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 agencies 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
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.
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 the services provided by Voxya to 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
Refund initated by airlines but yatra isnt responding to it (Yatra.com) Open
i booked * tickets from Hyderabad to Goa and return on ** Oct **** (reference no - *************). The booking dates were wrongly mentioned so i tried re-scheduling the tickets, the site notified that i have to call the airlines directly to...
Oct 19, 2020 by Anusha
Money deducted twice for flight booking (Make my trip) Open
Booking number - NF************** I have booked a flight from mmt for goa to delhi(**th dec). The total booking amount is ₹**,***. But the money got deducted twice from my bank account. Please resolve this issue ASAP. And please refund ...
Oct 19, 2020 by Shailesh chopra
Flight Refund Due since 7 months (Cleartrip) Open
On **th April, the clear trip agent confirmed via mail that the flight has been cancelled due to COVID and full refund is eligible and it will be processed in ** working days. However, since * months I am still waiting. They are neither respond...
Oct 17, 2020 by Shreyash Jain
Services not delivered (Trip Sailer) Open
I had booked a package from travel triangle with trip id *******. The total amount to be paid was rs. *****, which was paid to customer on *th march, ****. Trip dates were **th march ****- **th march ****. Due to Covid-** pandemic, trip got can...
Oct 15, 2020 by KUSHAGRA GUPTA
Issued ticket on flights that were cancelled (Yatra.com) Open
ISSUED tickets to US ON **TH SEPT FLIGHT FROM LUFTHANSA FROM Los Angeles to Mumbai, that included, FRANFURT TO BOM on **th Oct, KNOWING LUFTHANSA HAD CANCELLED ALL FLIGHT FROM EUROPE TO INDIA FROM SEPT **TH TO OCT **TH, NEVER HAVE UPDATED thei...
Oct 15, 2020 by Tina Shah
Goibibo Refund (Goibibo) Open
GoIbibo deducted all wallet amount to 0. ...
Oct 14, 2020 by Manoj Kumar Agrawal
Money nor refunded (Travalook) Open
logo Booking Cancelled Reference No. : REF********* Need help, Our **x* Toll Free Support: ****-***-**** Your Booking is Cancelled with travolook.in :REF********* Your booking is Cancelled due to fare expiration. Please contact o...
Oct 14, 2020 by Rakesh biswal
Travolook fraud (Travolook) Open
I booked a ticket from jaipur to mumbai. But within half an hour they sent me a mail that your ticket has been cancelled due to fare expiration. And when i asked them about this they said the airline Indigo canceled it. And now there is no r...
Oct 14, 2020 by Aabhash Agrawal
Cheque dishoundred due to Signature Mismatch (Holiday Hutzz) Open
Dear Sir, I invested in a networking marketing program with M/s Holiday Hutzz, address: ***,*rd floor, Bestech Business Tower, Sector ** (Mohali), Punjab (******), in May **** Based on the investment I was eligible for a monthly interest ea...
Oct 13, 2020 by Ritesh Kumar Gupta
Cheque dishounred due to Signature Mismatch (Holiday Hutzz 302 floor Bestech Business Tower Sector 66 Mohali Punjab ) Open
Dear Sir, I invested in a networking marketing program with M/s Holiday Hutzz, address: ***,*rd floor, Bestech Business Tower, Sector ** (Mohali), Punjab (******), in May **** Based on the investment I was eligible for a monthly interest ea...
Oct 13, 2020 by Ritesh Kumar Gupta
Travel refund (Shoes On Loose Private Limited) Open
Mr. Poddar, I along with my husband availed travel package from your this company for our honeymoon to Italy, from **.**.**** to **.**.****.They a total of Rs.*,**,*** for the package with booking ID.**** While we were in Italy, the Corona...
Oct 13, 2020 by Poorvi Aswani
Refund for undelivered product (Om international ) Open
Om international from Gujrat promised me give *** box of surgical gloves delivered at Gurgaon and asked to pay first **k and then **k but after that never give delivery nor refunding the amount. ...
Oct 12, 2020 by Hema Ayar
Need refund not credits (Make My Trip Gurugram Haryana India) Open
MMT is not returning money. They issued credit voucher with many conditions. These conditions are not practical. ...
Oct 11, 2020 by sushant tripathi
Refund Amount again reverses to their a c automatically (Make My Trip) Open
not receive the refund...
Oct 10, 2020 by Rishav Borthakur
Complaint on Refund Amount (Bus Ticket) Open
I have booked a bus ticket on */**/**** evening, my amount of Rs *** was debited from my account, and credited to goibibo account, and bus ticket was not booked. So , I'm complaining about my refund amount of Rs ***....
Oct 09, 2020 by Peddapalegani Palavardhan
Travel agency not refunding the money (Sharing Travels Pvt Ltd) Open
I had made a booking for * for Singapore with Sharing Travels Pvt ltd but unfortunatly couldnt travel due to lockdown. Now Sharing Travels is denying to pay my money back, with the current scenario i dont see travl happening in the coming mont...
Oct 08, 2020 by Priti Prava Chakraborty
Refund not paid against cancelled flight (Goibibo) Open
Goibibo has not transferred refund initiated by Indigo against cancelled flight (PNR # BI**TM). Since *th Sep **** , Goibibo is showing the same status " Refund has been initiated and will take *-* days to reflect in your account" I want my m...
Oct 08, 2020 by Abu Asim Ansari
Refund not issued for 210 days (Cleartrip) Open
Dear Sir / Madam, I am writing to you to raise an issue about: Cleartrip not Issuing refund even after *** days. The issue that I have experienced was: I have booked following * Trips on Cleartrip portal for my Travel from Mumbai to Mel...
Oct 08, 2020 by NAPOLEON KHANDELWAL
Oyo is a fraud Worst customer service (Oyorooms) Open
I had booked a room with AC in a hotel via Oyo rooms. ID: DIPY**** They asked to pay via Google I paid. Having proper ID still they booked at * km far and it's * am. When I reached the hotel manager denied to give room as it's not AC. Because, ...
Oct 08, 2020 by Pranjal Garg
Wrong Charge for ticket (Make my trip) Open
Ticket NO: ***************** This is against my registered profile in the name of the undersigned with you. I am a frequent traveller and have been regularly availing the services of your portal for all my travel needs for the past many year...
Oct 08, 2020 by NITESH SUNNY GUPTA
Full refund including flight ticket (RedBus India) Closed
On date **/**/**** morning *.** my flight from Jaipur to Bangalore so I checked bus from redbus india (Raipur, Rajasthan to Jaipur Rajasthan) they give me option Ashok travels , Bus time is **.** from raipur and Jaipur arrive time is *.** so I ...
Aug 16, 2020 by Ravindra Singh
HappyEasyGo Refund not received (Happyeasygo.com) Closed
I had booked tickets for travel between Chennai to Shirdi for ** May ****. Because of Covid, the flights were cancelled and I had requested for refund on **th May by confirming that the refund is processed from Spicejet. I had also attached the...
Aug 15, 2020 by Sathiyakailash S
Travel company not booking ticket against cancelled ticket of Lockdown (Yatra.com) Closed
I had booked my return Ticket from Bangluru to Delhi for under Yatra reference no. YT********, Due to lockdown this flight did not take place. And on enquiry I had received following email from ur side. On Wed, ** Jun, ****, **:** Yatra.co...
Aug 15, 2020 by Vivek Dubey
Payment deducted but booking not done (OYO Rooms) Closed
I was trying to book a room through oyo app. I tried to avail pay now option to pay the hotel right away through UPI. After payment through Google pay, I checked that my booking was not confirmed. But my money was deducted. Please resolv...
Aug 15, 2020 by Dipjyoti Mitra
Refund from goibibo (Goibibo) Closed
Sir, my booking of indigo airlines has cancelled by airlines. I m book my flight from Goibibo for PNR SLYFYW airlines credit my refund to Goibibo but Goibibo not responding & give my refund till date. ...
Aug 14, 2020 by Vishal Chaudhary
Money Got deducted but ticket didn t get booked (Make My Trip) Closed
I did a transaction for Delhi to Lucknow and an amount of Rs.**** got deducted however the ticket didn't get booked. The Make My Trip app showed payment failure message. I did the transaction today on Aug **, ****. I did email to Make My Trip...
Aug 14, 2020 by Monishankar Nath
Cleartrip did not refund (Cleartrip Packages & Tours Private Limited) Closed
I had got my airline ticket refunded directly from airline as my travel did not happen due to COVID. The airline has confirmed that they have processed refund from their end on **th July ****. Followed up with Cleartrip multiple time but they s...
Aug 13, 2020 by Debesh Roy Sharma
Refund amount Not received (Makemy Trip) Closed
Hi, Myself naresh peddy. I have booked ethihad flight from brussels to hyderabad (**-apr-****) and hyderabad to brussels (**- may-****). Booking id: nn*************. Due to covid **, ethihad air lines cancelled the flight. I requested for t...
Aug 12, 2020 by Naresh
Makemytrip benefiting only through Convenience Fees during pandemic (Makemytrip) Closed
Makemytrip is probably not a viable company during the pandemic. So, they are continuing the habit of refusing the convenience fee refund. The proportion of flights being cancelled by the airlines during the pandemic is exponential compared to ...
Aug 12, 2020 by Eswar B
Clear trip refund not processed for Flight cancelatiom (Cleartrip) Closed
I have booked my flight from delhi to portblair in Feb **** for april Month but cancel due to lockdown & i have request for cancelation for ticket in April **** but till now I have regular request & mail to cleartrip but no refund received....
Aug 12, 2020 by Hariom
Cancelled ticket without my permission (Goibibo) Closed
Because of covid-** my airline got canceled, But my travel agent canceled my ticket and took the refund without my permission and didn't sent it to my account. Case no. from airline for refund to goibibo:- ******** PNR no:- YQW*QE ...
Aug 11, 2020 by Ritumbada sahoo
Money loss (Goibibo) Closed
I had booked hotel, than my payment was deducted, but I no received any confirmation, than I did second booking with again payment, and now I can't reach goibibo for my refund... ...
Aug 10, 2020 by GADHAVI PRUTHVIDAN RAMESHDAN
Only half of the refund processed (Yatra) Closed
I had booked flights tickets on yatra. My indigo flight scheduled on *st Aug **** got cancelled by indigo airlines on **st july **** and I received an email from indigo saying I will get full refund of ***** INR. But i have received only part...
Aug 10, 2020 by Rajput Manishsingh
Refunding air ticket (Yatra Com) Closed
Dear Sir, I have booked a ticket from yatra, Yatra reference no. ************ ie spicejet flight with pnr noTJ***B from port blair to delhi on **/*/**.for Rs****, but it got cancelled due to covid. I requested spicejet and got it refunded but...
Aug 09, 2020 by Alex mathew
No Refund transferred for 5 months (Goibibio) Closed
I had cancelled my flight booking with goibibo from Vancouver to Guangzhou and from Guangzhou to Delhi on *th March and my airline transferred the full amount of Rs.***** to goibibo within a week.So I waited for a month but goibibo didn't proce...
Aug 08, 2020 by Sikander pal singh puri
Booked ticket from travolook (travolook in) Closed
i have booked a ticket via travolook.in, immediately payment got deducted but i haven't recieved any ticket and they are saying to return it after **-** days, after looking reviews for travolook i read its a scam...
Aug 07, 2020 by khushbu bijapari
Refund of money (Ease my trip com) Closed
On ** july i booked a bus ticket fir Delhi To mathura. On ** a.m bus operator masseged me your trip is cancelled. Due to some reason they are not able to make a trip. I immediately called the bus operator and he told me refund will be credite...
Aug 07, 2020 by Prashant sharma
Refund not received Booking ref no pnr no OEWCGY (Travolook) Closed
Booking ref. no. REF******** PNR no. OEWCGY FROM- Raipur to Tirupati, via Bengaluru. This flight has canceled due to COVID ** from INDIGO side, and the same we have canceled due to the nonavailability of another flight as per given yo...
Aug 07, 2020 by chandrakant chandrakar
Refund For Freedom Fare (Cleartrip) Closed
Trip ID#************ and Trip#*********** - I purchased two tickets using ClearTrip's "Freedom Fare" option for an additional premium - Cleartrip's website says that Freedom Fare is refundable in case the Airlines canceled the flight - M...
Aug 07, 2020 by Zimil Patel
I want to reschedule my flight due to COVID 19 (Cleartrip and Indigo) Closed
I along with ** of my family members are passengers on an Indigo Airlines flight, Flight #*E***,#*E****, #*E**** & #*E***. This is a domestic return flight between Lucknow and Bagdogra. The flight is scheduled to depart from Lucknow at **** h...
Aug 07, 2020 by Rachna Rishi
"Number of times I tried to get a refund from OYO but they did not bother. But after I approached Voxya, they nicely handled the matter and I got my refund."
Samit Brahmachari
Complaint filed against: OYO Hotels