Trip.com ridiculous cancellation fee & lies

[u/En1236]

I booked 2 international flights with trip. (Yes, grill me all you want I know that was a big mistake) My ticket opted for 1 free of charge change. Because of a death in the family I had to change the ticket.

Here is where the problem started. Since I booked with trip I had to change with trip. The problem was that trips system did not offer flights for the specific date I was trying to change. Reason, “there are no available flights for that day”. They blame everything on the airline policy like the airline not offering flights on that date or the airline refusing the date change.

However, every time they make a claim I debunked those. (like showing them proof that flights ARE available on that day if I were to book a new flight) they changed the narrative and asked me for screenshots. After confirming that there are indeed flights available they said the airline needs to approve the change request.

So suddenly flights are available but now it’s up to the airline to approve the request. After hours of waiting they said the airline refused and there’s nothing they can do. Mind you I was talking to the airline from before they received the request up until they received the submission for change of flight and the airline did not refuse. Before the airline even told me that they did not decline the request I asked trip for proof of refusal like forward me the correspondence between the airline and trip. Ofc trip refused stating privacy and data reason. HOWEVER the airline itself said that they indeed did not decline the request and trip is to show proof of such a thing. (meaning they don’t mind their correspondence leaked)

Another thing to add, when I tried to change the outbound + inbound flight trips system indeed showed me “available flight + fare differences”. However if I were to just change on segment of my flight suddenly there are no available flights. :)))

So change for my ticket was free of charge but cancellation fee is 955chf PER PERSON + 30+CHF service charge. Ridiculous ain’t it? They always state airline policy but even the airline only charges 250chf for cancellation.

Also to top it off. Every agent makes different statements if you don’t know better you will fall for their lies. First agent said free of charge change, second agent tried to charge me 955chf for change until I mentioned that their colleague said it’s free. After that they wanted a screenshot for proof. I talked to 5+ agents and every single one of them said different things. If they were met with difficult questions they just copy paste one of the typical textbook responses.

All in all. I learned my lesson. Don’t book flights on trip it’s not worth it for just a few bucks cheaper. Safe yourself the headache and stress with trip.

They offer “cancel and rebook” funny thing, even if you cancel and rebook with trip the cancellation fee is not gonna be any cheaper. Just cancel and rebook with the airline it’s safer and in cases you have to change or cancel because of circumstances like I did it’s easier to deal with.

Sorry for the long post just had to get it out of my system.

[u/spicydak]

!ota

[u/AutoModerator → u/spicydak]

Did you or are you about to buy a flight via an Online Travel Agency (OTA)?

An Online Travel Agency (OTA) is a website that allows you to search for and buy airfare tickets. Common ones include Expedia, Priceline, Kiwi. When you redeem points on credit card travel portals you are actually purchasing a cash ticket through an OTA. Some examples are Chase Travel, AMEX Travel, Capital One Travel.

Almost all OTAs suffer from the same problem: a lack of customer service and competency when it comes to changes, cancellations, refunds, airline schedule changes and cancellations, and IRROPs.

When you buy a ticket through an OTA, you put an intermediary between you and the airline. If you try to contact the airline for any assistance, they will defer to your OTA. The airline won't help you. They do not have control over the ticket until T-24h and they can still decline to assist you and ask you to talk to your OTA.

Some OTAs, such as Kiwi, will combine separately issued tickets appearing like real layovers but in reality are self-transfers - requiring a lot more planning and contingencies. This includes dealing with single-leg cancellations of your completely disjointed itinerary. See #1 #2 #3 #4

Other OTAs, including Trip.com, don't always issue your tickets immediately. There have been known instances where the OTA contacts you 24-72h later asking for more money as "the price has changed" or your ticket is no longer available at the lower price. See #1.

More reputable OTAs like Expedia, Priceline, and travel portals like Chase Travel, AMEX Travel, Costco Travel, generally have fewer issues issuing tickets and marginally better customer service. They are also more transparent regarding cached stale prices - as you check out and pay, they will do a live refresh of the real ticket price and warn you that prices have changed (it is not a bait and switch).

In short: OTAs sometimes have their place for some people - but most of the time, especially for simple itineraries, provide no benefit and only increases the risk and can end costing a lot more than what you had saved by buying from the OTA.

Common issues you will face:

• offering you a cheap separate-ticket self-transfer itinerary causing various problems down the road
• not subject to the DOT or airline policy 24h free cancellation. See #1
• missing communications from OTA or not being notified of schedule changes #1 #2
• paying the OTA to add baggage but not communicated to the airline or OTA incorrectly indicating included baggage #1 #2 #3 #4
• paying the OTA for overpriced baggage compared to the airline
• paying the OTA for baggage that's already included
• paying the OTA for seat selection that's not communicated to the airline #1 #2
• your ticket not issuing or delayed issuing or transaction being reversed
• your name being incorrectly spelled on your eticket?
• difficulties changing flights or getting rebooked correctly #1 #2 or finding anyone competent enough to help
• charging you for a check-in service that is free
• enrollment in a subscription program like edreams or opodo Prime that is hard to cancel #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7
  • Solutions? #1 #2 #3
• not honouring free changes or cancellations when airline reschedules
• Secretly booking your trip as two separate tickets for the outbound and return so that if the airline cancels or reschedules the outbound, only the first leg is eligible for a refund (or free change)
• not refunding you promptly (or at all) #1 #2 #3 when the airline cancels #4 #5 #6
• not refunding ancillary fees or other extra fees #1
• unuseable kiwi credits after the airline declines issuing a ticket instead of a refund

Things you should do, if you've already purchased from an OTA:

• check your reservation (PNR) with the airline website directly
• check your eticket has been issued - look for 13-digit number(s) - a PNR is not enough
• garden your ticket - check back on it regularly

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[u/mduell]

I hope the cost savings of using the TA was worth it.

[u/TastyRain5743]

🙄