Complaint Review: Travelogica - Ontario

I've been posting my experience [below] with a company called TraveLogica and their BoardingPass application on a number of web forums. I have yet to receive any return communication from this company regarding my complaints. Clearly, they ar enot concerned with addressing user complaints or issues.

---------------------------

I came across this site and the application BoardingPass (http://www.travelogia.com/boardingpass/download.asp) that seemed like a wonderful idea for scoping out travel arrangements. Essentially, it vastly simplifies searching for air travel by aggregating a search through 20 or so different travel web sites.

I downloaded the BoardingPass application and installed it on my system. This service is free, but ad driven. You have to give up an email address, name and other info. I read the privacy statement where they "guaranteed" complete privacy of your personal information excepting what they would pass to the service when you BOOKED flight arrangements through them. I figured that I might be able to make good use of this in the future, rather than having to wander from site to site looking for the right connection. Figuring that if I did use it, I would charge tickets to my credit card, I gave up my real email address, name, address, etc.

I ran the BoardingPass application on some travel dates that I needed to make arrangements for. They ran through their service connections and produced a nice list of results. But the results are very superficial and didn't list, for instance, flight numbers. It seems that only way to get this information is to click the BOOK icon. I figured this would be OK, since I wasn't actually going to book a flight at this time but needed to see more detail (for instance to perhaps combine segments). I was right in that the book display gave me the flight numbers (which I could use to try to further customize the arrangements by calling a particular airline). Once I had the information I needed, I clicked the cancel button to return to the main flight listing, not completing the book process. I did this for a number of flight possibilities.

Within a few minutes of doing this, I suddenly got a slew of email in my inbox welcoming me to Hotwired.com, Expedia.com, Northwest Airlines, Cheap Tickets and Trip.com, even though I did not follow through to book any travel with these sites (I only LOOKED at the possibilities). My real email address, name and other information was communicated to these services merely by the act of trying to obtain more information through the BoardingPass application. Each of these services registered me as a new user and will of course, now add to list of spam garbage that I get everyday.

Below are some relevant excerpts from the BoardingPass welcome message (for registering) and their current privacy statement. Note this statement: "We are committed to protecting your personal information-whether you are a TraveLogia.com Member or just interested in researching and booking travel". To me, this states that if you don't actually book something, then your information is supposed to remain protected. Clearly, this is a lie.

I sent an email complaint to Travelogica "support" and when I did not receive any response, I sent it again, this time adding a few other address such as webmaster and postmaster. I have yet to receive any replies.

Anyone who chooses to use this application should use a disposable or non-primary email address, name, etc. Otherwise, your information WILL be passed around indiscreetly by the mere act of searching for travel and trying to get the related details.

---------------------------

Congratulations on successfully downloading, installing and registering as a FREE TraveLogia

BoardingPass user.

Your User Name is: xxxxxxxxxxx

We're committed to making your travel planning and purchasing easy and safe. Your privacy is

guaranteed.

Your Personal information will not be shared or disclosed to anyone else without your consent.

On behalf of TraveLogia.com, we thank you again and look forward to helping you find the best travel values for your dollars.<<

>Except for the purposes indicated in this Privacy and Security Policy, we will NOT disclose, sell, share, or rent any of your personal information, including your name, address, credit card number, or transaction history, to any third party.<

>What Personal Information Does TraveLogia.com Collect and What Do We Do With It?

We are committed to protecting your personal information-whether you are a TraveLogia.com Member or just interested in researching and booking travel. Like you, we enjoy the convenience of shopping online. We recognize that privacy is an important issue. At TraveLogia.com, we appreciate your trust in us and remain committed to ensuring that your personal information is secure.<

>Sharing of Personal Information

TraveLogia.com understands that, as an online consumer, you care about how your personal information is shared. We take your privacy concerns very seriously and are committed to ensuring your personal information is secure at all times. We will only share your personally identifiable information in the following ways:

When you book travel with TraveLogia.com, the personal information you provide us will be shared with the appropriate third parties necessary to complete your purchases. This includes the vendors you have selected (for example, airlines, hotels, etc.) as well as the third parties facilitating the transactions (for example, credit card authorization companies). The personal information we provide these third parties will ONLY be that which is necessary to ensure your travel arrangements are successfully confirmed and executed. <

-------------------------------------

Registrant:

Corey Messom (TRAVELOGICA-DOM)

27 Culham

Oakville ON L6H 1G3

CAN

Domain Name: TRAVELOGICA.COM

Administrative Contact:

Messom, Corey (CM13398) [email protected]

messom.com

27 Culham

Oakville ON L6H 1G3

CA

905-844-4379 123 123 1234

Technical Contact:

Hostmaster, Domain (HD8000-ORG) [email protected]

Doteasy Technology Inc.

Suite 210 - 3602 Gilmore Way

Burnaby, BC V5G 4W9

CA

604-434-4307

Fax- 604-608-6832

Record expires on 21-Mar-2003.

Record created on 21-Mar-2000.

Database last updated on 30-Jan-2003 02:44:14 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

DNS3.DOTEASY.COM 209.153.212.103

DNS4.DOTEASY.COM 209.153.212.104

W

California, California
U.S.A.