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
EXCESSIVE DEDUCTION IN REFUND (DREAM WORLD HOLIDAYS RAMDASPETH NAGPUR) Open
Dream World Holidays ramdaspeth Nagpur, they themselves are not booking the tour, they booked our tour through an Quality Tour tour operator in mysore so the tour cost was high. They got quote from them and they forwarded added therir profit. W...
Jul 15, 2020 by Sagar Gokhale
Refund of international airline ticket (Goibibo) Open
Hi I have lost my hard earned money as i stay in NewZealand And i went to india for holiday and when i was coming back to nz i have booked an Malaysian airline ticket from GOIBIBO and it was my biggest mistake coz they fuckin money sucking ma...
Jul 15, 2020 by Harpreet Singh
Ola driver took extra money by arguing and ola is not supporting (Ola Cabs) Open
At the end of ride driver which was assigned by ola asked for extra money apart from toll tax ( which I paid myself) when I refused to give extra he started arguing to avoid the scene I Thought of paying him and solving this problem with ola....
Jul 15, 2020 by Jeenia Dhillon
Refund not credited through GOIBIBO for flight and (Goibibo) Open
Sir, As d cancellation refund was processed on **-*-**** and as informed by goibibo staff refund will be credited in bank account within ** days but till date amount is not credited in bank account. This is the *th time I have applied for refu...
Jul 15, 2020 by Komal Agarwal
Denied to Refund Extend holiday package (Shoseonlose) Open
I have booked a holiday trip of bali, Indonesia and the travelling date was ** may but due to COVID-** and world wide lockdown, all the tour was cancelled. I have booked land package of Rs *****/- from shoseonlose company and paid paid *st inst...
Jul 15, 2020 by Swapnil kumar
Airticket cancellation refund not received (Goibibo) Open
My name is Kalpesh and I have not received refund after *** days of initiated refund by Goibibo which would be received within ** to ** days as per email confirmation by Goibibo for booking id AMDNTS*YI and Airline PNR-RC*YUR. As per Turkish ai...
Jul 15, 2020 by Kalpesh
Flight cancellation refund not recieved (JetAirways Makemytrip) Open
It’s been more than a year and I have still not recieved my refund from jet airways. Makemytrip is not responding regarding this issue and even jetairways customer care isn’t helpful....
Jul 15, 2020 by Aishwarya Thandava Murthy
Refund of Jetairways ticket purchased from Goibibo (Goibibo) Open
International Ticket purchased in Jet Airlines through goibibo online : Date of Journey ** April **** from Hannover Germany to Delhi and return journey date ** May **** from Delhi to Hannover. Hannover to Delhi reached but return ticket cancell...
Jul 15, 2020 by Ajay Kumar
Oyo Life Refund of Deposit (Oyo Life) Open
I had very bad experience staying in Oyo - Life (Bangalore). Some of the problems i had gone through. *) Post confirmation on the availability of the independent room from the Oyo Life Representative i made my advance payment and on the d...
Jul 15, 2020 by Rahul D
Refund not initiated (Travel Heights ) Open
Due to covid pandemic trip was not done in April however till date I haven't got any refund amount from my advance payment of rs *****.Sufi the owner of Travel heights Siliguri was suppose to start the refund initiation from this month however ...
Jul 14, 2020 by Sourya Mohan Banerjee
Not received full refund (Goibibo) Open
I booked two ways flight from Goibibo that is Hyderabad to Tirupati and Tirupati to Hyderabad in rs ****rs. After few days I received message that my flight has been cancelled, so I contacted to flight customer care service they updated me tha...
Jul 14, 2020 by Bhogi Raju Korada
Booked A Ticket from Travolook Completed Payment but Did not get flight details (Travolook) Open
I have booked the ticket at * AM on **th July'** and they sent a mail that it'd take ** minutes to process the request but then at ** AM, they called me and said that your flight is not booked and we can't process and we'll initiate a refund. I...
Jul 14, 2020 by Mohd Shoaib Rayeen
Travolook failed to confirm my ticket money got deducted Not refunded yet (travolook in) Open
I had booked my flight dated **th June from delhi to kolkata on **th June through travolook with reference no : REF********. travolook failed to confirm my ticket though money got deducted. Got a mail that booking is in progress.as it was not...
Jul 14, 2020 by Mainul Islam Sk
Didn t receive the Cashback (Make my trip) Open
Hello Sir/Ma'am, I did one booking of an international flight from Delhi to Bahrain on **.**.**** and used promo code MMTHDFCDC because of which I need to get **** rupees as cashback. From that date to now, I am trying to get my cashback and...
Jul 13, 2020 by Himanshu Gupta
Refund not received for the cancelled flight (Goibibo) Open
We had booked the tickets for two person on Sunday, Mar **, **** details below: journey date : ** Jun'**** Brussel - Amsterdam and Amsterdam - Bangalore Booking Id: RMDWLZB*D Airline : JetAirways Later on **th April Airline stopped worki...
Jul 13, 2020 by Daisy Rani
Refund against my trip id (Cleartrip) Open
I was analyzed cleartrip refund process statement while actually cleartrip has process only for PNR of AC*PTG - rs - ****/- . But They missing one more PNR of MG***X - rs- **,***.**/- Same I checked with SpiceJet airline that they relea...
Jul 13, 2020 by Mageshkumar KP
REFUND NOT RECEIVED (Make My Trip Pvt Ltd) Open
Rs *** was wrongly deducted on **/**/**** for my booking of flight ticket for which PNR NUMBER is MKMYHG. And more over no reply I am getting from make my trip Pvt ltd customer care number or online support....
Jul 13, 2020 by JAY RAJENDRA AGRAWAL
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 for failed booking (Cleartrip) Closed
Cleartrip is not refunding amount for failed booking even though bank and intermediary ccAvenue is stating successful transfer to Cleartrip account. They are cheating customers. Customer service is pathetic and they do not help in case of any f...
Apr 12, 2019 by P KUMAR
Harassed by the company (Make My Trip) Closed
I made a booking through MakeMyTrip for two adults and one child to Hotel Malas, Panchgani for one night on *th April ****. On arrival, I was harassed by the front office receptionist by saying that I did not provide the correct age of my child...
Apr 12, 2019 by Tina mitra
Refund not given (Happy Easy Go) Closed
My PNR number was RNRGNR with a two-way journey. I wanted to cancel my return ticket three days prior to the journey. The app of happy go easy wasn't helpful so I went ahead and cancelled the tickets from the Indigo website receiving a refund o...
Apr 11, 2019 by Aakriti upadhyay
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
"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