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

123...4567...293031Next
  • 0
    Jmart
    Yikes, this does sound scary, but I booked a flight to London in March on American Airlines and it went perfectly, and they had a fare about $200 cheaper than anyone else.    I hope you have the same good luck.
  • 0
    ALEX
    | 1 reply
    IF YOU LIKE TO PLAY EXTREME WITH YOUR MONEY AND NERVS GO A HEAD AND DO DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY, AFTER 4 HOURS TRAYING TO CONTACT BY PHONE I DESIDED CALL TO MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY AND CANCEL THE CARD BECAUSE IT IS TOTAL FRAUD AND ON NEXT DAY I GOT THIS
    This is in reference to booking 4373224.

    Due to the airlines involved, we were unable to issue the itinerary that you booked.  We were unable to find alternate fare options that closely matched the quoted price.

    If you are flexible with your travel dates, please call us using our toll free number               866-654-5204         866-654-5204, option 2, or forward a copy of this email to tkt@CheapOair.com and provide us alternate dates so we can begin looking for cheaper fare options.

    Thank you,
    CheapOair.com
    Ticketing Department


    STAY AWAY FROM THEM
    • 0
      PH replies to ALEX
      IT ALSO HAPPENED TO ME.,I CALL MY CC CO. TO CANCEL MY CARD THEN AFTER A FEW MIN I'VE GOT AN EMAIL

      Thank you for choosing CheapOair.ca for your travel reservations.
      Your reservation with booking # 15268568 made on 03/08/2013 has been cancelled on 03/08/2013.
      Any charges or authorizations made to your credit or bank card will be released within 7 – 14 business days. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at billing@.CheapOair.ca.

      Please visit our web site at www.CheapOair.ca.

      Thank you,
      CheapOair.ca.
  • 0
    ALEX
    the fly was not canceled because this fly number was never been on shedule,
    it is all fake!!!
  • 0
    Always Travelling
    Wow.. I feel terrible for all you folks who have lost tickets or $$ due to arranging your flight through Cheapo Air.. I don't know why I've been so fortunate.. I fly from Vancouver Canada to CAncun every year.. The first thing I  do is immediately proceed to the CheapoAir website to purchase my ticket... If I travel with Air Canada it usually costs about $800 to $900... but with Cheapo Air I've paid $400 to $500.. I wonder why there is such an inconsistency?  Maybe they have very few employees who handle huge volumes and thus sometimes it works out great.. but other times, say if someone calls in sick, then people like Christina are rudely ignored and mistreated??  
    As for the non-English speaking call centers...ok, there I totally relate!  There's nothing more frustrating than calling about your computer, telephone, airline ticket, credit card or whatever ur issue is and getting someone from another country who probably doesn't even know much about the company they work for.. Unfortunately, it's not their fault.. It's the cheap company, who refuses to pay proper $$ for good quality agents to provide good quality service to the customers...
  • 0
    Always Travelling
    Wow.. I feel terrible for all you folks who have lost tickets or $$ due to arranging your flight through Cheapo Air.. I don't know why I've been so fortunate.. I fly from Vancouver Canada to CAncun every year.. The first thing I  do is immediately proceed to the CheapoAir website to purchase my ticket... If I travel with Air Canada it usually costs about $800 to $900... but with Cheapo Air I've paid $400 to $500.. I wonder why there is such an inconsistency?  Maybe they have very few employees who handle huge volumes and thus sometimes it works out great.. but other times, say if someone calls in sick, then people like Christina are rudely ignored and mistreated??  
    As for the non-English speaking call centers...ok, there I totally relate!  There's nothing more frustrating than calling about your computer, telephone, airline ticket, credit card or whatever ur issue is and getting someone from another country who probably doesn't even know much about the company they work for.. Unfortunately, it's not their fault.. It's the cheap company, who refuses to pay proper $$ for good quality agents to provide good quality service to the customers...
  • 0
    Dyann
    I have used cheapoair for the first AND last time. I recently booked a flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico for Memorial day. Received an e-mail the next day stating there was a problem with the booking. The e-mail recommended that for $200 and something MORE, they could guarantee my flight. Last time I checked, a recommendation was an option. Seems as though they booked on two different air lines and the connection was under an hour, so they cancelled the flight. And so the ticket is non refundable? Really?Not my damn hard earned money!  We have been sitting on hold now for a little over an hour trying to get this corrected. There representatives are a lot less than helpful, and O.S. you're right, the accent was very thick, to thick to be a customer representative handling any business of mine and my money.  Now we're supposed to leave for PR in four days and they've already charged the credit card and could not give a definite date as to when the money would actually show as a refund. I think a class action lawsuit would be appropriate against cheapoair as this has happened to too many people.
  • 0
    bogus
    If insurance was purchased you probably would not in had the fees.  But what you have to realize all airlines, and travel agencies have fees to make any type of change.  You can go directly onto any airlines website or call them it's gonna cost a fee to change.  When you have your new dates set, you also have to pay the applicable airfare for the new dats, why should anyone be able to buy a ticket in july for florida, change their minds and wanna go at christmas and not pay the difference.  Think about it! seems like alot of you don't travel much, first thing is educate yourself before you blog about things you fully don't understand.

    And no I don't work for the company, I read terms and conditions and make myself familiar with products and services before I make an internet purchase.
  • 0
    assist
    Cory, you cannot book a roundtrip ticket and not use the departure portion, according to airlines rules you are a no show.  I work for an airline so in the defense of cheapo, you created the mess! all you needed to do is call and make the booking and do a cross reference with the resevations, the airlines would see this and make sure you are seated next to your 3 year old.  But almost all airlines will not honor any kind of refund if your ticket is in a no show status.
  • 0
    Bangso
    | 1 reply
    I used cheapoair to book round trip tickets for my wife and I to travel to Africa in January. We got a far better deal on this site than any other, we saved about $1000 total when compared to the other sites we visited. Sorry to hear about your ill experiences with this site. There is no single post out of all the negative ones i have read that would convince me that this company is fraudulent. All the complaints were about being put on hold for a prolonged period of time, and communication glitches. Show me one company in North America that would not put customers on hold,or without communication problems.All you complainers, i know you are going to claim that i work for cheapoair which is not the case. One bad experience with a company does not make it fraudulent especially when the problem ended up been solved. As long as cheapoair continues to offer cheap flights, i'm on board
    • 0
      liar replies to Bangso
      You just made it too obvious you work for cheapoair. how stupid of you
  • 0
    S.C
    WOW..well am glad i read this, cause i was about to book my flight to new york with cheapoair...and is today me and my cousin was saying we hope this price is for eal and not a scam and hope they dont rip us off, so i decided to check out the websites and all there contacts numbers...and am so glad i did tonite to find all this out....so now i will rather book our tickets with air canada even if it mean we pay more for our tickets i know we will get there safe for what we paid....am so tired of all these ppl and their scam sites....get a real job and stop stealing....the law soon caught up with yall.....
  • 0
    Jac
    You know I found it strange that all the cheapest flights were the very first one so I decided to look for reviews thanks you guys.
  • 0
    assist
    The airlines do charge a fee to make changes to any unused ticket, depends on the airline but you can pay as much as 150.00.  But what you are not understanding is that you also have to pay the current fare for the new dates you chose.  You can't go for the same price as the old ticket dates, so it could be more expensive, did you think about changing your dates to less expensive dates?
  • 0
    Flaming Mad
    | 1 reply
    I just attempted to book a ticket for the 4th of July weekend and thought I found a great price, $183 per person. I thought it was too good to be true because every other website I went to had the same flight dates, of June 30th -July 5th, for about $80-$100 more, Expedia, Hotwire, Priceline. This caused me to check the dates and airport for confirmation, they were both right. So I continued to book my flight.

    Upon completing my order and receiving my confirmation e-mail I noticed that the wrong dates had been booked, June 22nd-June 29th. I promptly called customer service to tell them my situation. Not only was I put on hold for 20 minutes, after telling the agent my dilemma he proceeded to tell me that the cheapoair system is never wrong and that I was wrong. The agent also proceeded to tell me that I was being unprofessional because he decided to cut me off and tell me there policy on changing flights. Frustrated, I asked to speak to his supervisor. I was then put on the phone with "Leonard Baxter," presumably the gentleman's real name. Again the situation was told to him; Mr. Baxter then proceeded to give me a run down of the screen snapshots that he had of me processing my order online. Stating that there is a snapshot of me entering my credit card information and that the same screen held the June 22nd-June 29th dates, and that I was well aware that these were the dates that I was purchasing. I continued to tell Mr. Baxter that I there was an error with the generation of the dates and that I called immediately after I noticed the problem. He then told me that he would call the airline and see what they would say about changing my flight to the desired days, and put me on hold for another 26 minutes. Mr. Baxter gets on the phone with me again and tells me that he cannot waive the penalty fee and that I would not only have to pay the $75 penalty fee per ticket but I'd have to pay the additional $100 charge per ticket, for the difference in airfare. I forgot to mention that I'd book three tickets though them.

    Needless to say the conversation went no where and the agent told my that I was wrong and that there wasn't anything wrong with there system. Not only was I told that I should call the airline and fine out if they can do anything for me I was then transferred to Mr. Baxter's supervisor, "Mr. Leon Bover," who stated again that I was wrong, the cheapoair was right, there's something wrong with my computer and that he can only offer to waive the $25 service fee that is normally charge when a client wants to change flights.

    Being in the service business myself I thought that the customer is always right, but today I learned that I'm an idiot and that the service provider is always right. Furthermore, I've learned that computers can not make mistakes. However, I have book tickets online since the age of 18 when I went to England during Exodus leave during basic training for the Army; never have I had this much trouble booking a ticket online; I'm now 26 and a mother having since booked tickets for myself and my family several times. I do know one thing that I have learned, I won't try to order tickets online again from cheapoair.com ever again.
    • 0
      Ripped off replies to Flaming Mad
      I also was ripped off by this company and will NEVER use it again
      I see that some of you had this problem in 2010 and these scammers are still in business let us unite and fight back. These crooks need to be removed. I am a senior and was going to Paris with my sister in her late 70's and did not deserve or need the stress that this company causes.

      PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY EVEN IF THEY TREATED YOU WELL ONCE. I get a feeling that they refund part of the penalties to appease you so you do not complain. I started by booking for $418 for 2 and finally after some lenghty discussion they ONLY repeat, ONLY charged me $870. more than twice the original price. They had wanted to charge me $1070. but I didn't relent and they finally reduced the penalty by $150.
      Now I am trying to see if I can get more of my money back but after reading these postings I think this company only refunds to appease not to honestly admit their scam
      I BEG ALL of you..... the only way to stop this  is

      NEVER EVER USE THEM AGAIN!!!! THAT WILL definitely CURE THEM

      In the future I will always research the companies records for scams and complaints
      I thank you all for posting your experience at least some people will not get ripped off when I book on line
      There are better and more ethical companies out there.
  • 0
    GeGe
    Hi, all.  I, too, NEVER had ANY PROBLEMS with flights until I did business with Cheapoair.  I booked a flight back in January of this year to fly to Greenville, MS to visit my parents.  My visit took place in mid-April.  I was scheduled to fly over there April 12, 2010.  Two days before my flight, I get a call from (Troy?) of Cheapoair, telling me that Delta canceled all their April 19 flights (Apr 19 was when I was scheduled to come back to Fresno, CA).  Therefore, I would have to reschedule my return flight--so I did.  I made it to MS on Apr 12.  I thought everything was o.k. when I again rescheduled my return flight with Delta.  I talked to Cheapoair 1st.  It seemed like everything was o.k.  My mom and dad suggested I call Cheapoair again just to verify my rescheduled return flight.  I called on Saturday, Apr 17.  I was on hold for about nearly TWO HOURS!  I talked to a fellow with an accent (I could hardly understand him).  He made it sound like Delta didn't want to work with Cheapoair.  He finally suggested I call Delta airlines--which I did.  Sure enough, Delta was able to schedule me to fly back to CA on Apr 18.  On Apr 18, I made it o.k. from MS to Memphis, TN, and then to Los Angeles, CA.  There is where I ran into a BIG HASSLE with the airlines.  I kept having to run around from talking with American Eagle, to USAir, to Delta, and back.  As a result, I missed my 1:30 P.M. flight from L.A. to Fresno.  The reason why I kept having to run around to all these different airline desks is because I was ORIGINALLY supposed to return to CA on Apr 19, flying on USAir.  I guess the cancellation was never cleared.  When I got back to American Eagle, come to find out, I didn't have a ticket to fly from L.A. to Fresno!  I had to purchase a ticket to fly to Fresno from L.A.--costing me nearly $600.00!  I already paid for the round trip, which was a little over $500.00.  NOW I have to buy ANOTHER plane ticket!  I got the ticket, and I managed to make it back to Fresno.  I took Cheapoair's feedback survey and told them what happened to me.  I told them that I feel like I've been ripped off and I will NEVER use Cheapoair again!  Funny how, on Cheapoair's website, they only post positive feedback--no negative feedback.  Yet, they always say that customer service is their top priority.  I told them about the awful customer service I received--being put on hold for nearly TWO HOURS!  Of course, they e-mailed me, saying they were very sorry.  They said something about sending me a $20.00 voucher--I guess as some sort of compensation.  I haven't seen that $20 voucher.  I just felt the need to add my 2 cents to what seems to be a TON of complaints against Cheapoair.  Everybody have a nice day.
  • 0
    justin
    You people are just not telling the all story I think.I book everytime with them and never had a problem when I keep my booking.If I change the reservation,ofcourse will be problems,because it is not Walmart you want to return or exchange something!!!  Anyhow,it really does not mater you are from USA or fom somwere else.If I was the owner of cheapoair I was not going to give a f... about your complaints.You like their services ok,you don,t then don,t use it....Semple
  • 0
    Justin
    :))))) and who is going to give damn about what you wrote them.People just complain any time for nothing.
  • 0
    justin
    Yeah Yeah,u work in Legal and we have to do what you say!!! This is Business World.If you don,t like their services don,t use it.Tell me,which booking company does not have issues???????
123...4567...293031Next

Post a new comment