AIRLINE BOOKING SCAM

ComplaintsScamsCheapoAir.com

Complaint

0
CHRISTINA
Country: United States
CHEAPOAIR.COM is definitely a very poor company and I strongly urge ANYONE reading this to NOT use there "service".

On July 9th I went to CheapOair.com to purchase a ticket and was provided with a Reservation ID and a booking number. Now, I also went directly to the airline's website to verify the prices, and they were accurate, BUT Cheapoair was offering a $10 instant coupon so I figured I would purchase the ticket through them and not directly with the airline itself.

A few hours go by and I did not receive my ticket so I called them. I was on hold for 15 minutes and then was "disconnected". I then called back and after another 30 minutes was told by a representative that they were "processing' it and I should have a ticket shortly. A few hours later I call back. I waited 30 minutes on hold and once the representative asked me "do you really need a morning flight"? At this point, I'm thinking something is obviously wrong. Apparently, they were unable to offer me the ticket that I had purchased and booked. I requested to speak to a manager and was transferred to SHAW. He would not provide a last name. He basically kept giving the run around and tried to continuously blame the airlines. I told him that if I had NOT used the CheapOAir service and directly booked with the airline that I would have had a ticket so what reason do I have to use his service ever again if they can't provide what they advertise and promote? He did not have an answer. I made him give me a written confirmation that I would not be charged. I also requested the name of a superior. He declined to give me any names so that I could formally complain and told me to send a generic email to their feedback@cheapair.com. I gave him ample notice that I was going to post my story anywhere I could to warn other consumers that this website does not provide the services it charges to the customer!!!!!!

Comments

  • 0
    L.B.
    I will not go even close to their site again... My story on Booking # 8139522: I booked a return ticket for my relative on Manila-Brisbane-Manila way, paid by credit card, as by their third party payment policy required, we needed to go through the credit card ownership justification process, which is fine... so we done that I was happy, until my relative called me from Manila, she was at the airport and the Korean Air (whom we booked the ticked by CheapOair) didn't let her travel as it was third party booking, and they could not contact anyone from the Travel Agency (CheaOair) to justify the booking.(Why they need to do this???) I tried to send my credit card's copy to them (Korean Air Crew at Manila), but it was too late as I needed time to get home and send a copy by email, finally my relative had to go back to the hotel as Korean Air closed the check in for that flight. Later I called CheapOair, explained what just happened, the representatives told me, my only option is to pay another 350 Us$ and he will do another booking for next day, or I will loose all the paid 1200 Us$ for the return ticket. No matter how I tried to convince him, that we did not do anything wrong, it wasn't our fault... he was just kept repeating his mantra: "you have to pay the extra 350 or you will loose it all.." no option, I did pay, but interestingly, the issued E-ticket was slightly in different format, and my relative had no trouble to travel with it next day. Another strange thing: the new charge was indicated fully for CheapOair on my credit card statement not as before: separated charge for the ticket from Korean Air and charge for the Travel Agency's fee. I have sent an email to CheapOair Support to start to dispute about this incident, but they didn't even bothered to answer. I have to turn to the Fair Trade Office with complain.
  • 0
    Robert Cobb
    THE CHEAPOAIR scam goes like this:  

    A. CHEAPOAIR will sell you a cheap, nonrefundable ticket.

    B. CHEAPOAIR fails to send confirmation of your flight.

    C. When you call CHEAPOAIR the operator will put you on hold or not answer, or answer and put you on hold
       again and again until you hang up, frustrated.

    D. When you call the Airline (COPA AIR) directly, they know you're a CHEAPOAIR sucker and they
        will continue with the fraud by asking if you want to cancel your flight and work directly with them.  

    E.  If you fall for this, the airline (COPA) will then cancel your flight and  then rebook you at DOUBLE the cost of
       the original ticket.

    F.  If you don't take the flight because of the HIGHER COST, they then claim to give you a CREDIT for another flight
       somewhere else or at a later date.

    G. When you return to rebook they either don't have any record of the booking or they just refuse to honor the
       credit.

    H. CHEAPOAIR IS A RIPOFF!  I LOST $800 ON THIS FRAUDULENT SCAM!
  • 0
    LEROY
    DEAR SEMPLE,
    F. . . YOU AND THE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!  THIS SO-CALLED COMPANY SUCKS AND YOU KNOW IT.
    YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY PART OF THE SCAM.
    CHEAPO THIS FF,
    LC
  • 0
    CheapOair
    Dear L.B, thank you for providing the booking number, we do have the reservation and investigating into this matter.  We will be in touch very soon, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience.

    CheapOair.com
  • 0
    MA DOLORES CASTRO
    THANKS FOR THE INPUT I WAS TEMPTED TO BUY IN THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ITS SO SCARY THANKS SO MUCH FOR THOSE COMMENTS
  • 0
    MA DOLORES CASTRO
    THANKS FOR THE INPUT I WAS TEMPTED TO BUY IN THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ITS SO SCARY THANKS SO MUCH FOR THOSE COMMENTS
  • 0
    MA DOLORES CASTRO
    THANKS FOR THE INPUT I WAS TEMPTED TO BUY IN THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ITS SO SCARY THANKS SO MUCH FOR THOSE COMMENTS
  • 0
    MA DOLORES CASTRO
    THANKS FOR THE INPUT I WAS TEMPTED TO BUY IN THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ITS SO SCARY THANKS SO MUCH FOR THOSE COMMENTS
  • 0
    MA DOLORES CASTRO
    THANKS FOR THE INPUT I WAS TEMPTED TO BUY IN THE INTERNET FOR THE FIRST TIME ITS SO SCARY THANKS SO MUCH FOR THOSE COMMENTS
  • 0
    L.B.
    Thanks to this forum, Andrews from CheapOair contacted with me for details (maybe they just need more Andrews there... ;) he informed me, Korean Air shouldn't refuse my relative at the airport regarding on the case of third party payment for a ticket, as it was booked through travel agency, who has the liability to check that (as they did). Look forward of the outcome, and wanted to be fair to update my post.
  • 0
    CheapOair
    Thank you for providing more details, I have forwared onto Korean airlines as well so they can provide an explanation. I certainly appreciate your patience while I work on getting this resolved for you.

    Renee Andrews
    CheapOair.com
  • 0
    cheapoair
    Mr. Cobb, I certainly will look into this for you and see what can be done.  Forward your 7 digit booking number to sm@cheapoair.com, and place blog in the subject line.

    Regards,
    CheapOair.com
  • 0
    L.B.
    Thanks to Renee and Georgia at CheapOair I have got a refund of $300 from our $346 extra cost, which occurred by the refusal (and necessary re-booking) of the valid ticket by Korean Air crew at Manila. Appreciate their help. Regards, L.B.
  • 0
    i was going to book with them...wow.
    before you read, i didnt book with them, this is just my input


    WOW!!! look at all the issues, and this isnt even the only link with bad complains of this comapny. if you click on this website under airline complaints,  sooo many different posts about this website. on 1 page of complains, this website appears majoraty of the time.

    yea, people have bad experiences, and often its  the consumers who blow stuff out of perportion.

    being charged canclation fees is 1 thing, but being charged to cancle if your plane gets cancled is unacceptable.

    what seems to be the very key issues with this company is

    - they dont send out a conformation, or your conformation gets lost, yet you still get charged


    - they take a redicuous long time to refund you the money if you chose to cancle because your flight got cancled.

    - many people say they get a email saying their flight is not available to book...their friggen website should be up to date and actually book [***] when you click, book/ not later. thats really bad

    i was going to fly from toronto to japan, for 800$. you can forrrrrrrrrrrrget that! no way. not worth the risk.
  • 0
    japan
    before you read, i didnt book with them, this is just my input


    WOW!!! look at all the issues, and this isnt even the only link with bad complains of this comapny. if you click on this website under airline complaints,  sooo many different posts about this website. on 1 page of complains, this website appears majoraty of the time.

    yea, people have bad experiences, and often its  the consumers who blow stuff out of perportion.

    being charged canclation fees is 1 thing, but being charged to cancle if your plane gets cancled is unacceptable.

    what seems to be the very key issues with this company is

    - they dont send out a conformation, or your conformation gets lost, yet you still get charged


    - they take a redicuous long time to refund you the money if you chose to cancle because your flight got cancled.

    - many people say they get a email saying their flight is not available to book...their frigggggen website should be up to date and actually book shoot when you click, book/ not later. thats really bad

    i was going to fly from toronto to japan, for 800$. you can forrrrrrrrrrrrget that! no way. not worth the risk.
  • 0
    Gabriela
    I purchessed tickets from them a lot and they actaully helped me to change the dates even if is nonrefundable,I am very pleased with them and their prices.Good for lower income people,of course I would like to only travel first class and best airlines and companies,but I guess is perfect for my category of people.just choose what is right for you then everybody is going to be happy.
  • 0
    CheapOair
    Mr. Cobb, I do show that you did make a reservation with us on July 1 on Copa airlines. July 5 you called to cancel, while speaking with you the line was disconnected, and you never called us back. After 24 hours the airline ticket is non refundable, therefore you cancel and have a credit good for 1 year from the date of issue, so you are not out of $800.00.  We did contact Air Copa and found you called them directly and canceled these flights, so what ever you did with them, that is between you and Copa. We merely issued your reservation and you made adjustments with someone else, no longer giving us control of the booking.  We are not a scam company, nor a fraud. Any action that Copa did, you need to take it up with them.
  • 0
    CheapOair
    Gabriela, we certainly appreciate your business, and thank you for giving us an update that your transaction was smooth.

    Regards,
    CheapOair.com
  • 0
    Mauricio
    Out of how many unsatisfied customer you get how many satisfied customers, make the comparison? And is weird that you guys mention that some bloggers do not post their name, but how come you don't blog the outcome of the difficult customers, don't you find worry some that there is sooo many sites out there with so many complains on your company?  You are losing business and you don’t even care, because you care about the one guy that pays on your site...if I have 10 transactions with satisfied and no complains then I do something right..do we agree, that’s good business, a good company...but the extra mile companies are the one that get one complain and address it accordingly and they  are transparent in their effort to address it, because they value the cheap expender or the big rollers. Yet is funny the client is updating but not you. My experience with your company was simple horrible and your reps are to the point of being bullies. I would never recommend your company. But I guess you don't care about this statement you just care about the on the moment transactions.

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