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

[aikman]

Has anyone noticed Agoda (which is one of the subsidiaries) undercuts Qantas domestic airfares? Ive tried it a few times and its worked well though again I didn't need to change the flights or anything like that

Very interesting. I'll deposit this in the knowledge bank for future use.

 

[Pyrus]

Because sometimes OTAs have volume discounts that make it worth while.

I used Aunt Betty (subsidiary of Fright Centre) to book tickets to Bali, considerable saving over going via the GA website. It was close enough in that I wasn’t expecting to cancel or change.

Trip.com is also good for flight bookings, never had an issue, and customer service seems to be good for folks I know that have needed it.

As for hotels… Agoda is usually super cheap in Asia. And I can’t be bothered calling the hotel. Only exception is Hilton, book direct for the status benefits.

When it come to Aunt Betty, think carefully. Buyer beware.

If everything goes to plan, possibly not a problem but if you want to change something, be prepared for additional charges of exceptional magnitude.

I booked a return flight to Bangkok and paid extra to be able to cancel the flights. The total return flight was around $690, around $345 each way. I paid extra to be able to change things, This is what it says:

Refundable flights

100% money back on your flights if you cancel for

Accident & illness

Lost or stolen documents

Transport disruptions

Family or home emergency

Severe weather

And many more...



I had a need to change the return leg. This is when the drama started.

Firstly you are supposed to be able to make changes online….well I could not, every time I tried they said I had to contact them direct. No email address, no way to reply to their previous booking emails. So you have to phone them. Not a problem if you are in Australia, at least not a huge problem. Much more a problem if you are in a foreign country and you have to pay overseas call charges. I ended up ringing them and had to wait 46 minutes on hold with ridiculous annoying music. Then when I finally got through and told them I wished to change things, I had to wait another 6 minutes for them to come back and say I could change the flight.

Then I was told there would be a fee to change the flight, I asked how much and they came back with $150 to change it, plus $140 admin fee, plus $340 for some other fee. Total $630 total for the return journey, almost double the original fee. To make matter worse, my travel companion was on the same flights, same airline, he booked direct with the airline, so he changed his flights for $150, via email, no problem.

So said I would cancel the flight and get a full refund, that is when the truth comes out…they will still charge you an additional fee for cancelling. When I referred to the extra charge I paid to be able to cancel, they said that it doesn’t work that way, it is an insurance fee, you need to claim it all back from their insurance arm.

That extra you pay is nothing more that extra insurance which most of us already have.

No discussion, no consideration, no way to change plus an hour of overseas phone call from a foreign country.

I will never, ever use Aunt Betty again.

 

[AuSammy]

I will never, ever use Aunt Betty again

Agree. We got burnt by them as well and would not consider if they were the only agency on earth.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

When it come to Aunt Betty, think carefully. Buyer beware.

If everything goes to plan, possibly not a problem but if you want to change something, be prepared for additional charges of exceptional magnitude.

I booked a return flight to Bangkok and paid extra to be able to cancel the flights. The total return flight was around $690, around $345 each way. I paid extra to be able to change things, This is what it says:

Refundable flights

100% money back on your flights if you cancel for

Accident & illness

Lost or stolen documents

Transport disruptions

Family or home emergency

Severe weather

And many more...



I had a need to change the return leg. This is when the drama started.

Firstly you are supposed to be able to make changes online….well I could not, every time I tried they said I had to contact them direct. No email address, no way to reply to their previous booking emails. So you have to phone them. Not a problem if you are in Australia, at least not a huge problem. Much more a problem if you are in a foreign country and you have to pay overseas call charges. I ended up ringing them and had to wait 46 minutes on hold with ridiculous annoying music. Then when I finally got through and told them I wished to change things, I had to wait another 6 minutes for them to come back and say I could change the flight.

Then I was told there would be a fee to change the flight, I asked how much and they came back with $150 to change it, plus $140 admin fee, plus $340 for some other fee. Total $630 total for the return journey, almost double the original fee. To make matter worse, my travel companion was on the same flights, same airline, he booked direct with the airline, so he changed his flights for $150, via email, no problem.

So said I would cancel the flight and get a full refund, that is when the truth comes out…they will still charge you an additional fee for cancelling. When I referred to the extra charge I paid to be able to cancel, they said that it doesn’t work that way, it is an insurance fee, you need to claim it all back from their insurance arm.

That extra you pay is nothing more that extra insurance which most of us already have.

No discussion, no consideration, no way to change plus an hour of overseas phone call from a foreign country.

I will never, ever use Aunt Betty again.

I hear you!

Which is why I pointed out that the booking was close in and I did t expect to make changes.

But that being said… there can be additional fees levied by travel agents to make or change bookings. That’s how they make their money. And it has to be a careful consideration before buying. But those fees and charges are disclosed.

Most complaints about travel agencies are because people don’t expect things to go wrong, so don’t bear in mind the additional charges if they do

 

[CaptJCool]

I hear you!

Which is why I pointed out that the booking was close in and I did t expect to make changes.

But that being said… there can be additional fees levied by travel agents to make or change bookings. That’s how they make their money. And it has to be a careful consideration before buying. But those fees and charges are disclosed.

Most complaints about travel agencies are because people don’t expect things to go wrong, so don’t bear in mind the additional charges if they do

For independent minded travellers, they can in most instances book their own flights direct with an airline.

However, many have busy lives and use T/A because they do it well AND help sort out delays or flight cancellations. Like others have said in the case of voluntary cancellations it can be a dogs breakfast of extra fees and charges.

 

[Pele]

Has anyone ever used kiwi.com? Recently I was looking for a business class flight from Sydney to Hong Kong and kiwi.com consistently came in the cheapest by far with Garuda flights. They showed up on google flights . Sometimes the flights were coughpy connections but all sectors were business class. As it was a work trip and I don't have time to waste, and don't want to be left high and dry I booked direct with MH for significantly more cash. Having said that if was retired and my time was plentiful I would definitely give it a go.

 

[Scarlett]

@Pele, after reading reviews, kiwi seems to be rated as poorly as most other OTAs. Not worth it unless booking in the very short term and with certainty that changes will not be needed.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

@Pele, after reading reviews, kiwi seems to be rated as poorly as most other OTAs. Not worth it unless booking in the very short term and with certainty that changes will not be needed.

Agree. However a lot of the negative reviews seem to be pax not understanding how things work.

One very unhappy customer booked from Lahore to UK return, but Qatar cancelled the return flights. The customer is unhappy because Kiwi hadn’t refunded the money, leaving them stranded. The customer is taking the mater up with their bank, trading standards and ‘every possible consumer protection route available to them’.

Except they don’t call Qatar who has to get them home via UK261 (kiwi advised the customer their return flight would be protected by the airline).

The customer believes it is kiwi’s fault for not delivering the flights.

Fairs fair!

 

[burmans]

Some of the complaints do seem pretty ridiculous about air travel, OTAs and airlines, notwithstanding that said OTAs and airlines do behave abysmally sometimes.

And of course review sites only get those who have had a really good or (more often) really bad experience, that’s just human nature.

 

[stu961]

I'm a Buyers beware person and accept the pitfalls of booking certain flights through online sites in return for cheaper airfares BUT the following goes well beyond my pitfall threshold ......

my wife just received a call from her bank credit provider... questioning bookings of BA and Conder flights ($3500 & & 2500) through Booking.com (which I have used very occasionally in the past but definitely not these flights)..... unless it's an almighty coincidence her payment details have been compromised at their end!!!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I'm a Buyers beware person and accept the pitfalls of booking certain flights through online sites in return for cheaper airfares BUT the following goes well beyond my pitfall threshold ......

my wife just received a call from her bank credit provider... questioning bookings of BA and Conder flights ($3500 & & 2500) through Booking.com (which I have used very occasionally in the past but definitely not these flights)..... unless it's an almighty coincidence her payment details have been compromised at their end!!!

Could be booking(.com) or another source, and the person has then decided to book tickets on booking(.com). Although the latter seems very coincidental.

 

[stu961]

Could be booking(.com) or another source, and the person has then decided to book tickets on booking(.com). Although the latter seems very coincidental.

agreed... but very coincidental.... I asked Bank who the merchant was, I was informed Booking ...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

agreed... but very coincidental.... I asked Bank who the merchant was, I was informed Booking ...

The bank won’t know where the card details were compromised. Unless booking.com has disclosed a hack.

 

[AIRwin]

Booking.com customers involved in possible data and security breach

Some Booking.com customers are being warned their personal information may have been accessed by unauthorised third parties, prompting fresh concerns about the security of travellers' data.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Booking.com customers involved in possible data and security breach

Some Booking.com customers are being warned their personal information may have been accessed by unauthorised third parties, prompting fresh concerns about the security of travellers' data.

www.abc.net.au

But that’s not mentioning credit cards, thankfully!

 

[stu961]

The bank won’t know where the card details were compromised. Unless booking.com has disclosed a hack.

I know they won't.... it's just me connecting my knowledge of the particular card activity and the merchant where the payments were made together....

 

[Lida P]

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.

Yes, we also had a problem with this “ gotoflight” platform.
But I received a message in my booking.com profile , for a flight booked for someone that was not me , this person used MY email address.
I complained to booking.com, about a security breach. That breach is not fixed yet, after 4 months.
I may not be using booking.com anymore for my accomodations.
This is the second time I have received a strange email from an external source, in MY profile account on booking.com.

 

[Jacques Vert]

something is going on with booking.com, there are multiple reports of people/hotels not getting paid for weeks for their bookings, over recent weeks

eg in Japan,

im no expert but given the wide scale of it, this kind of behaviour happens when a company is about to go into administration/liqudation

IME booking have always been slow payers. AirBnB pay the day after a client checks in, booking pay a week (sometimes 2) after a client checks out!

That can be quite significant on a long-term booking.

 

[DC3]

For independent minded travellers, they can in most instances book their own flights direct with an airline.

 

[DC3]

When it come to Aunt Betty, think carefully. Buyer beware.

Aunt Betty. Just the name would put me off.