Why You Should NOT Book flights with Booking.com or GoToGate.com

[latawiec]

I'm a bit late to this thread. But I sympathise with the @latawiec here. This is not the first time customers were caught in the baggage allowance with a variety of airlines, not just MH.

It is also worth mentioning that, MH introduced 3 fare types - Lite, Saver & Flex. When this classification was introduced (early 2023, from what my TA says), there was 0kg allowance when purchasing a Lite fare. Customers have the option to upgrade to a Saver fare for as low as $30 and to a Flex fare from as low as $150. Now obviously, these $ to upgrade will vary with the route.

With the 0kg fare, passengers (and TAs) had issues. So MH has now introduced Lite fares with 10kg allowance. So purchasing the cheapest ticket now gives at least 10kg allowance.

Agree with this. The issue is not with the airline itself. The issue is with the supplier that booking.com uses that automatically reverts the fare to the lowest fare bucket - so that they can retain the sale and be advertised as having the lowest fare. The issue with the lowest fare (in most cases, IME) is that, all that the pax get is a seat on the plane (and meals too, in the case of MH). I have had friends, colleagues who do the same thing.

The airline will go after what it says on their system. I have had this happened to a mate. He booked & paid for the 20kg allowance on MH, but the consolidator that his TA uses, booked the pax on the 10kg fare. When the ticket was issued, I was with my mate and I noticed that the allowance was only 10kg. My mate alerted is TA and the TA alerted the consolidator (I initially thought the that TA mucked the booking, but later confirmed that the consolidator mucked it up).

From my perspective, the issue is not even the baggage allowance (10kg). The issue is the terms of the ticket itself. A Lite fare is very restrictive. Any change that needs to be done on a Lite fare warrants a $150 change fee, which is effectively set to $0 on a Saver fare, for the first change. So when my mate wanted to do a change of travel dates, he was slapped with a $150 change + fare difference + consolidator fee (which we argued to be waived off because we are in the pickle because of the consolidators' incompetence) and my TA waived off his service fee for the booking. He somehow felt responsible even though the issue was with the consolidator.

In any case, my mate later paid all the penalties to change his travel date.

IME the issue with all these Online TAs is that they are a money making business (which business isn't eh?) and have very little for their customers. I have been lucky that my TA is good.]l

 

[latawiec]

Thanks Ade for expanding on this issue. It brings more awareness on similar problems with the checked luggage allowance and also some TAs not taking responsibility for their mistakes.

So awerness is very important because we want to prevent such unfair events happening to others.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Credit Card provider doesn't support the chargeback as the transaction was legal and consider such event as a civil case on the service deficiency.

It wasn’t a service deficiency, the contract promised you’d get included luggage and you didn’t receive it. It would be like me buying an iPhone 15 and Apple sending me an iPhone SE. it was not what a bargained for.
Alternatively you can chargeback Malaysian Airlines for being double charged for a service you already paid for.

You may want to raise this to the financial services ombudsman or alternatively your state consumer affairs department.

I am not waisting my time on reporting to ACCC but by this post spreading awareness about risk to other potential customers.

A lot of it comes down to chasing down the right person. It will take some time. Whether it is worth it is a value judgement only you can make.

Avoid the Booking.com for flights....

And Malaysia airlines for that matter. Poor accrual on QFF, poor service and communication plus having to connect in KUL, an airport that makes even the old LaGuardia look good

 

[jase05]

And Malaysia airlines for that matter. Poor accrual on QFF, poor service and communication plus having to connect in KUL, an airport that makes even the old LaGuardia look good

Yes, they have had some recent issues with onboard service that has been rectified I believe.
Have flown them many times and they have mostly been good flights.
Earn rate is good on BAEC too.
KUL could be a so much better airport but unfortunately it can be a bit of a mess

 

[latawiec]

It wasn’t a service deficiency, the contract promised you’d get included luggage and you didn’t receive it. It would be like me buying an iPhone 15 and Apple sending me an iPhone SE. it was not what a bargained for.
Alternatively you can chargeback Malaysian Airlines for being double charged for a service you already paid for.

You may want to raise this to the financial services ombudsman or alternatively your state consumer affairs department.

A lot of it comes down to chasing down the right person. It will take some time. Whether it is worth it is a value judgement only you can make.

And Malaysia airlines for that matter. Poor accrual on QFF, poor service and communication plus having to connect in KUL, an airport that makes even the old LaGuardia look good

It wasn’t a service deficiency, the contract promised you’d get included luggage and you didn’t receive it. It would be like me buying an iPhone 15 and Apple sending me an iPhone SE. it was not what a bargained for.
Alternatively you can chargeback Malaysian Airlines for being double charged for a service you already paid for.

You may want to raise this to the financial services ombudsman or alternatively your state consumer affairs department.

A lot of it comes down to chasing down the right person. It will take some time. Whether it is worth it is a value judgement only you can make.

And Malaysia airlines for that matter. Poor accrual on QFF, poor service and communication plus having to connect in KUL, an airport that makes even the old LaGuardia look good

It wasn’t a service deficiency, the contract promised you’d get included luggage and you didn’t receive it. It would be like me buying an iPhone 15 and Apple sending me an iPhone SE. it was not what a bargained for.
Alternatively you can chargeback Malaysian Airlines for being double charged for a service you already paid for.

You may want to raise this to the financial services ombudsman or alternatively your state consumer affairs department.

A lot of it comes down to chasing down the right person. It will take some time. Whether it is worth it is a value judgement only you can make.

And Malaysia airlines for that matter. Poor accrual on QFF, poor service and communication plus having to connect in KUL, an airport that makes even the old LaGuardia look good

Thanks.

RE: Alternatively you can chargeback Malaysian Airlines for being double charged for a service you already paid for.
ANS: No, I cannot get the chargeback from the Malaysian Airlines because they have been payed for the Lite Economy tickets that were purchased from them by the GoToGate TA.

We were buying the Basic Economy tickets with 20 kg checked luggage allowance using the Booking.com services delivered by their partner Got gate. Our "check and pay" order included the Basic Economy tickets but GoToGate bought for us the Economy Lite tickets. And e have learned this at the departure time.

All problem was created by the GoToGate.com and they refused to acknowledge their mistake and also compensate us.

We were first time buying flights via Booking.com and we were not aware that behind the Booking.com is another partnership like the GoToGate. If I know it, I will be checking on their reputation.

We used Booking.com for accomodations for over 20 yrs without any problems and on this occasion also booking hotel at London to ensure that we are not late for our cruise from Tilbury.

Almost all weight of failure in this case is with the Booking.com as our purchase transaction was via their website with the GoToGate partner processing our order. GoToGate purchased wrong tickets from the airline being payed by our bank with charges to my credit card. This transaction was legal, with the fault on GoToGate that changed our order from the Economy Basic to the Economy Lite tickets on the Intercontinental flight.

The Booking.com and the airline may also carry some blame for not warning customers on the Lite tickets particularly on the intercontinental flights during or after the purchasing transaction (ie. be aware that your Lite luggage allowance includes "no checked bags").

I may also blame myself for not re-checkig all details with the airline. I put too much my trust in the multiple emails from the Booking.com that our "flight to London is confirmed". I didn't expect that I need to re-check again every details of the "check and pay" order after paying for and receiving confirmation from the TA.

...and I was wrong. Therefore, I want other customers be aware of my experience and also of new unknown traps from some partnerships like GoToGate being used by TAs.
There is a lot of reviews about the GoToGate on the productreview.com.au website. And maybe there is a new role for the ProductReview to report particularly excessive complaints to the ACCC?

 

[Pyrus]

Why NOT to book flights with the Booking.com or the GoToGate.com

Booking.com has been our number one for booking service for many years. I have booked accommodation multiple times using this site and have never had an issue until this year.


In April 2023 we purchased a cruise starting from London, UK in June 2023. Therefore, as previously in 2019 we booked 2 days accommodation in London via Booking.com to ensure that we will not be late for our cruise.
So, I thought I could trust them also for flight booking too. It was late evening and I didn't check any reviews about their flight service.


The purchased cruise was in June and I used Booking.com to purchase Malaysian Airlines flights for me and my wife from Australia to London and also return flights in the late August back to Australia.


The booking process was quite simple; select flights, ensure correct luggage allowance, select seats, and finally get all details with charges on the "check and pay" screen before paying. As per good practice I saved the "check and pay" screen page (save the screenshot) for my reference.


After paying by credit card we soon get an email from Booking.com confirming the flight with the airline booking reference number. It seems that all needed was well done.


However, this is the first time we have encountered problems at the airport at check-in time because the Malaysian Airline personnel refused to process our two suitcases. I was showing them our "check and pay" ticket information.


They checked our tickets on their airline system and informed us that they have a different version of tickets on their system, which includes only the "Light economy luggage allowance" without the checked bags although our "check and pay" screenshot showed two 20kg checked bags allowance.


My wife and I were surprised, shocked and also devastated at this time.


The airline personnel indicated that I am not the first customer with such a problem.


Trying to help us, they advise us to repack our suitcases and pay over 1500 AUD for the excess luggage in order to continue our flight to London.


The Booking.com didn't deliver us the flight tickets as per details of our "check and pay" order and also refused to compensate us for the incurred cost of over 1500 AUD paid for the excess luggage because deficiency in their service system (probably software problem because other customers experience similar events).


When booking flights through Booking.com
I did not realise they use a subsidiary company called GOTOGATE.


The Booking.com uses their partner services of the GotoGate.com for flights and
it is one of the worst online flight agencies.


Now the Booking.com includes many other partners and therefore service quality is deteriorating.


Hence, based on my experience and also other customers included in the productreview.com.au I will not recommend their flight services even to my enemies.

Had a bit of a shock myself but not as expensive. It appears that all the flexible tickets purchased via Booking.com and I assume all the subsidiaries, are not flexible as far as the airline is concerned. Booking.com takes the extra money for the flexible airfare then hopes no one changes their mind. if you do, they try to find you a similar fare but usually cannot, they blame the airline, but your ticket never was a flexible ticket. If they do manage to change it, then it is a once off only, you cannot change again. If you know these things you can work with it, but so many surprises they dont tell you about.

 

[latawiec]

UPDATE:

In early April 2023 we booked a cruise from London to Norway and we purchase return flights using the Booking.com that we very often used for booking accommodation.

In this case the Booking.com outsourced flight services to the GoToGate.com that didn't deliver us the flight tickets as per details of our "check and pay" order purchased in April 2023.

In June 2023 our checked luggage included in the "check and pay" order was not processed at Perth airport for flight to London. To continue our travel we had only one option to pay $1522 for an excess luggage.

Our claim for the excess luggage compensation was diverted to GoToGate.com and refused.

As we used CC for all above purchases we ask our bank for a chargeback to compensate us for the excess luggage. As this became a complex issue the bank refused the chargeback and mentioned a civil case. However, under my insistance compensated us as a goodwill.

Review of this unpleasant is includes also on the following websites:
productreview.com.au
au.trustpilot.com
trust pilot com

Thanks to all for advice and support.
All these are greatly appreciated.

 

[Quickstatus]

Why You Should NOT Book flights anything with Booking.com or GoToGate.com or similar websites​

There fixed it

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I admit to using trip.com! Their return business class on Rex SYD-MEL was $110 cheaper than on the ZL website!!

While they offered free cancellation, there was a $60 service charge. Stressful! Not sure I’d book again using them unless it was like for a next day departure.

 

[dajop]

Why You Should NOT Book flights anything with Booking.com or GoToGate.com or similar websites​

There fixed it

Not sure what the problem is with booking accommodation through booking.com. Very different arrangements to flights and a well established business.

 

[Quickstatus]

Not sure what the problem is with booking accommodation

Philosophical objection to their business model especially with small providers and 3 is a crowd in a transaction like these where there is zero benefit

 

[Pushka]

Why You Should NOT Book flights anything with Booking.com or GoToGate.com or similar websites​

There fixed it

I’ve booked multiple hotel bookings with booking.com without a hitch. I think flights are completely different.

Philosophical objection to their business model especially with small providers and 3 is a crowd in a transaction like these where there is zero benefit

Ah. Price and easily cancellable. If accommodations want to fill their places they have to use such sites as it increases their web presence significantly.

 

[Quickstatus]

Ah. Price and easily cancellable. If accommodations want to fill their places they have to use such sites as it increases their web presence significantly.

My Philosophical objection not about price or cancellation policies/

If only it were so easy for providers re unsold inventory.

 

[dajop]

My Philosophical objection not about price or cancellation policies/

If only it were so easy for providers re unsold inventory.

It isn’t just about hotels/ accommodation providers and unsold inventory though. We largely use booking.com for apartments in Europe and have done so for 10+ years. Find them better than Airbnb for example in September in southern Italy (Puglia and Calabria ) we stayed at 6 apartments all through booking.com and none of these were on Airbnb. And of course impossible to book direct with owner!

 

[Pushka]

My Philosophical objection not about price or cancellation policies/

If only it were so easy for providers re unsold inventory.

What exactly is the issue as there are many unscrupulous business practices - Cole’s and woolies comes to mind,

 

[burmans]

I always check to see if I can book direct but far too often not and with guru status and casback booking.com is frequently cheaper. I’ve heard the rumours that booking direct is cheaper but my success ratio is about 10% on this and frankly it’s nice to have all my bookings in one place!

 

[Quickstatus]

What exactly is the issue as there are many unscrupulous business practices

Look up price parity antitrust EU. They also got in trouble with Russian antitrust laws.

At home motel providers have to pay a commission to aggregators often wiping out their profit margins. I would rather the profit stay with the providers. Look up a story on ACA booking dot com and Dick Smith

I see no need to give a significant part of my transaction to a third party who provides little if any meaningful service and who are not necessarily beneficial to the providers.

 

[justinbrett]

There's a time and a place for these sites.

Especially when the hotel is small and not English speaking, a major booking site is often better than booking direct.

Also with airlines, they can do trips you can't do with the airline direct, such as multicity or combining two airlines. I recently booked a multi city Avianca trip through Expedia, you can't do this through the Avianca website.

I usually book direct but to say these sites have no purpose is equally wrong.

 

[latawiec]

Why You Should NOT Book flights anything with Booking.com or GoToGate.com or similar websites​

There fixed it

Thanks for the above correction.

We, me and my wife, used probably for about 20 yrs Booking.com for booking accommodations without any issues.

However, we are not happy that Booking.com website is providing flights services without any warning that these are outsourced to another OTA like GoToGate.com and that Booking.com doesn't take any more responsibility for such services being handled by the Booking.com website and app.

In this way the Booking.com, by not standing for shortfalls in the flight services being sold on their website, is degrading it's reputation. If they want to retain good reputation, they should not handle the flight sale on their website.
It seems that they shouldn't ignore increasing dissatisfaction from customers booking flights via their website but handled by GoToGate.com of very low reputation.

The Booking.com lost me as their loyal customer because of the great flight disservice we experienced purchasing flights from the website under their brand.

We have cancelled our accounts with the Booking.com as they completely damage their thrust and reputation in our eyes. We thrusted them for many years but in 2023 they horribly failed us and also a lot of other customers.

There is a lot of reviews with reference to these OTAs on the following websites:
productreview.com.au
au.trustpilot.com
trust pilot com

 

[latawiec]

Why You Should NOT Book flights anything with Booking.com or GoToGate.com or similar websites​

There fixed it

I like to show ranking of the Booking.com as this could be very surprising

1. Booking com - self ranking with over 4




2. Hotelchantele.com ranking

3. Product review.com review with only 1.4


4. ThrustPilot with only 1.2 or 1.7 (AU website).



5. Consumer Affairs with only 1.1


I would like you and others to make your own conclusions, particularly regarding self-ranking or self-review... by OTA.

Also I like to mention that it is important to check ownership of OTA before using it for booking and not to learn in a hard way what happened to me last year.