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
MY REFUND AMOUNT NOT RECEIVED FOR MORE THAN A YEAR (Goibibo) Open
Dear Goibibo and Jetairways team, It's been more than a year now, I am still waiting for my refund amount. You need to release my own ticket refund amount that I paid for the Mumbai to Singapore round trip dated **th April **** through *th Ma...
Jul 28, 2020 by JUSTIN JOHN MENDONCA
Refund not received for cancelled flights (Make my trip) Open
We had booked a round trip through MakeMyTrip to Italy. The booking ids are NN************* and NN*************. However, the flights were cancelled by Jet Airways and hence we were notified by MMT about the cancellation. We had raised a ticket...
Jul 28, 2020 by Nandini Sundara Raman
Refund issue (Goibibo) Open
I have book my ticket through Goibibo but due to some problem I could not travel so I have rescheduled my ticket directly from indigo airline and they refunded Rs *****/- from my previous ticket amount & they made my ticket. This amount c...
Jul 28, 2020 by Gaurav Sinha
Refund of cancelled Flight Tickets due to (Goibib Website) Open
Dear Voxya Team, I am at my wits end to get refund from goibibo on the flight tickets cancelled due to Covid** cancellation. PNR/Booking Ref.: JWMHUH. IndiGo Fight dated **th May **** from Kolkata to Varanasi (COVID** Cancellation). PNR...
Jul 28, 2020 by Kushal Dasgupta
Not Refunding money despite being advised twice by Vistara (Happyeasygo India Private Limited ) Open
I booked tickets from HappyEasyGo for three people from Bombay to Chennai. Due to the pandemic, I could not travel. I consulted HappyEasyGo about the refund and they asked me to ask the refund from the airline and send a screenshot of the email...
Jul 28, 2020 by Saurabh Agarwal
Refund not transfered (Cleartrip com) Open
Ticket Cancelation date **th March**** Refund of full amount confirmed my airlines but still the amount os not refunded after more *** days. Please get into this issue...
Jul 28, 2020 by Nihal Shahir
Flight Refund Not Processed (Cleartrip) Open
I have booked a flight with cleartrip ( ************ ) , which was cancelled by Vistara with full refund , the flight was cancelled on **th June **** and till date they have not cancelled or initiated the refund , everytime i call their care , ...
Jul 28, 2020 by Ravinder Singh
TAX INVOICE OF LESSER AMOUNT (Oyo) Open
Booked a room through OYO app twice from **.**.****-**.**.**** and **.**.****-**.**.****. Paid Rs **** and Rs **** online. But received tax invoice of Rs **** and Rs ****. Want tax invoice of complete paid amount. ...
Jul 28, 2020 by FAHAD AKHTAR
Refund against cancelled flight (Makemy Trip) Open
Dear Sir, I have booked flight ticket through makemytrip. Due to covid ** restrictions, my flight was not operational. So I requested for cancellation. Initially they approved my cancellation request and after two months they removed my cancell...
Jul 27, 2020 by Mohan
I want my refund not credit shell (Goibibo) Open
I have booked air ticket of two men round trip hydrebad to Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad to hydrebad for april ** and may ** this year. But due to covid pandemic all flights have got cancelled and airlines has refunded amount to customers who booked ...
Jul 26, 2020 by Mohammed Akbar Basha
Driver ask for bribery (Uber Cab) Open
Today I booked an Uber Cab at * o'clock from my PG (in Chennai) to Chennai International airport which came around Rs *** only. The driver, named Senthil Kumar, messaged me on Uber app and asked me for Rs *** extra otherwise he won't come. I ca...
Jul 26, 2020 by Ishwar Kumar Singh
Refund not processed for cancelled flight (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) Open
The flight got canceled because of Covid-** lockdown and the concerned airline had already processed the full refund which was to be credited by MakeMyTrip in my account which it hasn't done....
Jul 26, 2020 by Lakshya Saini
Refunding amount (Indian Railways) Open
its been more than a month i have cancelled the train ticket yet amount has not refunded the date of the journey was on **-**-**** and ticket was cancelled on **-** due to pandemic train was cancelled by it self and per IRCTC guidlines we hav...
Jul 26, 2020 by Kalyanshetti Patil
Refund of my payment (Deal4holiday) Open
I planned a trip to goa with my family and contacted deals*holiday in the month of Feb **** their representative called me and i did a deals of Rs ***** they asked for Rs **** token money and subsequently for flight tickets Rs ***** after depos...
Jul 26, 2020 by Gajender singh
Refund Not Done Properly Contact Voice Email Support Nil (Goibibo) Open
Following E-Mail on the Copy sent to goibibo, Hi, There is a big communication gap between goibibo and customer like us. You people are not responding on phone numbers because of limited staff that you people are saying. But Every comp...
Jul 26, 2020 by Apurba Banerjee
Refund from goibibo (Go Ibibio) Open
I booked a flight on **th of July from hyd to sxr but it got cancelled, then I rescheduled it to **th july and now also it got cancelled. I requested for a refund bit the airlines are saying it would take them approximately ** days to process t...
Jul 26, 2020 by Abrar Rashid
Airline tickets refund (Go Ibibio) Open
I had booked GoAir flight tickets from go ibibo from Jaipur to Ahmedabad for *th July **** for my wife and infant son. But the airlines cancelled the flights leaving them stranded so I had to rebook tickets through other airlines. At first go i...
Jul 26, 2020 by Lalit Kumar
Full Refund Amount not initiated or paid by MakeMyTrip when flight got cancelled by AirAsia in COVID (Make my trip) Open
I booked my flight from Ranchi to Bangalore on May-**-****; Travelling Date: June-**-****; Booking Agent: MakeMyTrip; Flight: AirAsia; Flight No.: I*-****; PNR: F****T; Booking ID: NF**************; I received SMS from AirAsia on May-**-**** th...
Jul 25, 2020 by Gautam Kumar
Wrong refund calculation by Goibibo (Goibibio) Open
While cancellation on *th May I received e-mail from Goibibo that total refund amount is *****/-. But in the beginning they transferred only Rs.,*.*. After chasing given next rs.***/-. I raised issue on twitter then they again settled rs. ****...
Jul 25, 2020 by Nitin padmanabh Mayya
Refund of cancelled flight (Goibibo and Goair) Open
PNR No. GFNKWR I booked flight ticket in GoAir through Goibibo website. for Ranchi-Bangalore-Cochin trip. Paid Rs.****/-. Later the flight cancelled by GoAir and issued full refund of ****/- as cash to agency Goibibo (email attatched) and told...
Jul 25, 2020 by JERIN C JOSE
Ticket not confirmed (RedBus India) Closed
I booked Mangalore to Belagavi on ** December ****. The payment complete but ticket not confirmed. Still not solved from ****. TRANSFER- UPI/DR/************/redbus @a/UTIB/redbus@axi. This is transferred amount details....
Sep 02, 2019 by Krishna Marathi
Ola auto drivers are asking for extra amount for the drop location (Ola Cabs) Closed
I have been using ola service for the past * years. I prefer ola cabs and autos than any other cabs because of its reasonable price for service. But nowadays those drivers are asking to pay extra amount like **₹ + ola estimated amount and tel...
Sep 02, 2019 by Manikandan
Charged for a trip that I didn't take (UBER) Closed
I booked an Uber auto to travel to a place that was * km away. However, when I was assigned a driver the driver automatically started the trip without me. Furthermore, I called him and he said that he is coming to me asap. However, he drove awa...
Sep 01, 2019 by Garvit
Refund not credited (Goibibo.com) Closed
I have booked irctc ticket. Unfortunately, that train cancelled due to flood. Its been two weeks but still, I didn't get my refund....
Sep 01, 2019 by Junaid kk
Complete refund not processed (OYO Rooms) Closed
I booked a room in OYO on Aug **-**rd. In spite of no room availability, OYO still accepted the booking and charged the amount. Later I was asked to check-in to another substandard hotel. I had to refuse for the same as I felt the new hotel whi...
Sep 01, 2019 by Smiran Mathew
Check in not allowed (Goibibo) Closed
I planned a visit to Dehradun and booked Oyo **** Hotel Central Park Inn, Dehradun with Booking ID HTLTPYNVMN for **-** August. I booked this hotel on July ** i.e., ** days in advance. On August **, I reached hotel around **:**PM. When I entere...
Aug 31, 2019 by Priyanshu Kumar
Payment made but not credited (Ola Brewers & Beverages Private Limited) Closed
I paid ₹*** via my ICICI credit card on **aug** (ref : **********) to my ola account **********. The amount ₹*** was deducted from my credit card account and not reversed so far. But, the amount is not credited to Ola money account till ...
Aug 31, 2019 by Selva
Fraud bill generation and mental harassment (Ola Cabs) Closed
I took a cab on **st feb ****, from gurgaon to delhi, i payed the money in cash as usual, but that driver generated the bill in ola post paid ,without my concern, when i started receiving the calls and sms for recovery ,i explained them every t...
Aug 30, 2019 by Manish singh
Driver cancelled the cab I booked 3 times (Ola Cabs) Closed
I have booked my cab this morning * times and they cancelled my cab all the time....After booking the cab I called them and all of them said that they are coming but they cancelled after it just because of it I missed my intercity train and I h...
Aug 30, 2019 by Himanshu
Accidental death compensation not received (Indian Railways) Closed
The railway administration has increased the amount of compensation. The Indian Government has amended such enhancement in The railways Act, ****. The compensation has been made twice for people who suffered severe physical injury or in case of...
Aug 29, 2019 by Jairaj Khanna
Ola Cabs asking to make repeated payments even when the amount is already debited from my bank accou (Ola Cabs) Closed
I had taken ola ride for airport drop and make full payment and the driver confirmed the payment. But still date they are sending me messages and in OLA app showing me that amount of *** is to be paid to them as part of post paid which i had a...
Aug 28, 2019 by Biswas
Goibibo didn't take any action to refund my money (Goibibo) Closed
On july ** i made a payment of rupees *** for my train booking they have received my money but still now they didn't refund my money i called them many times but they always failed to resolve my complaint and didn't take any actions my booking ...
Aug 28, 2019 by Mohamed alavudeen aathif
Regarding billing issue (Ola Cabs) Closed
I am being chased to pay amount of Rs ***/- for a ride taken on **th July,**** at **.**pm from khadakpada,Kalyan to Ulhasnagar *. This was a auto cashless ride. The driver was really rude. At start of the ride I handed over Rs***/- note to driv...
Aug 28, 2019 by Muskan Santwani
Charged extra money (Ola Cabs) Closed
On Saturday **th August I booked an Ola bike from my residence and the amount to be charged displayed was ₹** as the distance wasn’t much, my driver kept talking about a false price surge throughout the journey, and when I reached my locati...
Aug 28, 2019 by Abhilasha Mukherjee
MakeMyTrip ticket booking fiasco (Makemytrip.com) Closed
On **th August Called MakeMyTrip to change the date of flight(Booking ID NN*************) AI-*** BOM-LHR to **-Sep where the original date was **-Sep The call was answered by Shruti and mentioned that date change of above ticket would inc...
Aug 28, 2019 by Neeladri Mitra
Goibibo fraud on hotel booking (Goibibo) Closed
I booked hotel for * days in puri, orissa vide booking I'd ********** and **********. Hotelier did not allowed me to check in at goibibo rates and charged rs.**** extra from me. I suffered mental harassment and my tour had started on a bad note...
Aug 27, 2019 by ROHIT KUMAR MITTAL
OYO Rooms didn't refund money for denied check in (OYO Rooms) Closed
I booked hotel through OYO rooms and paid also but hotel management denied my check in due to unavailability of rooms.I called OYO help desk on same day and cancelled my booking,they didn't refund my money.Almost one month over still they didn...
Aug 27, 2019 by S.BALAJI
Bad cab service (Make My Trip) Closed
Reference ID:[******-******] Cab Issue Incident date ** Aug. Complaint logged on **th Aug Last contact on ** Aug Escalated to Mr. Deep Kalra on ** Aug Dear Sir, I feel sorry and pained to bring a very small issue to your notice. I am...
Aug 27, 2019 by Sushil
Wrong hotel booking and no refund (Makemytrip) Closed
I booked a hotel in Oyo ***** Tag House Pune for **th Aug to **th Aug but was not allowed to check in because the hotel had ended its contract with Oyo. However, Makemytrip made me stand and wait for alternative hotel for *.* hours and never ca...
Aug 26, 2019 by Sandeep Padhi
Bus got cancelled (Redbus) Closed
Ticket no: TN*N******** I was at boarding point wherein till waiting for * hours bus had not arrived . Bus did not come there. I also called redbus at that time to get bus contact no. I contacted bus too telling about bus cancellation for no...
Aug 26, 2019 by Nikhil
"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