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

Refund of cancelled airline ticket by Cleartrip (Cleartrip) ^Open

I had on ** Feb **** booked tickets for * people for travel from San Francisco - New York for travel on ** May **** by Delta Airlines. I had paid an amount of INR ***** under the freedom fare scheme which refunds the whole amount in case of can...

Jul 13, 2020 by Sanjeev Kumar Sawal

Unethical way of holding customer funds (Air india) ^Open

Air India-Unethical ways of a govt run co holding customer’s tkt fares for over *+months & refusal to refund. * calls , * emails to ECommerce- No resolution. Booking Reference YRMNL. Air India cancellation refund -case ID is ********...

Jul 13, 2020 by Rajat Gupta

Payment of tour not refund because tour cancel covi (Sindon home cab India pvt Ltd ) ^Open

Maine apna tour package home cab India pvt. Ltd me booking ki * April **** ki lekin Covid ** ki wajah se tour cancel huaa maine advance payment Google pay se **** rupees ki lekin mera payment refund ni kiya kafi bar bat krne k bad * month bad J...

Jul 12, 2020 by Ajay kumar

No refund being issued (Makemytrip india Pvt Ltd) ^Open

i have booked flight ticket through make my trip for pune bangalore flight to take off on **.*.****. unfortunately due to lock down flight cancelled. Company issuing shell credit for lesser amount with host of stringent untenable conditions wh...

Jul 12, 2020 by prakash iyer

Invalid Air Ticket (Ixigo) ^Open

We had booked an air ticket through Ixigo for DEL-CNN on *th June, **** and after making the full payment of Rs. *,***/- they sent us an e-mail confirmation with a PDF copy of the ticket and a tax invoice for *,***/-. The ticket mentioned the s...

Jul 12, 2020 by Rajeev KK

Airline ticket booking fraud (Happyeasygo.com) ^Open

Hii I booked a ticket from AMD-PAT for *rd August **** through happy easygo.com. while booking ticket they give you option of chosing free reschedule plan for which they charge extra money for that. Free Reschedule option says that u will have...

Jul 12, 2020 by PULKIT KUMAR

Service not provided (Alegria holidays and hospitality) ^Open

Algeria holidays and hospitality has been taken Amount Rs ***** instead of purchase amount Rs ***** from credit card and emi process wrong way without my sign not service provided also...

Jul 12, 2020 by GAYA SAH

Refund request (Makemy Trip) ^Open

made a booking for Mumbai to Visakhapatnam flight dated *nd July and the PNR is H**F*. The flight was cancelled for unknown reasons and eventually Ticket with same PNR was schedule for *th July. However I could see that my PNR is shown c...

Jul 12, 2020 by ramakrishna chelluri

Approved amount not being refunded by Make my trip (Make my trip) ^Open

I have cancelled my airline ticket Of Go Air & they have processed the refund to MakeMyTrip . I have written emails, no response. The IVR suggesting me a link but that Link never opens which is sent on my email. Can't contact any Customer care....

Jul 12, 2020 by Abuzar Gaffari

Refused to provide refund for a cancelled flight and charged extra charge than difference between ne (Goibibo) ^Open

Booked ticket through goibibo with PNR-NZTYZB on February ** for ₹*****. The flight was operated by Emirates and date of travel was **/**/**. The flight got cancelled due to restrictions due to covid restrictions. When asked for refund goibib...

Jul 11, 2020 by TIJO JOHN

Non Deliverable of ordered live plants (Makemyhobby.com) ^Open

I have ordered live floating plants from Makemyhobby.com on **th March **** for an amount of INR ****.** and till date I have not received any items nor my complaint had been addressed to. Contact through whatsup is not yielding any results, no...

Jul 11, 2020 by Dinesh Kumar Vattathur

Refund from Emirates Airline not forwarded to me (Goibibo) ^Open

I booked ticket from Delhi to dubai on * April on goibibo and couldn't travel due to lockdown. Airline refunded the ticket and goibibo kept the refund status in progress and this morning they changed the status to travelled!!!!! Now they are as...

Jul 11, 2020 by Mahua Deb Samaddar

Ticket Cancellation Issue (Goibibo) ^Open

I had booked my to-fro Indigo flight tickets on the *nd of June via Goibibo, for dates **th June Delhi-Hyd and **th June Hyd-Delhi. Since my tickets got rescheduled by the airlines later, i could not travel. I had directly cancelled my tickets ...

Jul 11, 2020 by LIMI MATHEW

Flights cancelled by airlines and no refund (Make My Trip) ^Open

I had booked * business class tickets from Mumbai to Montpellier on *st Feb **** for my senior parents with a travelling date of April *th **** and return back from Montpellier on June *th ****. Both these sectors got cancelled and hence these ...

Jul 10, 2020 by Kenrick Nazareth

Refund not yet processed (Happyeasygo.com) ^Open

It been * months since i have been chasing for the refund and all i get to hear is that it is under process.I had booked flight in April and due to covid the flight got cancelled. The airline refunded full amount long back but i have got no inf...

Jul 10, 2020 by Tejenderjeet Singh

Refund not received for cancellation of flight (Clear Trip flights ) ^Open

Dear Sir I have booked flight to kozhikode from Kolkotha on November *th. Due to the cyclone flight cancelled and we have requested for refund of the same. I have booked the ticket through cleartrip. I am attaching the E-ticket for your inform...

Jul 10, 2020 by suja.c.a

Not issuing ticket from credit shell (HAPPYEASY GO) ^Open

I booked a flight from Hyderabad to Port Blair **th March - PNR (FL**KM). It was cancelled due to lockdown and the credit shell was issued to happy easy go . So now i need to travel from Hyderabad to Delhi . But Company has no option to all...

Jul 10, 2020 by Tanuj Bhatia

Goibibo is not refunding my cancelled flight tickets amount (Goibibo) ^Open

We have booked * flight tickets for **th april to travel from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam. All flights got cancelles from **am on **th March due to covid-** pandemic. The airline has issued refund (to agent-GPIBIBO) on my request. But Goibibo is...

Jul 10, 2020 by Pratyusha Boppana

Refund not recieved fake assurance (Cleartrip) ^Open

I had three cancelled bookings with cleartrip in march **** * with vistara rs. **,*** and * with spicejet rs.**, *** total... When the flights got cancelled due to covid vistara sent the full refund to cleartrip in mid-march and since then the...

Jul 09, 2020 by Awsaf jeelani

REFUND (Cleartrip) ^Open

Due to the COVID-** Lockdown my Qatar Flight (PNR: JK*QAN) was cancelled by Qatar Airlines itself. I did my booking in January *, **** through the infamous ClearTrip (TripID: ************). I requested for my refund, but I only got the generic ...

Jul 09, 2020 by Deval Kaushik Shah

Refund not made for the cancelled flight ticket (Make My Trip) ^Closed

I had cancelled round trip booking flight Delhi-Sydney on **.**.**** and till date, no refund has been done. Their support customer care and chat are absolutely pathetic. No one replies. Booking ID is NN*************. Kindly resolve this issue....

Apr 11, 2019 by SHAILENDRA KUMAR

Forceful usage of cash over original payment (Make My Trip) ^Closed

The hotel normal cancellation policy allows free cancellation till ** hours before check-in time and I had double black MMT membership. I specifically called the MMT support to request that they use the normal hotel cancellation policy for two ...

Apr 10, 2019 by Manav Prakash

Non reservation candidates in reservation compartment (IRCTC) ^Closed

I have two reservation tickets from SC to BVRM town station. Today I was about to board the train but people don't allow me to get in. The person without reservation tickets entered reservation compartments and does not have the place for peopl...

Apr 09, 2019 by Satyaveni

Amount wrongly debited (Make My Trip) ^Closed

On Dt. **/**/**, I tried to book an Air ticket from Mumbai to Cochin through Make my Trip option. Make My Trip Complaint/Reference ID - ******-******. At the time of booking, amount of Rs.*,***/- got debited from my HDFC Bank Credit Card accoun...

Feb 26, 2019 by RAJESH LAXMAN SHETTY

Bus pick up location changed without information. Bus missed. (Make My Trip) ^Closed

I booked a bus ticket from kolkata to chandikhol for **nd October. The pick up or boarding point of bus changed without any information from MakeMyTrip or from operator. Tried calling operator contact number. But no response received from opera...

Oct 23, 2018 by Dipto Ghosh

Hotel booking (wrong dates booked) (Goibibo) ^Closed

I selected tge dates for booking as **/**/**** for * night but the booking has been done for today. Goibibo is not responding to my modification request and neither is recieving my call...

Jun 12, 2018 by Harshul Bhatnagar

Luring customers about price protection with banners and with misleading information (Yatra.com) ^Closed

Dear Sir, Booked flight for my aunt on *th June **** for the travel of hyd to Newyork and also return. I booked through yatra.com as I got attracted to their banner promotion of price protection which is nothing but misleading and hiding...

Jun 12, 2018 by Bhuvan Reddy

Cab cancelled (Make My Trip) ^Closed

I would like to inform you the service provided from makemytrip is unacceptable. There was no responsible person who can solve my issue. Cab was not provided to me and no efforts done from team. I was standing there for * hours in a heat wi...

Jun 06, 2018 by Shashir bhatt

Travel Web portal created by www.hungrybags.com was unprofessional one, with inadequate data and err (Www.hungrybags.com) ^Closed

Lured by www.HungryBags.com travel portal' grand offer, I paid Rs **,*** in one go for my own domain name travel portal hoping to earn margins and profits on Flight, Hotel, Travel bookings made by customers like Yatra, Cleatrip etc. To my shock...

Apr 22, 2018 by Baalu Radhakrishna