AIRLINE BOOKING SCAM
Complaint
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!!!!!!
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
The [***] thing is that I could really use the back link as they are offering me a back link from a decently ranked website :(
A few weeks after booking. I was sent an email from CheapOAir saying that my return flight was cancelled. They gave me an option to accept a different flight which left LA an hour earlier. The alternative to accepting this change was to possibly forfeit the flight altogether. So I accepted the flight change. The flight was changed to a "code share" flight of US Airways, operated by United Airlines.
I tried calling United several times to verify that everything was squared away. United confirmed that I had a reservation and seat assignments, but they said that "the ticket" was not visible to them. One agent told me to call CheapOAir and have them make the ticket visible to United. I called CheapOAir and they told me that this was not necessary. They said to go to the United counter on travel day, and everything would go smoothly. (online check in was not available)
So I arrived to the airport on my travel day to check in at the kiosk. This was unsuccesful. After waiting some time to get a representative to help us, the representative with United was also unable to check us in. After about 30 minutes she figured out that our ticket had been somehow locked by Frontier airlines and she was unable to print valid boarding passes. She was able to print paper tickets which were not valid for boarding the plane
After no progress was made and departure time was fastapproaching, the agent told me and the kids to go through security with the paper tickets. My wife waited at the ticket counter while the agent continued her attempt to print valid boarding passes.
To make a long story short she finally got the boarding passes and we boarded the airplane with about 1 minute to spare.
I learned a few things from this experience.
#1. Do not use CheapOAir if you are not entirely flexible to have changes made to your itinerary.
#2. There can be glitches between the airlines computers and CheapOAir, especially if a flight change is made after your initial purchase. Make sure that you have a lot of extra time at the airport for a representative to figure out and fix these glitches
On Monday June 18th 2012 I contacted your company & spoke to an agent 'Dangelo' to book tickets for my 2 daughters to travel from the UK to Canada to spend 3 weeks with me for my eldest daughters birthday. I enquired about my youngest daughters age as she is 7 as to whether or not she could travel and he said she could, so I purchased the tickets & the insurance.
Upon further research via Air Canada they said under no circumstances would she be able to travel even as part of the Unaccompanied Minor Travel Program.
Now we are in conversation with your agents & supervisors (Virginia) as to getting a refund for the wrong information being given.
This is unacceptable & we would appriciate for this to be rectified ASAP before we take this matter any further.
On Monday June 18th 2012 I contacted your company & spoke to an agent 'Dangelo' to book tickets for my 2 daughters to travel from the UK to Canada to spend 3 weeks with me for my eldest daughters birthday. I enquired about my youngest daughters age as she is 7 as to whether or not she could travel and he said she could, so I purchased the tickets & the insurance.
Upon further research via Air Canada they said under no circumstances would she be able to travel even as part of the Unaccompanied Minor Travel Program.
Now we are in conversation with your agents & supervisors (Virginia) as to getting a refund for the wrong information being given.
This is unacceptable & we would appriciate for this to be rectified ASAP before we take this matter any further.
Please email us sm@cheapoair.com, include your booking number. Place Blog in the subject line and we will assist.
Please email us sm@cheapoair.com, include your booking number. Place Blog in the subject line and we will assist. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced trying to contact our customer service department.
randrews@cheapoair.com
On Monday 18th June 2012 I called your call center to book a flight for my 2 daughters to travel from the UK to Canada to spend time with myself (Their DAD) for 3 weeks, My eldest daughter is 12 & my youngest daughter is 7. I was aware that my youngest wouyld be travelling on the unaccompanied minor program & made sure you guys were aware of this. After one consultant assuring me that she would have no problem I purchased the tickets which cost $3300. Upon finding out the information I needed to provide for my daughters through Air Canada did I find out that under no circumstances was a 7 year old allowed to travel even as part of the unaccompanied minor program. Contacting the agent who told me this information he told me that he was right & that Air Canada was wrong.
After speaking to a supervisor she actually informed me that the agent gave me the wrong information & even though we couldn't get a refund we managed after a week of call to get the ticket transfered to AirTransat & was told by the supervisor that My youngest would be able to fly with them. Today, Monday 2nd July 2012, I called AirTransat to find out what information I needed to provide for them, wqas told that again my youngest daughter would not be able to fly with them as she is under 8 years old.
I would like for one of your supervisors/agents/CEOs to get in touch & rectify this issue as you are supposed to be an exceptional travel agent & we purchased the tickets from your company after your representatives gave out incorrect information.
randrews@cheapoair.com
feedback@cheapoair.com
However we will work with the individual airlines to on your behalf to allow the changes, but the decision is upto the carrier. Email me your booking confirmation at:
randrews@cheapoair.com
place blog in the subject line
this company is all about making money and does not give a crap about its customer service. the "nicest" agent i talked to really just scammed me out of another $50. i have been repeatedly hung up on, transferred, emails ignored. this is more then an inconvienice. this is unethical and disrespectful at this point. the "fine print" on this site is full of inaccuracies and the agents have been completely contradictory.
after over two weeks trying to cancel a ticket, i am going to call this a VERY EXPENSIVE loss and give up. I HIGHLY SUGGEST AVOIDING THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS.