklisted, have done biggest scam with me, first took my money as a hotel booking when reached hotel in chandigarh the hotel wasnt tie-up and contract with goibibo and denied to return my money, i booked at *th of november a...
Nov 07, 2019 by Hirdesh saxena
Bus pickup district cancelled without information (Redbus) Closed
I have booked a berth in a bus from Patna to Delhi scheduled on */**/**** at *.** pm. My ticket number was TNBP******** and PNR was TS******************ENPB/*****/Patna-Delhi ** and seat no. – LS*. I am a resident of Begusarai, so took a b...
Nov 06, 2019 by Kumari Vandana
Fraud in online bus ticket booking (Redbus online booking) Closed
I booked online two bus tickets from ISBT, kashmiri Gate Delhi to sikar with redbus the other day I,e *th November ****They sent me confirmed tickets of *th November **** . Boarding time was *:** am . I really he'd to the bus stop early and enq...
Nov 06, 2019 by Yatendra Kumar Sharma
Excess charges collected and no refund (Ola Cab ) Closed
CRN**********,OUTSTATION CAB BOOKED,ESTIMATE FOR ** KM RIDE AFTER COUPON CODE DISCOUNT OF RS.*** WAS DISPLAYED FOR AMOUNT RS.***,LATER BILL FOR ** KMS COLLECTED,COUPON CODE DISCOUNT NOT GIVEN AT TOME OF FINAL PAYMENT,RS.** FOR INSURANCE WHICH ...
Nov 06, 2019 by KIRTIKUMAR C THAKKAR
Very bad service by Ola cab (Ola Cab delhi) Closed
Ola Service & Driver was very Bad No bady can Help of child patients ,Mera beta jo * years ka hai jisske Leg me thori problem hai jisko mai Jaipur Golden Hospital me Treatment kara kar Ghar Narela ke liye Ola Cab booked kiye or ** minute me ola...
Nov 05, 2019 by Satish kumar Jayswal
Wrong information given (Ola Auto) Closed
Today i booked the ola CRN ********** at *.** *m from urappakkam to tambaram. I recieved call ftom driver and i guided him to reach him the boarding point. I checked with the auto number and i found it was different from the one i recived. I d...
Nov 05, 2019 by Jasmine
"Thank you so much to Voxya.com. Legal Notice really worked and Byjus had to refund my amount and cancel the loan. Thanks once again Voxya. "
Ramachal V
Complaint filed against: Byjus