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  • Report:  #441357

Complaint Review: Airfare.com

Airfare.com Complete Ripoff Bethesda Maryland

  • Reported By:
    Indianapolis Indiana
  • Submitted:
    Tue, April 07, 2009
  • Updated:
    Fri, July 30, 2010
  • Airfare.com
    5110 Ridgefield Rd, Suite 409,
    Bethesda, Maryland
    U.S.A.
  • Phone:
  • Category:

One word: CROOKS.

I bought tickets to India via airfare.com. Since we had our 6 month old daughter travelling with me, I booked the tickets, way in advance. Everything seemed fine until AirIndia cancelled the flight and waitlisted me and my family on another flight almost a day before my original schedule. I called the airlines who agreed to give me a full refund and asked me to contact the travel agent.

The customer service of airfare.com turned out to be absolutely rude and they hung up a few times, even yelled "..you got a good deal, what are you complaining about ?" before hanging up on me.

After about 25 calls, I was able to reach "Rex" who charged my credit Card $200 as "cancellation fees" for a guaranteed "Full refund" for flight tickets, which were cancelled by the airlines. Knowing that is the only way to atleast get back some money, I agreed.

The full refund was MINUS the agent fees !! Airfare.com had charged me for booking the flight and then for cancelling the tickets for a flight, that airlines had cancelled. It was an absolute nightmare which costed me $ 375 for NOTHING. I would ask anybody and everybody to stay away from airfare.com.

Indypacer
Indianapolis, Indiana
U.S.A.

2 Updates & Rebuttals


Special Operations Team

Bethesda,
Maryland,
United States of America

Company Response

#3UPDATE Employee

Fri, July 30, 2010

Since 1979, Airfare.com parent company has been dedicated to accommodating travelers with top value airfare made possible by discounted airline consolidation.  In 1995, we became the first airline discounter to go online.  Over this period of time, airfare.com has continually strived to provide world-class customer service and affordable airfare prices. We handle hundreds of thousands reservations a year and have dealt with millions of different transactions since our company has been in business.  We are a fully bonded travel company, a verified merchant of authorize.net, an ARC appointed member of ASTA, a member of IATAN, Visa Verified, a member of Master Card Secure Code, Diners Club International, Discover Card Financial Services, American Express, and all bookings are Secured by GeoTrust Secure Socket Layer.

Airfare.com does not change reservations without the written consent of the traveler. Airlines are constantly updating their systems with new flight times and routing. There are times where notifications are not sent to us. As a result, we cannot notify the passenger of an airline schedule change. When we do receive notification, we make every attempt to advise the passenger about the schedule change by phone and email.  Airfare.com will do everything possible to help the traveler find acceptable arrangements, with the ultimate responsibility placed on the airline to give the approval on accommodating the passengers schedule change. Airfare.com strongly recommends travelers to constantly check their reservation with us and the airline.





Airfare.com understands that unexpected situations may come up to where your travel plans must be changed; however, we remind all travelers that fees and the difference in airfare are due upon changing your reservation.  Airfare.com has no control over the airline ticketing prices.  Prior to booking a reservation, the rules and regulations are presented twice for review while entering information and again before proceeding.  By booking a reservation our customers have agreed to the rules and regulations of this ticket which again state:  Once purchased, these tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE / NON-RE-ROUTABLE. Under absolutely no circumstances will the airline refund these highly discounted airline tickets.  Changes are permitted for a change fee, but only if they are made prior to the date of the originally scheduled flight. The tickets you are purchasing are completely NON-C


Special Operations Team

Bethesda,
Maryland,
United States of America

Company Response

#3UPDATE Employee

Fri, July 30, 2010

Since 1979, Airfare.com parent company has been dedicated to accommodating travelers with top value airfare made possible by discounted airline consolidation.  In 1995, we became the first airline discounter to go online.  Over this period of time, airfare.com has continually strived to provide world-class customer service and affordable airfare prices. We handle hundreds of thousands reservations a year and have dealt with millions of different transactions since our company has been in business.  We are a fully bonded travel company, a verified merchant of authorize.net, an ARC appointed member of ASTA, a member of IATAN, Visa Verified, a member of Master Card Secure Code, Diners Club International, Discover Card Financial Services, American Express, and all bookings are Secured by GeoTrust Secure Socket Layer.

Airfare.com understands that unexpected situations may come up to where your travel plans must be changed; however, we remind all travelers that fees and the difference in airfare are due upon changing your reservation.  Airfare.com has no control over the airline ticketing prices.  Prior to booking a reservation, the rules and regulations are presented twice for review while entering information and again before proceeding.  By booking a reservation our customers have agreed to the rules and regulations of this ticket which again state:  Once purchased, these tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE / NON-RE-ROUTABLE. Under absolutely no circumstances will the airline refund these highly discounted airline tickets.  Changes are permitted for a change fee, but only if they are made prior to the date of the originally scheduled flight. The tickets you are purchasing are completely NON-CHANGEABLE after the first travel date has passed.  You must pay a change fee of $200 per ticket for domestic flights and $350 per ticket for international flights.  If the new tickets cost more than the original tickets you must pay the difference.  If the new tickets are less than the original, the airline will not credit the difference. Therefore, the total cost will be (The Change Fee) + (The Difference in the Cost of the Tickets).  You must travel on the same airline in the same class. Rerouting is not permitted.  These are the change rules and regulations that all travelers agree to before booking a reservation.  Airfare.com will do our best to accommodate travelers needs , but we will follow the rules and regulations that were presented prior to booking.

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