Tour Travel Complaints - Travel Agent Complaints

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

Money deducted, Ticket not booked

No Refund

Booking canceled

Customer care not responding

Bad hotel booked

Misbehavior by staff

Fraudulent Booking agents

Fake Club membership sold

Train canceled without knowledge

Booking dates changed

Room was not clean

Cab did not arrive on time

Cab driver canceled the trip

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

Refund issue by Goibibo (Goibibo) ^Open

My return flight has been cancelled by Airlines and issued as a refund on ** June **** to travel agent as it was booked over Goibibo. American airlines has sent confirmation to me over email and refund receipt also available on their portal. G...

Jul 24, 2020 by PRASHANT PADOLE

Refund not provided (Goibibo) ^Open

I have booked flight tickets thru goibbo PNR U*NQKL & PNR F**EMS travel dates *th April **** and **th April **** due to lockdown travel was banned .Airline first offered credit shell I have spoken to the airline and requested refund as iam not ...

Jul 23, 2020 by Shanmuga Anand

Ticket refund (APSRTC) ^Open

Hi I'm booking ticket vij to tirupathi on June ** ticket was not booked payment deducted from my account. I'm booking through APSRTC app only I got message like ticket not booked you money refund * to ** working days one month over no response....

Jul 23, 2020 by Dharmarao suragani

Amount not refunded (Goibibo) ^Open

I had booked air tickets for travel to Singapore and back by Singapore Airlines via Goibibo in May ****. Due to Covid-** pandemic, Singapore Airlines cancelled the flights and returned the full booking amount. This information was not shared by...

Jul 22, 2020 by Ipsita Roy

Non refund (Makemytrip) ^Open

I have made a transaction by purchasing a ticket to my native place via googlepay vide Upi transaction no ************ which i have got the receipt of but makemy trip neither acknowledge nor did they issue me a ticket .Now their contact system...

Jul 22, 2020 by Sujit Nayak

Travel agency not refunding money back (Holiday Junctions) ^Open

We booked Europe trip for December *, ****. But got plan cancel email from travel agency and was assured that we will be getting our money refunded back and they will give us extra travelling coupon to aboard our expenses for next travel. But i...

Jul 22, 2020 by Abhishek Tiwari

Customer support intentionally MISLED into ticket cancellation (Goibibo) ^Open

I had booked an airindia flight before lockdown started, and on **-**-****, when I asked Goibibo customer support if I can get a refund, they replied by saying that AirIndia is not offering any refund on cancellations. But immediately after tha...

Jul 22, 2020 by Ankit Das

Given a offer when I went to claim they said to iqnore the offer (Airtel ) ^Open

From the company I got a sms that your wallet have been credited with rs ** ,to claim it download the app.When I downloaded there was no sach thing ,then I called the customer help line number and they said to iqnore it.I know it's a very small...

Jul 21, 2020 by Md Mosaraf Hossain

No Refund for flight cancelled due to (Goibibo) ^Open

I booked a flight for Bengaluru-Bangkok sector (PNR - T*KI*H, ********-********). But due to Covid** pandemic, entire air travel was shut. It's been more than * months but Goibibo is not refunding my amount. ...

Jul 21, 2020 by Aakash Aakash

Refund Complaint against Goibibo (Goibibo) ^Open

I had booked air ticket for two persons from Pune to Leh (travel date ** July ****) and Leh to Pune (travel date ** July ****) on ** Jan **** through goibibo(PRN No:N*MTNJ) of GoAir airlines of Rs.***** Due to India china dispute and Corona pa...

Jul 21, 2020 by Niraj Walunj

Didn t get my refund back (Make My Trip) ^Open

Respected Concern. I have a flight on ** March **** to Australia via Singapore from Hyderabad. Due to the ongoing situation of COVID-**, the airlines have cancelled the flight and requested for the refund. As I contacted the scoot airlines the...

Jul 21, 2020 by Srujan Chetllapelli

I booked a ticket for **th July from Mahalaxmi travels via redbus for * pm as I had to reach in someone’s funeral by **th night. I reached the boarding point ** mins prior to the boarding time and was told by the driver to wait there and the...

Jul 21, 2020 by Monika Srivastava

Refund for ticket PNR ECTCFX on GoAir flight 807 from Jaipur JAI to Bengaluru BLR vide MMT ID o (Make my trip) ^Open

I had booked the tickets through SBI credit card on **.**.**** for the tickets PNR ECTCFX on GoAir flight G*-*** from Jaipur (JAI) to Bengaluru (BLR) vide MMT ID NF************** on ** Feb '** at **:** hrs and the same was cancelled by Goair i...

Jul 21, 2020 by M L INDULEKHA

Not paying my hard earned money (Traveltriangle) ^Open

I Have Made A Travel Booking On *Nd March **** For My Trip To Mauritius On **Rd April ****, My Booking Id Is *******. For This I Have Paid Rs.**,***.** Amount To Travel Triangle Agent. But Due To Covid-** Global Outbreak, I Had Told Travel Tria...

Jul 20, 2020 by Rajat Sharma

Mono net pink saree (Jio fab) ^Open

The saree we ordered wasn't as expected. Poor quality. And not well finished. The is colour is soo vibrant that one cannot wear it. We asked for the return but they told we cannot take back the saree because you had a discount of Rs *** being y...

Jul 20, 2020 by Indhu sree

Refund from Cleartrip (Cleartrip) ^Open

My flight was booked from Budapest to Delhi for **st March on Polish airlines through cleartrip. I got a mail on **th march from cleartrip saying flight is cancelled. Though the airline mention it on its website also that incase the flight is ...

Jul 19, 2020 by Nitin

Regarding refund of my booking money deducted by oyo even after cancellation (Oyo) ^Open

Dear sir I booked a room in AGRA at **-**-**** with oyo application by **********. Hotel named ZAKI HS was listed in safest hotel . Deduction was done online but when I went to the location of hotel . There was no such rooms & hotel . I cal...

Jul 19, 2020 by Dr SHAILENDRA KUMAR

Payment of Refund not received (Happyeasygo.com) ^Open

I have cancelled my PNRs SMV*KA and WM*KHD through IndiGo portal and they informed me that they have already processed the refunds in two parts, one on *th of April, **** and the other on **th of July, **** to the agent wallet. I have made the ...

Jul 19, 2020 by Ankita Bhowmik

Blocked account without any reason (Ola Cabs & Ola Money) ^Closed

My Ola account assign with no has been blocked without any proper reason and due to this, I am not able to use money balance in my Ola account of Rs. ***. Please help me....

Apr 24, 2019 by Amolkumar Gainar

Cheating with cancellation policy (Redbus.in) ^Closed

I've booked a ticket with RedBus on **th April from Hyderabad to Bangalore. I've checked the cancellation details within the app before booking the ticket which says I can cancel anytime before * pm on **th of April with a cancellation fee of *...

Apr 24, 2019 by Chaitanya Reddy

System failed in booking right ticket (Makemytrip (india) Pvt. Ltd.) ^Closed

We booked a multicity ticket but MakeMyTrip booked a round trip ticket instead. This was supposed to be a Mumbai - Munich - Hamburg -Mumbai ticket but they booked the mum-Munich-Mumbai ticket. Now they aren't even changing the ticket and insi...

Apr 24, 2019 by Anuj Bagri

Refund not given (Goibibo India Private Limited) ^Closed

I booked a cab in the goibibo app on **/**/**. They took advance of Rs. *** for scheduling my travel. But till date I didnt get any information about the cab nor did I get the refund which was paid in advance....

Apr 24, 2019 by Kapil Kumar Sharma

Regarding undue charges (Ola Cabs) ^Closed

We booked Ola cab first time. The driver did not pick the call and we charged Rs. **. The second time we booked the cab than the driver confirmed our booking after waiting. If ** mins driver denied we again paid Rs ** as cancellation charges. W...

Apr 24, 2019 by Abhishek Bansal

International flight return ticket cancelled but refund is not given (Yatra.com) ^Closed

I booked a partially refundable international flight ticket ( for my wife ) from New Delhi to New York (USA) and back to Delhi from yatra.com of Rs. *****. The return flight was much delayed by more than * hrs due to which I cancelled it with ...

Apr 23, 2019 by MOHIT SONI

Non refundable money after ticket cancellation (IRCTC) ^Closed

I had booked my ticket on */**/**** from Gorakhpur to Allahabad. I made the payment online. But the ticket was automatically cancelled. So from that date to now, I did not get back my money in my account. Pnr: **********...

Apr 22, 2019 by Arjun singh

Not refunded after flight being cancelled by the airline (Goibibio) ^Closed

I had a flight from Kolkata to Lilabari on **/**/****. The flight was cancelled by the Airline. I had used Goibibo's platform to book the tickets. Ever after logging a service request (********), I am yet to be refunded. They are not responding...

Apr 22, 2019 by Ramanuj

Non cooperation in name correction (Cleartrip) ^Closed

I have booked domestic and international tickets through Cleartrip on ** April. Within ten minutes of my booking, I realised that I have made a mistake in my son's name. The ticket reads Arju instead of Arjun. I straightway informed Cleartrip. ...

Apr 22, 2019 by Gp Capt S Shrivastava

Lack of security (Oyo) ^Closed

Someone by the name Mr Mangesh Raut has used my mobile number to book Oyo hotel rooms. Why Oyo app has not some security procedures to send some verification number on the given mobile number to authenticate if the given number is genuine or no...

Apr 21, 2019 by Jaya jainani

Money taken but booking not made (Easemytrip.com) ^Closed

The complaint is regarding my baggage booking which I did from EMT for my Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Phuket. I have purchased ** kg of baggage from EMT for Rs ****. We were informed at Bangkok airport that EMT has not updated and paid the ...

Apr 21, 2019 by Aman jain

Worst car services (Goibibio) ^Closed

I booked cab services from Goibibo for Jaipur for **th April ****. I booked Cab on **th and they scheduled the cab and mailed me that cab will arrive at your address at **:** am. But no cab came. I called customer care they said that they will ...

Apr 20, 2019 by Kamal chourasia

Refund got declined (Oyo) ^Closed

Booking ID: TURG**** I booked Oyo ***** ( Luxury Home ) for * nights from Wed ** April to Sun ** April and paid online Rs ****. On **th April I reached the location provided by Oyo app. There was no hotel in the particular location. The locals...

Apr 20, 2019 by Zaki Ahmad

Customer harassment done (Make My Trip) ^Closed

We booked * rooms via Make My trip for Regenta resorts in Pushkar wherein we got confirmation of the booking too and after nearly * days we received a call from the resort that the rooms are full and they don't have space for us as by mistake t...

Apr 18, 2019 by Anushruti chatterjee

Bus did not showed as per the boarding time (Red Bus) ^Closed

I booked a bus from Redbus en route from Ahmedabad to Udaipur. The name of the travel was Laxmi travels. The bus was scheduled to come at *:** pm at the boarding point. Redbus notified the information through the message about the bus and the c...

Apr 18, 2019 by Prasun khabya

No response on my flights (Goibibo) ^Closed

Goibibo website is modified suitably to give no response on Jet bookings. I have booked Jet flight from Mumbai to Singapore but all modes of communication from Goibigo website is blocked. Phone lines always state that they have huge traffic hen...

Apr 18, 2019 by Praveen Agarwal

Full refund not received (Cleartrip) ^Closed

I have booked a ticket on **th of March **** from Mumbai to Bangalore for two passengers on Cleartrip for an amount of Rs *****. The trip id is ************. However, the name I entered there was wrong and I immediately called the Cleartrip cus...

Apr 17, 2019 by Jithin Das

No response from customer care (Oyo) ^Closed

I booked Oyo sober dreams Hinjewadi Pune hotel for ***/-. After reaching there I came to know due to the electricity issue they couldn't allocate the room to me. They ask me to place a call to customer care to adjust in the nearby Oyo hotel. A...

Apr 16, 2019 by Sujay Navghare

Refund is not given for cancelled transaction (Goibibo) ^Closed

I booked train tickets from Goibibo which gets cancelled and the money is deducted. They are sending me emails from weeks saying the refund is done but I haven't got single money from them. Also, they haven't provided me with the ARN ref number...

Apr 16, 2019 by Abhinav sharma

Check in baggage allowance (Makemytrip (india) Pvt. Ltd.) ^Closed

A few days ago we inquired on MakeMyTrip app about booking of flight for Sector Jammu Delhi and saw that check-in baggage allowance of ** kgs allowed in Air India flight no AI ****. Accordingly, we booked a ticket under their reference no NF **...

Apr 16, 2019 by Babli razdan