Airfare.com

Airfare.com is a ruthless shady scam company. On May 1, I booked a reservation on Airfare.com, and the transaction was declined by my bank. Several days later, I was contacted by a representative of on the phone and he informed me that there was a problem with my payment. I told him to just cancel this entire reservation as the transaction has been declined. At this point, he became threatening with me, and told me there would be charges for that, and said that he would do whatever he could to get funds in a very unprofessional and rude manner!

I received some very alarming emails from Airfare.com as well, stating there was a problem with payment, and to correct the problem online by clicking a link (link led to a page that said payment had gone through, which was incorrect). And that my card would be charged every two minutes! And then after payment was accepted, tickets would be issued. I chose not to respond because of the very alarming consumer warnings and complaints about this company. I would rather not do business with such a company as I don't want to get to the airport, and find that tickets were never purchased only a reservation made, thus leaving myself stranded at the airport, amongst other consumer warnings and horror stories.

Their whole spiel about the reservation not being able to be cancelled is total **! I contacted the airline AirEuropa and they informed me that the reservation could be cancelled and could only be done by the travel agent I made the booking with. Seeing as how the charges had been declined time and time again by my bank, no commerce between myself and Airfare.com had taken place. Because if a card is declined and no charge was put through, initially that means tickets could not be booked, because payment was not yet received!

Two weeks after the declined transaction, this company tried forcing through this transaction with my bank, and putting through differing charge amounts under different company names. This is a highly unethical business practice and I have reported them to the FTC, the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General's Office. A legitimate business does not harass customers and try to force their way into my bank account to put their charges through after the transaction is declined, as credit card transactions are declined all the time.

At this point, the reservation should be canceled because payment was declined and it will be up to the customer to initiate a new reservation and book tickets with a valid credit card number with the funds available to back it up. I consider this as constituting fraud and harassment. And almost a month later, they are still trying to contact me to get payment. Leave me alone Airfare. Your company should be shut down. I don't know how such a fraudulent company with so many complaints against them can be allowed to operate still. I am warning everyone I know to never do business with them, even if they appear to be the lowest price on flight search pages. Please, let's get a class action lawsuit going against them!

I booked the flights for my honeymoon through these scammers. They changed the dates after I had booked such that I won't be able to make my connecting flights to hike the Inca Trail. They refuse to refund the fares for flights that they're not even selling. I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that if you charge someone thousands of dollars for something and then don't deliver, that's fraud.

It's impossible to change the flight. I had to change the return date or not fly at all. They said no changes were available as no seats were available, even though I can see those seats are available online and by this same consolidator! Why could one buy a brand new ticket for those exact dates but not change an existing ticket to those dates (for a fee and new ticket price, of course)? I also suggested other dates, but they wouldn't agree. They would only let me upgrade to first class which I can't afford. Now, I cannot fly at all. And of course, no refund is possible, even though I had booked through the airline. The airline said I could get a credit, but since I used an agency, the airline can't help me. Now, I'm out of $2000. Live and learn: never again use them! It's better to just pay a bit extra and deal with the airline directly. This agency is scammy and not worth trying to save money with.

I can't get anyone from Airfare.com to change my flight dates! I booked a round trip ticket from San Francisco to Brazil a few months ago. Now, I need to change the date of my departing trip. I called Airfare.com several times, but no one can do anything for me. The answer that I get is that I need to wait. I also sent several emails (three weeks ago), but I don't get any replies. I don't understand why I don't get a response. I don't recommend to anyone this website! It's impossible to find someone to speak with. This website is the worst one that I ever used!

The flight was booked through Airfare.com and all info was input correctly to the customer form, but as we found out after we had submitted all the name information for the flight, my friend's confirmation showed the incorrect name. As it appeared, the computer input form had somehow incorrectly cut off the last 5 letters of her name and rendered it Di instead. I have been on the line with Airfare.com booking agents (Edward) for almost 30 minutes now and they have not been able to provide any help or answers to this end. I spoke with a manager who informed me that it would be $350 to change the name on this ticket. This is absurd as the name was input correctly to begin with and it appears to be the Airfare.com database that somehow truncated the name. This is not a name change but a gross misspelling/truncation of the name. That is not the fault of the customer by any means.

Looking at other customer complaints on the internet, this seems to be a common issue with this company. Stating that a customer had misspelled their own last name is not a valid argument and beyond plausible. As a company, I am disappointed in the quality of customer service thus far and that they are not taking ownership of their mistake and helping a customer with a simple fix to a ticket name error. I am posting this here as the majority of it was also sent to Adrian (the man who apparently has been answering these complaints for Airfare.com) in the hopes it might be seen and read in time to do something about it, as the flight leaves tomorrow. I have never had such a response from a company before and it makes me both disappointed and suspicious.

My hope is to write a second review here shortly praising Airfare.com management for rising to the occasion and making a decision in favor of the customer and common sense. We will see!

I booked a ticket for a SAS flight to Copenhagen on May 10, 2012. Kayak found it and was redirected to Airfare.com. I double checked my name before submitting my info for the ticket and still one letter, an "o" was missing in my last name when the confirmation came. I called Airfare.com. Oh, they said correcting the name will cost $350 at SAS. The person said he would call SAS to see if he could get a waiver. I can tell you, all this was an act. It took 30 minutes and I had to make a quick decision. Airfare.com now had a SAS manager on the phone. He waived the $350. It would only cost $100 to re-issue a ticket. The ticket had never been issued up to this point. I paid $100 and got an "o" added to my last name. I called SAS afterwards. SAS said, "Oh, we never charge any fees to correct a name." All was a scam by Airfare.com to charge an additional $100.

Peter,

Clearly there has been a miss-understanding by our agents and the way we correct issues and airlines policies and what your saying. So let me explain and clear things up and try to settle this conflict.

First, you have to understand that Airfare.com is a wholesale contractor. Which means we buy in bulk. Yes, the airline has final say but sometimes the contracted rules that we have negotiated are more stricter than what a regular airline agent will understand that is why you get the two different stories and bits of information.

Here is a piece from the rules and restrictions: Once the ticket has been issued the name on the ticket cannot be changed.

All reservations must be made in the EXACT name of the person(s) traveling - no nicknames. For international travel the name on the reservation must be EXACTLY as it appears on the traveler's passport. Once reservations have been made and you have provided payment information, your reservation CANNOT be changed.

However, Airfare.com does recognize that mistakes can be made. We will do what we can to see if we can correct such mistakes if and when they occur. These changes must be minor changes such as; miss-spellings, maiden name and married name for passports, etc. Not complete traveler changes. We will get in contact with the airlines to see if they will allow such changes under the circumstance, but it is up to the airline to allow a name change. Please keep in mind that changing the name on a reservation is considered and treated as a regular change and normal change fees will apply.

As you can see we are following the rules that you agreed to when you booked the reservation. We are not running a scam, we are simply implementing the rules that you agreed to whether you read them or not.

Now, when making bookings online it is solely done by the person making the booking. Everything is done automatically. If you notice at the time of your booking you were charged automatically, that means your tickets have been issued. Again as I said before these wholesale, bulk tickets are handled differently than other or regular tickets from the airline.

I do apologize about the experience but there is just a miss-understanding in how the company works and the rules and restrictions and I hope I am able to clear it all up for you and whoever reads the following response.

Adrian

adrian@airfare.com

Airfare.com on May 11, 2012

I have just sent an e-mail to customer service but I am afraid that if I do not post it online as well, my complaint will get lost in the ether. Last night, I received a late night message and an e-mail telling me that there had been issues with payment and that I needed to re-enter my information. I did and received another e-mail telling me to enter the information a third time. I called my bank and raised the limit on my account, telling them to authorize my card. It's after midnight, EST, and I just received two inappropriately late night phone calls telling me that I should call my bank to authorize the transaction (all voice mail messages were barely intelligible). I just called my bank and checked my account and the amount has already been charged under the name "Gulf Air".

To Airfare.com customer service, please send me a confirmation of my booking. I called your customer service twice to clear this up, but I was left waiting on the line for more than ten minutes both times. I am anxiously looking forward to receiving an e-mail confirmation from your travel agency. I am nervous right now because I had read more than a hundred reviews about customer service that are similar to mine. Please assure me that I made the right choice in choosing to buy a plane ticket from your online agency.

Hello,

I have made sure that a confirmation email was sent to you. When we receive payment problems this is a standard procedure. We do apologize about the late phone calls. I will make sure that it does not happen again. However, your confirmation has been sent to you. As this is posted online I will not give out your confirmation but you can email me directly if you do not receive it. Please check your junk mail as it will not come from the same email address.

Adrian

Airfare.com on May 11, 2012

I almost booked tickets through Airfare.com. Thankfully, the credit card was not charged, because after reading all the horrible reviews, I was terrified at the thought of having to do business with them. I am flying to France in the summer to get married and did not trust this company. As many people have said, they were scammed and had paid but that when they got to the airport, they found out that Airfare.com had never actually booked the tickets, only made a reservation, or had outright cancelled without the ticket notification. How can such an unscrupulous company even stay in business.

Thankfully nothing was charged to my card, and the card was cancelled anyhow for suspected fraudulent activity. Now, I have some Indian guy calling me and telling me they would charge me for cancellation and that if I didn't pay them, they would do what they had to do to recoup their money. First of all, you cannot make me pay when no service or goods were rendered and you cannot sue me, because my credit card was declined.

Stay away from this company. Why are they even in business still. People should get together and file a class action lawsuit against them. I do not need threatening phone calls from these people, because my card was declined.

I found Airfare.com through a Bing travel search for consistently having the lowest rates to New Delhi, and I tracked these rates for weeks and weeks. I was going to book a flight on Airfare.com until I realized their pricing is a scam. They quote a lower price than the other air services to get at the top of the Bing travel list for cheapest flights, but then, every single time you click the "book now" button, they raise the price a lot and say it is due to the changing flights. This happens every single time for weeks. It is a scam! Do not fall for this and give an honest business your money instead.

Lindsey,

I do apologize about your experience with our site but we have been in business for the past 30 years and we are not a scam. Let me explain, when you do a travel search on any other site than the original such as Bing, Kayak, etc. They pull old data to show online. Also we do not contract with "Bing" they just pull the information from our site which you can go to directly. It is always best practice to search directly from our site or any other to get the most accurate information. Sorry for your troubles but you can call our call center and any one of our agents can help you with booking your trip and find the lowest offer we have.

Thank you

Adrian

Airfare.com on May 7, 2012

Name mess up caused huge discomfort - After I completed my international booking to Delhi India, I got a confirmation page which displayed my name rather than my wife's who actually is travelling with kids. So I called immediately to see if things can be corrected. Unfortunately, the CS told me that I will have to pay $350 and fare difference. Boy, calling within minutes cost you that much? Anyway, after holding for about hour one, the CS helped me by booking altogether a different ticket where my family has to spend about 16 hours total during plane change. On top of that I will have to pay $300 extra in fare too.

Nowadays all the airlines have policy of 24-hour cancellation so why not Airfare. I am disappointed because of the inconvenience this new flight is going to cause. I don't think I will go through Airfare again due to the fact that it doesn't give you any option after the booking. I actually have praise for the CS though, he definitely tried his best to help.

Amit,

I want to express my deepest apologize for the experience you have had with us. You are correct that now-a-days airlines do have a 24 hour policy. However, we are a wholesale operator and as stated in our rules and restrictions Once the booking is made it cannot be cancelled for any reason. As you have experienced we will do our best to help you but we do have rules and restrictions we have to follow and that is what you experienced.

Adrian

Airfare.com on April 10, 2012

I came to Airfare.com via Kayak.com after searching for 3 tickets for an international trip. I filled the form on their website per the instructions and made a reservation. When I got the confirmation email for the reservation, I noticed that our first and middle names were run together. I immediately called Airfare.com's customer service number listed on the site. After waiting 15 minutes or so to speak to a customer service person, I got somebody who barely spoke English. He told me that I should not have entered middle names on their reservation forms, even though it asked for them, and that it would cost $350 each per person to change the reservation. I checked with Emirates and Alaska Airlines to see if our reservation was in their systems. Airfare.com had not made a reservation with the airlines even though they tried to charge me $350 per person to change the reservation. I threaten to take this matter to the state's Office of the Attorney General and to the Bureau of Consumer Protection. After that, they offered to make a new reservation for $180 fee. I didn't agree to that either.

After several hours of talking and emailing back and forth, Airfare.com (Nick) called my wife and tried to get her to agree to a $180 fee plus a new reservation. After about 8 emails and 6 long phone calls, Airfare.com (Nick) agreed to make a new reservation with "a better discount". To get this resolved quickly I agreed to it believing that Airfare.com will actually give me a better reservation. After I got the confirmation, I realized that the ticket price is actually $308 higher than what was available on Kayak, Vayama and Cheapo websites. Nick managed to trick me into accepting a reservation that I thought was the best price.

We were charged $35 for paper tickets on this reservation. After waiting couple of weeks, I emailed them about the paper tickets. After a week gone by, I called the airlines (Emirates and Alaska). They told me that there are no more paper tickets and that everything is done electronically. I tried to contact Airfare.com and Nick several times by phone and email, but so far there's no response from them. After this, I started searching the web about this Airfare.com website and was amazed to see all the complaints on this and other websites. How can they do business like that in the US? I'm not giving up. I have called and talked to the staff of the Office of the Attorney General and I am also waiting for a response from the Bureau of Consumer Protection. My advice to other people who have had problems with Airfare.com is not to give up.

Don Mahawatta,

I can totally understand your frustration with a few of our policies, but please understand that dealing with a travel agency and dealing with an airline are totally different. Airfare.com is a wholesale operator, this is like buying in bulk. It clearly states on our website that once a reservation is booked we can not cancel a reservation for free and that all/most tickets are non-refundable. I do not agree with our agent trying to charge the you the full change fee amount to do your name corrections however he was following our polices. Our rules and restrictions state: Once the ticket has been issued the name on the ticket cannot be changed.

All reservations must be made in the EXACT name of the person(s) traveling - no nicknames. For international travel the name on the reservation must be EXACTLY as it appears on the traveler's passport. Once reservations have been made and you have provided payment information, your reservation CANNOT be changed.

However, Airfare.com does recognize that mistakes can be made. We will do what we can to see if we can correct such mistakes if and when they occur. These changes must be minor changes such as; miss-spellings, maiden name and married name for passports, etc. Not complete traveler changes. We will get in contact with the airlines to see if they will allow such changes under the circumstance, but it is up to the airline to allow a name change. Please keep in mind that changing the name on a reservation is considered and treated as a regular change and normal change fees will apply.

As you can see and other readers can see 350.00 is a normal penalty charge for any change. Our agent offering you the 180.00 per person you agreed to back on the 15th, and you also agreed not to dispute or complain. So seeing this online is amazing after we were under the impression that you were satisfied.

Now as far as the paper tickets. Let me explain how that works. Yes each airline stopped issuing paper tickets, however Emirates and Alaska airlines at a time do not have electronic ticket agreements. I have forward this to our accounting department and I also forward the email you sent me yesterday to our accounting department to get your 35 dollars refund. Just to let you know, it cost us 200 to change your paper tickets to electronic tickets for your convince to make travel easier for you. But I will refund the 35 dollars since there has been all of this trouble. Sorry you feel the way you do.

If you feel as if you want to respond, or if there is more you want to complain about talk to me directly and I will be happy and do what I can to help you. I do not like these types of complaints and I am doing what I can to prevent your customer experience happening to others. Understand that we handle over a million bookings a year so we want to keep our mistakes and complaints to a minimum.

Email me at adrian@airfare.com

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on April 4, 2012

I placed an order for two round trip airplane tickets from Vegas to England. About 8 hours later, I got call saying that the transaction has been declined. I called my bank to find out what's wrong. The bank told me that about two minutes after I placed my order, somebody from the same office booked a flight from Washington DC to Florida, using my card. When I called the number 703 379 1777, I got an answer "we don't know anything", only thing I got in response was, that we need a different card so we can charge you for flights. I asked for the manager and got "he is not here." Good luck with this company.

AIGARS PAIKENS,

Lets clear up what happened with your reservation. You were not charged for a flight from our office from Washington to Florida. When the charge was made it shows the offices that you were charged not the flights. This is just information that is input from the airline system to hold your booking for over a period of time after you travel.

IF you would have called the airline you would see that your flights from Vegas to London were booked and intact. So the information that you some how were told was incorrect.

However we did cancel all charges and bookings per your request. I apologize that you did not actually call us and ask about this problem before assuming the worse. If you have any questions please let me know at adrian@airfare.com

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on April 2, 2012

I called to cancel two flight reservations through Airfare.com and was told that I had to send an e-mail. I did and got the reply that I will be receiving refunds for both reservations. For the first one, they said they will be refunding me $351.33 after deducting $300 cancellation fee. The second one, I will be refunded $150.58 after deducting the $200 cancellation fee. They said I will be receiving them between 2-6 weeks. I was told to send in the change form and fill up required fields and was asked to make sure that I write down my authorization to charge me the said cancellation fees. I replied and sent them another email stating that, "Yes, please cancel both these reservations and refund the amounts you have indicated." I electronically signed the forms but the way the forms come across, it will not let you fill in the other fields. I tried to fill in the other fields, and it would not let me. So, I called the 800 number and asked about that and they told me that all I had to do was electronically sign, and the rest would be filled out.

Then, I kept getting more e-mails asking me to electronically sign the change form again. I got the same e-mails to sign the change form on 3/22, 3/24, 3/25, 3/28 and 3/29. On 3/29, I called your 800 number again and asked why I kept getting e-mails to sign the same form and asked if my refund was being processed or not because I didn't know why I kept getting the same e-mail over and over to sign the same form. I didn't get the woman's name but she told me that everything was taken care of, that I did not need to do anything else and that my refund was being processed. I got another e-mail again today telling me once again that I needed to send the change form.

So, this time, I called the other number (703-379-1777). A man answered and I told him the story of how I had signed these same forms over and over and asked why I kept getting these emails. He said to me that I kept getting them because I had not responded. I told him that he was incorrect, and that I had responded to every email I had gotten and sent the form back every time you sent one. He then told me, "No ma'am, you have not responded to us," as if I didn't know that I had responded and have the e-mails to prove it! I told him again that he was mistaken that I had responded, and he again told me, "No, you haven't responded," calling me a liar when I have proof that I have responded. We started arguing because he kept telling me that I had not responded and I kept telling him that I had. I finally asked him to let me speak with his manager because he was being very rude, and kept telling me that I had not responded when I knew good and well that I had responded several time. I counted and between your emails to me and my responses back to you, there are a total of 21 emails.

When I asked to speak to a manager, he told me that he was the manager. I asked him then to let me speak to his boss. He then said, "Whatever" and hung up on me! I called right back, and he answered the phone again. I told him, "How dare you hang up on me now? Let me speak to your boss, and I want your name because I am filing a complaint." He refused to give me his name, and put me on hold and told me he was going to transfer me to his boss. I was on hold for about 10 minutes and he came back on the line again. He did not transfer me to his boss. I kept asking for his name, and he finally told me his name was **. Then, he put me on hold again and said he would check on the problem.

He then came back and told me that the reason my claim was not being processed (when I had been told just yesterday that it was!) was because I had to pay $300 for one cancellation and another $200 for the other one, and that they could not process my claim until I sent more money! I then told him, "On no, I do not have to send more money," and read him the email they sent me originally showing that you were going to send me a refund of $351.33. Per your email, "So, we will deduct the cancellation fee and then will refund you the rest of the amount $351.33," and $150.58 per your email, "The cancellation fee for this ticket will be $200, also we will deduct the cancellation fee here and will refund you the rest of the amount." He then put me on hold for about another 10 minutes and finally came back on and told me that everything was taken care of, that I did not need to do anything else and that my refund was being processed. So I expect that everything is taken care of and I expect to receive my refund no later than May 6th! That would be six weeks.

I want to file a complaint against him because he was very rude, and kept telling me over and over that I had not responded to your emails (basically calling me a liar -- when I have proof that I have responded). He hung up on me and refused to transfer my call to his boss. He refused to give me his name and he lied to me and told me that I had to send in more money! I was treated very disrespectfully, and that was very poor customer service! I am very unhappy with your service and if I do not receive my refund by no later than May 6th, I am going to contact the Better Business Bureau and the Consumer Affairs, Attorney General and file a complaint with them!

Your refund systems are messed up because the form you send does not allow you to fill in the information (which I called about and was told that all I had to do was electronically sign). Again, your refund system is very messed up because you keep sending the same forms over and over and I had to sign them over and over and even after signing the change forms several times, you kept contacting me telling me that I had not signed the forms which I had. Your customer service is awful! Your representative called me a liar, argued with me, hung up on me, and then told me that I had to send in more money! I am sending a copy of this email to Consumer Affairs because I expect to get my refund as you have promised in writing and I will be following up on this!

Suzanne Smith,

I am aware that you have spoken with our agent Aj. Please understand that we are not trying to make this a hard time for you. Please understand that refunds do take up to 4 to 6 weeks to process. I will not go over the details of your account due to privacy reasons but I will see that all tickets have been refunded at agreed amount amounts after you spoke with Aj to clear up the situation.

Sometimes our agents can be a little rough and insensitive when they are just doing their jobs. If you have anymore questions please contact Aj@airfare.com or adrian@airfare.com so we can be more of service to you.

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on April 10, 2012

My husband and I found great airline ticket prices to Spain and decided to jump on it. We bought the ticket and got the confirmation email, which included the flight numbers and everything. The following day, after booking hotel rooms and tours, they send out another email stating that our booking is no longer confirmed. We tried contacting them and their customer service was so rude. They said that the airline does not have that flight available for that price and that it wasn't their fault.

They advertised a price and we bought it and planned out the entire trip, only to have them cancel my booking and tell me to go find someone else to buy my tickets from. I was on the phone for 4 hours only to get that response. This is not a way to treat people, nor is it a way to conduct business. It is not my problem, as the consumer, if they decided to advertise a price that they could not deliver. They need to honor that price, just like any other company who advertise falsely. I suggest no one ever uses this company. Be warned: they are not honorable people! No one wanted to help. No one cared. It's a total waste of my time. Now, I'm stuck with tours and hotel rooms that I cannot use! Thanks for nothing!

Mrs Coelho,

I know you have probably heard a lot of apologize due to this situation after this situation was explained to you, but it is the fact that we do care about this situation but we do have rules and restrictions we must follow. So I will try to explain this further and offer that help you werent offered.

Understand that as stated on our rules and restrictions that: "There are times when we are unable to confirm a reservation. In the rare event that this occurs, we will attempt to reach you by phone and email so that we can re-accommodate you." What this means is that the airline have ultimate control of the flights and will change the price at will even before the time of ticketing. They will over sell the flights and increase the fare. This is what happened in your situation. Our online flight system shows what the airline offered but they still have the power to change the price even when we try to get the tickets confirmed with them. So instead of charging you extra we give you that option to go back online and rebook - this does not mean you have to book with us.

So in regards to the situation - those flights are gone as you probably notice. What I will do is try to find something that is at the same price, hopefully lower, for your trip. If you want me to do this please email me at adrian@airfare.com and I will do whatever I can to help you.

We dont condone the way you were treated and I wish it did not get to this point but I will do what I can to help. Also, I see that you are located in Germantown, our office is located in Bethesda and if you want to come down and have us work this out face to face we can do that as well. Just let me know what you want to do.

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on March 30, 2012

I had a really fantastic experience with airfare.com and wanted to post this to balance much of the negative postings here. Remember that when people are dissatisfied, they're more likely to write a post, as opposed to when one buys a ticket online and everything goes as expected.

Dealing with airfare.com, I received fantastic customer service (emails replied to quickly & professionally; friendly, helpful phone operator; people going out of their way to help). They have incredibly cheap tickets. Airfare.com is an authentic company, completely true to their word and has honesty in billing (they debited exactly what they said they would from my card).

After finding a cheap ticket on airfare.com through skyscanner, I booked my ticket. Only the following morning did I think to check reviews of the company. When I found this site, I instantly emailed ** (he's worth all the praise written here, plus 3 bags more of gold!). I requested he put my mind at ease and let me know when I could expect to receive my ticket number. He replied almost instantly (which was the case for every email I sent) and assured me the ticket number was to be issued shortly. The delay had been because I was booking with a UK credit card & they needed to run a security check (good business practice).

A few hours later I had my tickets. Then I discovered that I couldn't get a visa for the country I had a flight to (the Chinese embassy had changed the visa rules since the last time I'd visited). So, I no longer could use my flight to Beijing, which I'd purchased through airfare.com. This was entirely my fault. I sent an email to Chris, asking if there was anything that could be done. He went out of his way to help me and provide a service I'm not even sure if Business Class customers would receive on top airlines!

I was so grateful to receive such fantastic service, especially from a company which received such negative comments below. It's a shame that others have poor experiences with airfare.com, I suppose it's true for all companies (even the big, reputable ones). But, after my experience I wouldn't hesitate to book with airfare.com & recommend them to all. Thank you for reading & happy travels!

Hello Ms. Norval,

Thank you for your praise. We look forward to serving you again!

Adrian

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

I posted a message to this forum last week, complaining of the unfortunate events when booking a ticket through Airfare.com and the accompanying trip insurance. I would like to provide an update and let you know that Chris at Airfare.com helped me with my situation. The trip insurance was purchased in conjunction with the flight from Airfare.com, and when I cancelled the flight the trip insurance was not. He and I discussed this over a few emails and he even called me to find out the true issues at hand. For one thing, there's a potential confusion when cancelling the trip. It would be nice to inform/remind customers on Airfare.com they may have purchased trip insurance and to cancel it (by calling the trip insurer). I had assumed the trip insurance was cancelled and it was not. I did not find out about the issue until much later, after the charge was posted to my account.

Chris suggested showing the trip insurer my credit card statement, when the charge was posted and when my statement closed, to confirm the statement was after the 15-day cancellation policy. I also sent the trip insurer a screen-shot of their policy, as read from the browser, that was too small to see. I think these two items may have helped in getting my refund, but Chris at Airfare.com helped a lot, too. I would use Airfare.com again to see if they have the best ticket prices. I would use the trip insurer again (Travel Guard) as they have good rates and did treat me like an individual in consideration of the issues I had when cancelling. I believe they made an exception for me and I appreciate being a person to them and not just a sale. Thanks, Chris and Airfare.com. Thanks, Courtney and Travel Guard.

Hello Mr. Harry,

Thank you for your praise in this situation.

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

I am writing in regards to this company. I will never book a ticket again with this company for they didn't comply with IATA and travel agencies' procedures. I bought a ticket from NYC to MUM back in October and I thought that I could change it for a fee (I never purchase tickets that I can't change). And so I read the rules and fare conditions carefully, which said that I could change for a fee.

When I bought the ticket, I was never reconfirmed the carrier rules of that ticket. Also, I was never issued a ticket number at the time of purchase. Then, I had to change my trip a day before. Calling them and dealing with them by email is a nightmare. I never got the name of a supervisor, manager, whatsoever. They keep bouncing me back to the airline, and the airline does the same. Not only did they not want to change the ticket for a fee (which they wrote on their website), they also won't refund me the money I paid for the reservation.

They won't issue a voucher allowing me to use this fare for a year. Dealing with this agency is a nightmare. They are not professional. I am still waiting for the ticket number issued at the time of my purchase. They steal my money. I am going to take them to court at this point. Don't use this website.

Readers, if you look at my past responses to consumer complaints you will see that I do everything I can to help customers reach an acceptable solution. Please keep that in mind as you read on.

The airline notified us that the ticket was not changeable, which is consistent with our rules and regulations. Our rules and regulations state that tickets are only changeable if the airline allows it. The customer however claimed that the airline told her the ticket is indeed changeable. If this is the case, the customer must seek a ticket change through the airline since their official policy on the ticket is that it is not changeable. The customer, however, refused to seek this course of action, which calls into question whether the airline ever told her the ticket was changeable. As of today, the airline has notified us for the third time that the ticket is not changeable.

I have offered the customer multiple options that may be explored in reaching an acceptable conclusion, one of which was to activate the insurance policy she purchased at the time of booking. Instead of taking this into consideration, the customer proceeded to deride myself and my occupation. Frustrated or not, personal attacks are counterproductive and unnecessary.

When offering the customer with viable solutions she resorted to shrieking into the phone and hanging up on me, which again, is highly counterproductive. Her main issue stems from the fact that she wants to change her ticket and/or receive a refund, but the airline policies on the ticket state that this is not an option. When presented with this fact, she resorted to name calling and belittling me. While it is most regrettable that we cannot find an acceptable solution for the customer, please keep in mind that the customer's behavior has largely been destructive from the beginning as she refuses to listen to anything that runs counter to her perception of the situation. I have informed the customer that if she wishes to approach the situation in a civil manner I will be happy to assist her.

Furthermore, the customer's accusations that we have withheld information from her is categorically false. We have been providing her with the information she requested ---the only problem is that we weren't telling her what she wanted to hear. I would love to tell her that the ticket is changeable. But I would be lying if I said so. For the record, the customer has sent us upwards of 14 e-mails which we responded to, only to be promptly ignored by the customer.

I won't go so far as to say this complaint is full of lies and misrepresentation of facts, but her behavior seems to suggest that she has no interest in solving the situation.

-Chris, Airfare.com

Airfare.com on March 7, 2012

We saw an incredible deal with Airfare.com and booked a flight for 6 to Paris. We also had a few hours to cancel the flight if anything was wrong. We did find out why the tickets were so cheap, it was a one-way fare!

We immediately cancelled out tickets and thought nothing of it. They had a guarantee window to cancel. Unfortunately, when we purchased the tickets, we also purchased trip Insurance. Since we didn't get a confirmation cancellation email, we did not remember there was trip insurance (with Travel Guard a separate company, but a simple check box on the final page). We were given no policy number, nothing.

We had a purchase email confirmation, but no cancellation confirmation. If we had both, we would have seen that not all charges were refunded and acted accordingly. We found a charge on our credit card the following month for $213. I immediately called the number and was told to make a simple request to cancel. It was denied because we had not cancelled in the 15 day window. The trip was to be in mid March, so in theory, we still have not traveled.

We didn't have a policy number and don't have a flight for the trip insurance. It is like $213 down the drain. It has left a sour taste in my mouth for Airfare.com. My repeated emails to them are simple replies that say to contact Travel Guard. I am pursuing this, but want to caution other Airfare.com buyers to 'beware'. Any undisclosed items in your purchase may not be cancelled even when the trip is. If Airfare.com is permitting Travel Guard to accept purchases, then they have some obligation to work with the consumer to cancel everything when cancelling their trip tickets.

This issue has been fixed and Mr. Harry has submitted a new review.

Chris

Airfare.com

Airfare.com on March 1, 2012

There was a problem with my booking due to a glitch in the booking process and I was unable to get satisfactory resolution through their 24/7 telephone customer service. However, upon reading comments and reviews on this website I e-mailed chris@airfare.com who called me very promptly and helped me resolve my problem right away. Although my experience in the beginning was not very encouraging, my subsequent dealings with Chris were extremely positive and I would book with Airfare.com again.

Thanks D!

-Chris

Airfare.com on March 1, 2012

My wife and I purchased tickets for an upcoming trip. When calling to inquire about changing it, in accordance to the terms and conditions, we were given answers not in line with their policy, negative attitude and verbal abuse.

Adam,

Thank you for your post, I have gone over the details of your booking and I do see that our agent did give you a bit of a high number if you were to cancel the booking and get a refund. If you look at the changes on the rules and restrictions it would cost 350.00 per person as you were told however, if you were cancel this reservation per our website it would cost 450.00 per person. Though you were given mis-information if you email me adrian@airfare.com or chirs@airfare.com one of us might be able to help you out with your situation if you still need some assistance.

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

After reading all of the bad reviews here, I was pretty worried when an unforeseen circumstance required me to change my flight. The first person I tried speaking with didn't quite understand what I was trying to say so I emailed chris@airfare.com after seeing his reply to someone here. He called me as soon as he got my email and was incredibly helpful in a very timely manner. Many of the complainers here need to realize airlines, in general, are pretty ridiculous with their fees. This isn't really Airfare.com's fault. My experience was that if you speak to the right person, this company is willing to do whatever they can to work with you.

Thank you for your positive feedback, Chris is apart of a dedicated team to deal with complaints and issues. We are very happy to see positive reviews and thank you so much for your praise.

Adrian

Airfare.com on March 2, 2012

I filed a complaint previously, and actually received a reply. The first problem with the reply is that it tells me to contact feedback@airfare.com, and they will be happy to assist. I know this is a lie, as in my original complaint, I stated that I emailed them (at that address) the first week of January, and still have gotten no reply! The second problem is that the reply states, "so you do not lose the full amount of the ticket, and can attempt to get something back, contact KLM airlines directly. Let them know you have a credit, and see if they can refund it if you can not travel. They still have control over all tickets that are sold. They should be able to help you further".

I called KLM at (800)618-0104. The agent I spoke with said that they can not even see how much I paid for the ticket, since I used an agency (airfare.com). The only thing the lady could see was the $108.10 in taxes included in my ticket. She said that airfare.com would be responsible for any refunds, as they are the company who took the payment.

Also, it's interesting to note that, the airfare.com representative told me the ticket expires in February (this month). The KLM representative kindly informed me that the ticket does not expire this month, and that I have until May to complete the travel. Though completing the travel is still not a possibility, it was nice to be told the truth.Please, no one be fooled by the responses on this site. Airfare.com is still not actually helping troubled customers.

David,

Sorry for the delayed response. We have been looking into this to try to find a solution for you. You can email me directly at adrian@airfare.com so we can talk specifically about your situation.

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

We booked e-tickets with Airfare.com. We received an email from them the next day saying that there was something wrong with our credit card. We called Airfare.com and the operator told us to call our personal bank and to give them authorization to send the money directly to them. I immediately recognized this as a scam and contacted my credit card. The credit card company confirmed that a one dollar charge was submitted just to see if the card was a viable, current credit card.

In the interim, we sent urgent emails to AirFare.com instructing them to cancel our reservation immediately. I called my credit card company and told them to be aware of the scam. They shut the card down, but in this short period of time, Airfare.com unlawfully charged $700 to our credit card. This company now refuses to cancel the reservation from British Air's database and until that happens, we cannot re-book our flights. Under no circumstances should you use this company to book air fares. They are dishonest, bordering on fraudulent, and I believe someone should shut them down.

We fail to see where we engaged in fraudulent activity, and we did not lie to you. We told you that there was something wrong with your card and that you needed to clear the issue up with your bank. During that time, the charge went through and your tickets were issued. Please note that we did not charge your card against your will, as getting the charge through and issuing your tickets was the primary goal. Your suspicions are unwarranted and we cannot be left with the bill for a hunch you had. Please refer to our rules and regulations, where it clearly states that there are no refunds on tickets issued. Please also note that you agreed to these rules and regulations at the time of booking. Finally, it is extremely important for you to know that British Airways has a parallel no refund policy on all tickets.

Please keep in mind that your immediately recognizing our procedure as a scam was based upon an incorrect assumption and we did nothing unlawful here. If you wish to try and obtain a special waiver for a refund with penalty, please contact us at cs@airfare.com. Please be aware that the cancellation penalty would be that of the airline, not our company.

Airfare.com on Feb. 23, 2012

There is no way anyone in their right mind would use this company if they ever had to call their customer support. Regardless of what the well-versed company representative has been writing as responses to everyone's complaints, all the complaints are true and valid based on the experience I just had. The truth is that you will never have a worse customer experience than what this company provides. It's all true and there is no excuse for it.

I called customer service 5 times for the same issue. One person would only say the Confirmation Number over and over, no matter how polite or patient I was. Another person told me all the computers were down and to call back in an hour. I called right back and the next rep said his computer was fine. When I tried to explain my problem, the reps would not listen and just talk right over me so I could never explain anything to them, this happened with all but one of the reps. None of them will understand your issue and good luck getting any resolutions since they hardly speak English and really have no interest in solving any problems..

Their website has some major bugs in it and I would not trust it. I received someone else's booking after I entered in all my information. Lucky I checked to confirm since my booking never went through. If this company can really provide good deals on tickets, why not get some proper customer service reps who can deal with issues for the English-speaking market. It doesn't make sense and Kayak.com should never link to them. My next call will be to Kayak to let them know.

Brad Brodi,

You are absolutely right! Posting a response to a complaint does not take away from the fact that the complaints are real. We are charged with responding to each one of our customers complaints and addressing there issue accordingly. There are times when our rules and restrictions are taken out of context and sometimes not even read which in turn makes it real cumbersome for our customers. There is an old adage that says "if you look for something, you will find it." No customer service agency is perfect, you will be able to find complaints online about someone such as yourself experience.

It is my job to address your experience and help you reach a level of satisfaction. So to address your issue that you have stated online. Just as any company there are times when are computer system are going through updates and to make sure we can assist our customers as needed we will do half at a time, which is the reason you had difficulty in that area. Also, just like most american based call centers we have outsourced our call center to cut cost, we apologize for any inconvenience. Our customer service team has been well trained and is very capable of handling any of our customers issues.

Our website is maintenance 24/7 by a well trained and experienced technical support team. If you noticed a "bug" please let us know what it is so we can fix it but since your post on this site, you seem to be the only one that seems to have had a problem. If you can give us some detail then we will be able to fix this "bug" you mention.

I have searched by your name and email to see if if I can address the specific issue you were having with our call center agents but it seems I can not find any info for you. We want to help you so if you could email me back at feedback@airfare.com with your comments concerns and any responses. I will gladly address them accordingly.

Thank you for your time

Adrian

Special Operations Team

Airfare.com on Feb. 9, 2012

Airfare.com is a worst company to deal with very poor customer service as customer service people have no clue and can't speak English properly. I used Airfare.com to book my tickets from Vancouver to Delhi and back. When I asked about the luggage they told me to contact Lufthansa as they are the carrier. We checked with Lufthansa and paid additional baggage fee, but the worst thing happen when I was coming back. As I went for boarding the agent told me that I am traveling Continental and have to checkout at New Jersey and have to take my luggage and rebook for Air Canada as now Lufthansa is not my carrier. Airfare has booked us to 3 different airlines. I had to pay for luggage to Continental as well as Air Canada.

I will never buy from this company as we were told that we are using Lufthansa and we need to deal with Lufthansa only but our return flights were booked to Continental and Air Canada. We were traveling from Delhi to Vancouver but we had to check out at USA and had to pay baggage fee extra to Air Canada as Air Canada charge baggage fee from travel between US and Canada. If our luggage was booked to YVR then Air Canada will not have charged us. We requested Continental agent at Delhi to book till Vancouver and she refused and told me that she is not able to do it and I have to get the boarding pass and check my luggage again in New Jersey and the flight time difference was less then 2 hours.

I had no reason to go to New Jersey as it was supposed to be a transfer not check out and then check in again. I called so many times Airfare.com's customer service but they never explained and always say look at our website or talk to airline when asked which airline to call they say call Lufthansa. Lufthansa say they don't have any information, call your travel agent. Finally Lufthansa told us that we have to call Continental as they are dealing for return flight. This put us in a loop and no one was to take the responsibility and all airlines told us that we need to contact Airfare.com. When we call airline they told us that they can't help us as Airfare.com can only help or fix the problem. Very upset with this company. This company should close down and should pay us for all the hardship they have caused to us. The customer service people have no idea and they never explain any thing.

Parmeet Didden,

I apologize about the experience you have had with our company. Let me clear up a few issues with you.

First, here is a direct copy and past from the rules and restrictions that are located on our website in regard to baggage:
Checked Baggage:

Passengers are usually permitted a free checked baggage allowance, the limit of which may differ by airline, class, and/or route. Extra charges may apply for checked baggage in excess of the permitted allowance and Airfare.com will not be liable for extra charges imposed by the airlines. Please ask your airline for more specific information.

Cabin Baggage:

Passengers are usually permitted a free cabin baggage allowance, the limit of which may differ by airline, class, route, and/or aircraft type. It is recommended that cabin baggage be kept to a minimum. Please ask your airline for more specific information as airfare.com will not be held liable for any extra charges imposed by the airline. Refer to http://www.iata.org/bags for information and links to airline websites.

Baggage Transfer:

When booking flights with multiple carriers there are cases where the airlines do not have baggage agreements, and for international trips the airlines require passengers to check out and re-check in during the middle of their trip. This is not something that can be controlled by Airfare.com. When the flights are booked online they are connections times are determined by the airline booking systems. Passengers will have to check with the airlines for further policies and actions that need to be taken.

Notice, that Airfare.com is a third party ticketing agency and is in no way in control of baggage fees. However we are required to notify you of the luggage you are allowed to carry. If you look very closely at your confirmation email it will clearly state that their and if you go to www.checkmytrip.com and enter your information you will see your baggage information.

Since you booked the reservation online, airfare.com did not book your flights. You did. You booked them online, you accepted the airline, the routing, and the rules of the ticket. I apologize that you did not go over the documents that we sent you and that you agreed to but this is what was stated. If you have any questions feel free to email this email address and we will happy to assist.

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on Feb. 9, 2012

I booked a flight from MEM to London to visit my family for the summer. I needed a visa to get into the UK and didn't receive it in time, so I had to postpone my flight. When I wanted to re-book, airfare.com quoted a price that was reasonable, but I lost the connection. When I called back (about two minutes later), they told me the price was no longer available and had increased $400. In the end, I saved $600 by booking with another company.

This was in June 2011. I was told the ticket expires in February 2012, and I will not be able to fly the same route by then. So, I called and wanted the airport tax refunded. When I asked to speak to a manager, the man told me no and hung up on me. So, I wrote and requested that it be refunded. I got a message that I'd get a reply within so many hours in the first week of January and never got a reply. In case you didn't know, if you don't fly, the airline doesn't pay the airport tax on your ticket. Therefore, the tax is either refunded or pocketed. If I had booked directly through the airline, there is a number to call and request the refund, but states that if an agent was used, the agent is responsible for refunding the tax.

The consequence: Airfare.com is useless. I will always book directly through the airlines now. I wasn't requesting the whole fare to be refunded, just the airport tax. They were rude, hung-up on me, and stole my money. I wish they would be put out of business before anyone else is stolen from and mistreated.

David Caswell,

Sometimes it is very beneficial to book directly with the airlines but you miss out on the deals third party agencies like ourselves offer. Mind you I am not saying that the deal is always worth it but this is why we exist for people that are looking for a good deal. What makes Airfare.com different than the rest is that we are a third party consolidator and are tickets are purchased in bulk and come with higher than normal rules and restrictions. Taxes are non refundable. If anything a refund is requested and if processed it is processed minus the taxes depending on the situation and if those rules allow. I have looked into your situation and see that your booking was non refundable. These rules were explained to you at the time of booking and are still located on our website.

So you do not lose the full amount of the ticket and can attempt to get something back. Contact KLM airlines directly, let them know you have a credit and see if they can refund it if you can not travel. They still have control over all tickets that are sold. They should be able to help you further. If you have any questions for me send me an email at feedback@airfare.com and I will be happy to assist.

Airfare.com on Feb. 9, 2012

Hi. As per the conversation on phone, I was waiting for my money to be reimbursed amount $1445 within 48 hours. I even sent e-mail on 01/24/2012 regarding this issue but today (01/31/2012), the representative asked me to be patient and wait for 48 more hours! I mean, it's been a week now and I didn't received any reply via e-mail or nothing! Do I have to be ready to take some action?

Aster Patel,

Looking over your situation I see that you did receive the refund the same day you posted your complaint. Refunds are not like normal transactions, they have to be approved, then sent for processing, then accepted, then posted. This process takes time. In your case it only took 7 days where as normal refunds could take a matter of 4 to 6 weeks. We apologize about the situation but this is the correct information. If you still feel that this is not correct or have any other questions please email me directly at feedback@airfare.com and I will be happy to assist you.

Adrian

Special Operations Team

Airfare.com on Feb. 9, 2012

I just wanted to chime in about my personal experience with Airfare.com as it was actually quite positive despite a difficult situation.

Basically, after booking a flight from SFO to TLV and realizing several weeks later that the outgoing date was incorrect I decided to call up Airfare.com's customer service line and ask what the policy was to get my flight changed to the correct date. True, their international change fee is a bit pricier than other websites ($350) but that is because the company finds consolidated fares that in my experience were much lower than what I found on Kayak, Expedia, etc. After trading a few phone calls with the customer service agent, Andrew, he was able to find the correct flight and begin the change process. I submitted the online change request, filled out the required form, and just a couple of days later I received my confirmation that the flight had been changed. Unlike some previous posters, I had no issues with the airline not having my flight details and while I can't say exactly how much I ended up paying for the change, suffice to say that Andrew was empathetic to my situation and worked with me to find an option that we were both happy with.

All in all, it wasn't exactly a fun process but I was happy with how I was treated. Basically, I'd say that if you are going to use Airfare.com, just double check that the dates on your issued ticket are correct so you avoid any hassle. If you're nervous about your ticket being booked, call the airline directly (that's what I did and Air Canada had no issues finding my ticket). Other than that, Airfare.com does often offer substantially lower fares which make them an attractive agency in my eyes and I'd be happy to use them again.

Thank you for your positive response! Make sure to sign up for a free account on airfare.com to see the latest in fares that are not displayed online.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Feb. 9, 2012

Beware! Airfare.com may offer the cheapest prices on plane tickets online, but their customer service is atrocious and their policies and practices seem borderline fraudulent. Make sure you read the fine print before purchasing any ticket from airfare.com. Make sure you verify with your airline 3 days prior to flying if you've already purchased a ticket from airfare.com (that's pretty standard practice). Airfare.com sucks.

Here's my story: I bought a ticket, it was cheap. I actually got where I wanted, there and back. A few times, the airlines had to look hard to find my reservation, but it was all legit. So a ticket from airfare.com is probably good. That doesn't make it any better of a buying experience, though! There is just something so shady about the way they do business. It's an intangible thing. When I bought the ticket, I then looked at the fine print, called within 25 seconds of my purchase and tried to cancel.

No dice. I had literally just booked the ticket and asked to change the time of departure. Most airfare companies give you a thirty minute "Oops!" grace period. No dice. Not airfare.com. Every conversation left me feeling violated, cheated. Something is just wrong with this company. I know that's not a lot to go off of, but trust me, you want to buy your ticket elsewhere.

Dear Mr. Wise,

I understand your frustration with our customer service department and am truly sorry for what you may have endured. If you wish to address any specific issues for a more accurate internal review, you are encouraged to do so by shooting an E-Mail over to chris@airfare.com. Please provide names of the agents in question along with specific reasons behind your frustration regarding said agents. I hope you will accept my preliminary apology as that is certainly not the standard we expect from our representatives.

That being said, there are several points of contention I wish to address before closing this complaint. First I must preface my response by explaining to you how our company works. Many of your issues seem to stem from a simple misunderstanding about how airfare consolidators work, so it is important that you know the way things are. Airfare consolidators such as ourselves are lucky enough to obtain certain routes at incredibly low prices. But this comes with a rather heavy handed caveat by the airlines. After all, if the fares are being released at such low rates, it is in the industry's best interest to ensure that sales are final. This is why there are absolutely no refunds. Due to the no refund policy, subsequent changes after finalizing your order are impossible. The reason for this is that we would first have to refund your fare and then re-book your flight. This would be in direct violation of the cardinal rule I just presented to you. As a savvy consumer, your first instinct would be to assume that we are capturing your original flight to somehow scam you out of money. A simple search online will shed light on just how much money we as the travel agency actually receive through your booking (Hint: If you're assuming double digits, you've probably gone too far). As such, we have not much to gain by pulling off the scam you allude to. In fact, we would lose money devoting resources to the man power needed to pull off such a scheme.

Finally, the "fine print" you refer to weren't very fine at all. There were 2 sections you were required to click through before your purchase was finalized. These 2 sections outlined our rules and regulations, and you were required to read through and click a box signifying your understanding before the purchase went through. If the no refund policy came as a surprise to you, I apologize. I have logged the issue and will instruct our programmers to use bigger font. We, however, are not a scam, and quite honestly, cannot see how a scam would even work with airfare. It's a highly regulated system, and though some of our policies may seem as though we're flying by the seats of our pants, the truth is that our company is not as exciting as that, and we are simply following the rules.

Best Regards,

Chris

Airfare.com on Jan. 20, 2012

Originally when ticket was filled up, I forgot my wife's first last name. I called airfare.com and talked to representative and he requested a copy of her passport to be fax. I faxed a copy of her passport on Dec. 19, 2011. The representative promised to followup with airline and provide correct last name shown on my wife's passport. Airfare.com called back saying that it should not be a problem and that I would have to wait after the holidays to followup on status of issue.

I called today and basically got mistreated by a supervisor, telling me that I never faxed the passport copy, that I would have to pay a change ticket fee. His attitude was very rude and I could barely understand what he said. The trust, credibility and professionalism from airfare.com is in question. I'm very disappointed with their support and treatment. I've decided to deal directly with airlines (US Airways). They were very useful.

Hello Wilhelm,

Let me apologize for the experience that you have had with our company.

I have reviewed the documents and calls placed in regards to your situation. Back on the 19th of Dec as you claim we never received a copy of the passport. Nor would we have told you to wait until after the holidays to handle such situation. When a booking is made, name changes are not allowed even if it is a name correction there are specific steps we have to take.

Here is an exert from our rules and restrictions:

"All reservations must be made in the EXACT name of the person(s) traveling - no nicknames. For international travel the name on the reservation must be EXACTLY as it appears on the traveler's passport. Once reservations have been made and you have provided payment information, your reservation CANNOT be changed.

However, Airfare.com does recognize that mistakes can be made. We will do what we can to see if we can correct such mistakes if and when they occur. These changes must be minor changes such as; miss-spellings, maiden name and married name for passports, etc. Not complete traveler changes. We will get in contact with the airlines to see if they will allow such changes under the circumstance, but it is up to the airline to allow a name change. Please keep in mind that changing the name on a reservation is considered and treated as a regular change and normal change fees will apply."

These are the rules and restrictions you agreed to when you booked the reservation, so our agent trying to charge you a fee is what our policy tells us we have to do.

To help you along with this process we sent numerous messages over to the airline letting them know what the correct name on the booking should be so they will possible pass you along and have a smooth trip. All it takes is a simple message. However, most airlines do not allow this and require the name to be fully changed. If you spoke with the airline and they were able to assist you with this then we are happy that they could help. However, if you get to the airport and get turned away or have problems going through customs on your return trip make sure to check with the airlines as they were the ones that approved this name correction for you.

Sometimes the name has to be changed on the ticket and showing from our history it has not been corrected, it has just been approved.

Again, I apologize for the situation you encountered with us as we are following the instructions given to us from the Airlines Wholesale Contracts they have written themselves. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly at feedback@airfare.com and I will answer any question you may have.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Jan. 18, 2012

I have been searching online for flights to Tawau, Malaysia. Each time Airfare.com gives you one of the lowest fares. However, when you click on it, it will either say it's no longer available or it will say the price now has changed to a new price, which is hundreds of dollars more per ticket. My question is, why would this website keep posting and listing flights that is no longer available or that the price has changed? I've tested this all through out the day each day to see if it would finally catch-up to what they claim to be the "new price". But each time they display the lowest price and not the "real price" they want to charge you. So I looked into Consumer Reports and see that this website has lots of complaints and issues. I would not recommend using this site.

Hello Flora,

First let me start off by saying I apologize for the experience you are having with our site. Our site is updated in real time constantly and is controlled by the airline system. There is no person that touches the site except for maintenance purposes. There are plenty of times where the site shows a low fare but that no longer exist because of the airline updates and our site takes time to updated this with the mass of information.

What I will do is have one of our sales agents call you to see if we can help you book this reservation and the best possible fare that we can find for you. If you have questions for me contact me directly at feedback@airfare.com

Thank you
Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Jan. 12, 2012

Airfare.com is trying to defraud me not only once but twice. The first incidence happened since I have wrongly used the company as an travel agency for booking a set of round trip flight tickets between Indianapolis, IN, USA and Shanghai, China. My flight was cancelled by the carrier before the departure and the carrier United Air Lines has refunded the travel agency. I contacted the travel agency. Not only they refused to offer any sort of refund, they have also managed to raised their voice and reject any service they can possibly provide as a functioning business. I have then contacted my charge card center (American Express) to handle this matter. My card center has contacted them and claimed that Airfare.com will investigate into this issue but I have never received a call from airfare.com.

Three weeks after the first incident happened, Airfare.com used another name to charge my card again for the original cancelled ticket without my consent and noticing, I have received zero refund from the first incidence that is still an open case and airfare.com is charging me twice for a cancelled trip. The company has bad business practice, bad customer service and certainly the worst online travel agency I have ever used. If customers are not protected, then I would consider the whole issue is a fraud, more specifically an internet fraud and a commercial fraud.

Hello Tsun Hon Cheng,

I want to address a few issues about your comments before we get to dealing with your booking. Airfare.com is not an internet fraud company. We are a validated Travel Agency verified many different agencies. We would not try to defraud anyone as we have a dedicated team that specifically works on fraud prevention.

In regards to your reservation we received a call from you telling us that you were not allowed to check because you showed up late to your flights. To help protect you we cancelled your flights so you would not lose the value. I have checked the status of your ticket and the airline has not refunded anything. If the airline refunded your money it would have been sent back directly to your credit card not the us as we did not collect, the airline did.

Now to tell you what is going on with your reservation and how you can claim the value of your ticket. Again, your ticket is non refundable, you do have a credit for future travel. Please contact us or the airline directly to use this credit. If you have any more questions or want to go over specific details about this credit email me directly at feedback@airfare.com.

Thank you
Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on Dec. 19, 2011

I purchased a ticket on November 17 for Israel and I was charged twice. It seams that it's not the first time it happens.

Hello Yoni,

Looking back into our systems and you have already spoken to our accounting department and all double charges have been reversed. If you have any more questions please feel free to contact us at feedback@airfare.com

Adrian

Airfare.com

Airfare.com on Dec. 5, 2011

Airfare.com definitely a scam! Employees don't speak any English and since I have used AMEX to buy tickets, AMEX blocked purchase right away! Love AMEX for this! Started doing more research on airfare.com and founds tons and tons of complaints about them. I would suggest to stay away from them! Its disappointing that Kayak put them in the search results.

Hello,

I do apologize that you feel as if Airfare.com is a scam. Let me explain a little about our company and the things we do to prevent fraud.

Airfare.com has been online selling travel since 1995. We were one of the first wholesale ticketing agencies to go online. Were as no company is perfect and everyone has there own opinion, no matter what we make sure that our customers are not victims of fraud. Currently we stop at least 30 to 40 fraud cases a day with the help of Amex, especially.

Amex probably blocked your booking due to area restrictions and purchasing limit restrictions, since I can not find your name or email in our system I can not go into more detail about your situation.

Please understand that Airfare.com is not a scam. We are a verified merchient of VISA, Mastercard, Discover Card, AMEX, an authorized travel agent of IATAN and Amadeus Systems. We work diligently to make sure things like this do not happen. If you want to speak specifically about your situation then please contact me at feedback@airfare.com and I will gladly answer any questions or comments you have to set things right for you.

Airfare.com on Nov. 28, 2011

Adrian - How can I contact you if you don't provide me any contact information? Just to let you know, I've contacted my bank and there is no refund. I've looked through all my statements and nothing. Anything else you can provide me with? I am really on the edge and I just want my money. Is that so hard to do? I just want my money. Can you please give me back what you owe me and stop stealing my money?

You can always call the 1-800 Airfare number to reach me or email me directly at feedback@airfare.com.

Believe me we are not trying to keep your money we want to give it back to you. We have to find out what the bottom line is and why you still have not received it yet. We have dealt with situations like this before were they do not come back as you expect them. I recently dealt with a situation where the customer over looked the money showing up in there account. Now let me advise if our accounting team says that you have been refunded then the next step is for us to contact the bank with you on the phone so we can verify that it has been returned because we have the supporting documents.

Airfare.com on Nov. 18, 2011

I cancelled my ticket, paid a fee of $350, and I was supposed to get a full refund for my ticket, and airfare won't give me my money back. My confirmation is 27JO87. Not only have I spent $560.08 for my ticket, but airfare is not giving me money for my ticket. Nobody is answering any of my questions. Please help. I spent over $900, and all I want is to get my money for my ticket. The costumer service is so disrespectful, and they won't answer any questions. How are they even in business ? Please shut them down.

Regina,

Hello, thank you for providing your confirmation number so I could look at this situation. First, understand that Airfare.com works with different Airline ticketing offices. We have checked with our ticketing offices per the conversation you had with our agent PJ yesterday afternoon that you were refunded and he emailed you the receipt of this refund so you can check with your bank. If you have any questions please let me know.

Thank you

Adrian

Special Operations Manager

Airfare.com on Nov. 16, 2011

I am disappointed that the minimum is 1 star because I think they deserve zero stars and they are getting a bonus star. Buyer beware! Avoid this scam company at all costs. Reading through other complaints is like "deja vu." They made a mistake on my booking and I noticed it immediately and called them. This was before the ticket was issued. I was told to call in the morning, which I did. By then, the ticket had been issued and they said that they cannot cancel or modify. After some time they offered a $200 refund but refused to correct the mistake. Then, I get the runaround that many others have mentioned from people who are all Iranians and can barely communicate in English in spite of their English sounding adopted names. They tried to pass the buck that the airline needs to make the correction for the mistake that Airfare.com made.

The airline confirmed that the travel agent can and must make the change. I finally insisted on conferencing in the airline agent on the call and they were told this while all 3 were on the line. Airfare claimed that the flight for the correct date was not available (turned out to be an absolute lie because I booked it with Cheapoair.com minutes later and for $300 cheaper). Then, they offered to provide an alternative flight on the correct date which, of course, was more expensive, and had a 18-hour layover (a flight no one would ever take). I told him that would not be acceptable and he finally said that I could cancel the flight for a full refund. I proceeded to find the identical itinerary on the correct date (1 day later departure) and asked for a confirmation of the refund. I then get the blackmail email asking for the $350 change fee that most others have mentioned.

Furthermore, when I confronted, the agent that promised a full refund. He added another caveat that the amount charged (close to $1,800 minus the $350 blackmail fee) wound not be refunded but rather be available for future trips, as if anyone would want to be a repeat customer (better known as repeat scam victim).

Before addressing these accusations with a response, I must first warn the readers that the following is not a response that reflects upon the type of customer service we provide at our company. As is indicated within the responses below, we make every effort to locate the root of all complaints in hopes of delivering an acceptable solution. That being said, it is important to note that this response is one that seeks to combat blatantly slanderous accusations that are, in whole, based on absolute lies. As such, Mr. Saba's accusations are demonstrably defamatory and provide no insight into the actual events that transpired. The following is an actual account of Mr. Saba's troubles, and we have documentation proving this. His embarrassing display of bigotry will not be addressed. You are invited to be the judge of his xenophobic commentary regarding race and creed.

Mr. Saba,

Your whole argument about us messing up your flight is false. Your telling us that we --well, pretty much everything you say in your complaint is false. It paints an adequately impressive picture in favor of your position regarding your faux situation, there's no denying that. And it would hold much merit to be sure, if only any of it was true. Your only complaint, from beginning to the end, was the fact that you purchased a ticket with us, only to realize too late that there was a more expensive fare being offered on a competitor's site. You then went on to accuse us of anything you could set your mind on (and judging from your blind accusations regarding our race and creed, you got desperate). We did not mess anything up, and we provided solutions for you. Please refer to the rules and regulations, which was provided for you before, during and after your booking was finalized. It clearly states that there are absolutely no refunds on any flights, as they are highly restricted, deeply discounted fares. It is apparent to me that you chose to ignore said restrictions, opting instead to follow whatever version of the truth serves you best should the proverbial hit the fan, sacrificing accuracy for comfort and a saccharin induced peace of mind.

On 10/31/2011 at exactly 7:58 pm you agreed to our rules and regulations regarding your booking, thereby solidifying the contractual agreement as outlined on the web page you were on. On this page were the exact details of your booking, such as price ($1771.01) and your round-trip flights from San Francisco to Telaviv Yafo. As the user of our site and someone who is presumed to be an individual of at least average intellect, you are expected to have done your research across the World Wide Web, determining for yourself whether the booking at hand is the optimal one for you. We, as any cognizant merchant is apt to doing, fully admit that our fares are not always the best. Other Online Travel Agencies (OTA) do address this issue by providing a price match guarantee. They clearly display this SERVICE on their websites, and is admittedly an added perk to working with said sites. We however do not have the luxury of providing such a service, as we are not as big a company as the top competitors within the field. We do, however hold contractual agreements with certain flights on certain airlines which do reign supreme above our competition. But as this is a business, we provide the higher fares along with the lowest fares, and you as the consumer are trusted to make a sound decision. We cannot hold your hand and guide you through the process. We could help you with anything that has to do with our site, but we can not do the comparing horizontally across the field. If you end up purchasing a product that you have found to be more expensive than it is through a different site, I am truly sorry but the blame falls on you. It is absolutely unacceptable for you to place this blame on us. It is an unfortunate circumstance to be sure, but there is nothing we can do. Our fares are highly restricted as they are consolidated. I suggest you research the merits behind consolidated airfare versus airfare provided directly by the airlines themselves, as the scales are not necessarily tipped in favor of any particular party, and there are both risks and gains of equal measure on both sides. Again, this research is ultimately up to you. Consequently, the decision to book with a consolidator versus the airline is also up to you.

Finally, I would like to close with one last comment. As mentioned before, we do not hold a 100% advantage over all of our competitors, but we do hold a fair share. In short, we are not always the best option, but in many cases we are. In your case, we weren't. According to our logs, you filed complaints regarding this predicament. Are we to be called criminals because a few of our contracts are inferior to our competition? Surely not. We operate under a free market. What you are proposing is Socialist in nature.

Chris

Airfare.com

Airfare.com on Nov. 8, 2011

Airfare.com is a scam company. Almost all of its employees are poorly educated immigrants, whose immigration status are very suspicious. Their another notorious characteristics is that none of them speaks a normal English. What they usually do is to issue a ticket with an "elaborate" mistake, then when the costumer calls them asking to correct that mistake (name spelling, date etc. ), they always ask the customer to pay for that. Most cases the customers refuse to pay since it wasn't customer' mistake, and then Airfare.com cancelled that ticket and keep customer's money.

When I purchased my return ticket (1250$, much expensive than any other agencies' price) from Indianapolis to Seattle in May 2011, I've noticed that my first name and last name was backward. I called them to correct this mistake and was told that they will do it after I pay 350$ change fee. I refused and decided to use the ticket. After arriving to the airport, I tried to check in, but I was told that my ticket has been cancelled. I contacted with Airfare.com again and requested them to refund my money. They said the ticket is non refundable and the only thing I can do is to change it to another date because the flight time has already passed.

Then I selected another date and was told the new ticket is about 1355$. I asked them to use my unused ticket amount for the future flight, but it was refused by saying that is against the company's rule and finally, I was told that to pay for the new ticket, then upon completing all transaction I would receive the exact amount of my unused ticket. Then I paid again 1355$ for this new ticket (later I discovered that this ticket was "deliberately" cost me 500$ more compared to any other airlines' price). After that I waited for my refund about 4 months until the late October and keep calling them, but they never answer the phone or even answer mistakenly, try to say that the original agent is not available or suggest me to call their accounting department. In this way I still couldn't get my refund.

After reading thousands of online complains about this scam company, finally I realized that I became a victim of these immigrant cheaters.I'm just filing a suit against this scam company. Anybody who wants to join me, please contact with me at **.

Jabreel,

Hello, I was trying to find your reservation in our system by your email and your name and I am unable to find anything. Without this information I can not help you with your complaint.

Since nothing can be found in regards to your reservation I will respond to your complaint in a normal fashion.

First, Airfare.com has been in business since 1975. If we were a scam company how could we be in business for almost 40 years? We have adapted to the changing times and just like some of the better known travel agencies we outsource our call centers to save on cost. I do not see how you can assume the immigration status of any employee if you have not meet them or are in the area. Our office is open and you can come meet us at anytime. However, non of our agent are required to prove any "status" to a customer.

Our booking system is based off of the information that you input online. At no time is a booking touched by a physical agent unless you call in. So any mistake that you claim that was made by airfare.com was a mistake made on the bookers part. Note in the rules and restrictions are steps are recorded by our system and we have this information and IP address to prove to you.

Airfare.com does not cancel reservations without written confirmation and we do not participate in your so called bait and switch tactics. I can not prove to you that this did not happen if I do not have your booking information. Please email me as soon as possible so I can attempt to settle this situation at feedback@airfare.com.

Thank you

Adrian

Special Operations Manager

Airfare.com on Nov. 4, 2011

I purchased a ticket from Airfare.com. They issued the ticket, duplicating my first name on the confirmation and ticket. When I called, I talked to Adrian (special operations team manager). He's a very uneducated person. He told me that I had to pay $350.00 to have my ticket issued with the correct name. But he was telling me that I could go to airport and I will not have any problems. So, I called TAM Airlines. I asked if that was true. TAM responded saying that the best way was the travel agency (Airfare) to issue a new ticket. Adrian told me that if I wanted to have a new ticket, I had to pay. My response was: "I will not pay for your mistake."

After almost one hour on the phone with this guy, I told him I was not going to pay to have my ticket reissued. I hung up the phone. So, I kept receiving e-mails from the company confirming my ticket (in fact, probably 10 emails confirming) with the confirmation number and everything. Today, 10/07/2011, I went to catch my plane. I found out that my ticket was canceled by this person (Adrian- special operations team manager) without my authorization, and without even notifying me that they canceled my ticket after I paid for it.

Hello Sergio,

First, I do not speak with customers on the phone, so you were not talking with me when you spoke with our agency. I know who you spoke with but will not disclose this info due to legal matters.

Now, with your complaint and issue. We do not issue tickets with double names. Your situation was started because you entered your middle name on the booking reservation and because your middle name was not on your passport TAM Airlines would deny you boarding. You were on the phone with our agent and the airline when they told you this. They even said that you would have to pay for the changes if we re-issued the ticket this is from the airline. All calls are recorded and if you would like the play back so you can hear for yourself it is not a problem. When you booked the reservation you agreed to the rule and restrictions whether you read them or not. It clearly states that any changes, customer would be required to pay change penalties and fees if applicable.

So since you understood this the reservation was cancelled. Email confirmation was sent to you when this was done and you were NEVER charged for the booking as it was refunded. So of course you would have no flights as you did not pay for any flights as we refunded you your money so you could buy a new ticket.

Understand, that I have been in the travel agency for over 10 years. I have worked for Expedia.com, Expedia Corporate Travel, Japan Airlines, Continental Airlines, American Airlines Ticketing, Airline Schedule Changes for Expedia.com all under the TATA corporation. I was one of the managers and senior agents in the office before leaving and going to college. I am well educated in many different fields and if you want to speak for the first time you can call me and ask for me at any time or you can email me at feedback@airfare.com.

Adrian

Technical Operations Manager/Special Operations Team Manager/Customer Service Manager

Airfare.com on Nov. 4, 2011

On Sept 8, 2010, I bought a return air ticket for a flight operated by China Airlines from JFK (New York City, US) to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). Unfortunately, due to the bad weather in Dec. 2010, China Airlines could not operate the flight, and agreed to issue full refund for me. I then contacted Airfare.com to inquire about the refund process. At first, Airfare.com told me to contact China Airlines instead. But China Airlines declined to help, as they said that Airfare.com is the only one who can process the refund. I contacted Airfare.com again with the message from China Airlines. This time, I was told to file a change itinerary form, which might result in me getting charged $300 to get the refund process started. I refused to do that as I then had no faith that Airfare.com might actually refund me the money, after having to call them many times, and being given false information each time.

After many calls to Airfare.com to complain, I was told that I could file the change itinerary form for free of charge. As instructed, I have sent in a change itinerary form on Feb 14, 2011. I was promised by an Airfare.com agent that I would get back my refund on June 1, 2011. But I have not received any amount since. I contacted Airfare.com again in September 2011 to inquire about the status of my refund. An Airfare.com agent, Mr. **, informed me that my file had been closed. He said that I needed to contact the accounting department to reopen the case, and process the refund. This is not what I had been promised earlier this year. Airfare.com made no efforts to alert me of any difficulty in processing my refund. They simply closed my case while letting one of their agents promise me that I would receive the refund in June. I have sent an email to their accounting department. I hope that the case gets resolved soon before I run out of my patience, and have to bring the case to the travel columns of major newspapers.

Hello Lan Chi Le,

First, let me start by saying your frustration and complaint is warranted and we here at Airfare.com are extremely apologetic that this process has taken so long. However, it is not due to lack of effort. In February, your request was sent to our ticketing offices and it was made. This all has been documented. In February this was a high volume of request for refunds and some due to weather and even some of the events in countries are still being refunded due to the amount of refund request and some that have been lost or miss placed. It is sad to say that your request was miss placed. Human error.

Soon after a few more request back in April the ticketing offices stated that "customer would have to show proof of refund." This is a strange outcome but it is also documented and be proved.

We have resent your request today to be processed as you are aware. We do apologize that it has taken so long but again it was not due to lack of effort. If you have any questions please contact me at feedback@airfare.com

Thank you

Adrian

Special Operations Manager

Airfare.com on Nov. 4, 2011

My wife and I had an unexpected emergency and had to alter our honeymoon to Paris one day ahead of intended departure. The airline said that we had to go through the agency and when we did, it was just an endless string of useless time guzzling conversations. It was totally apparent that we wouldn't get a single refund so we had to buy new tickets. Airfare.com employees had the audacity to call us back and ask why we didn't inform them that we were cancelling! Because they would have gotten a refund due to the fact that we were No-Shows.

As a result, we had to buy brand new tickets to Paris that cost quite a sizable fortune ($3,500). After having planned our honeymoon for an entire year, $1,500 went in the hole with these guys and not getting even so much as $50.00 of it. It's so obvious that these guys are offshore Indians who are just trying to rip people off any way that they can.

Hello Jason,

I apologize that you had to change your plans to your honeymoon and our agency gave you a hard time. I tried to pull up your booking but I was unable to find one, if you want me to go over some exact details with you in regards to your booking please contact me at feedback@airfare.com.

I will however go over some basic information with you so you are aware of what happened by what you stated in your message. When you look on our website under the rules and restrictions which are the same rules and restrictions that you had to agree to when you booked your reservation, it clearly states that your reservation is non-refundable. I am pretty sure that our agents went over change options with you and told you that it would cost the penalty and difference in fare per person. If you choose to do something other than deal with us that is fine but it is our job to make sure that we take the proper steps. We called you in an attempt to save your money. If your reservation was not cancelled before the travel date then it would have been listed as a no show. No Show means no money. We called you to save the money. The agent you spoke with said that because you booked another reservation there is a possibility that you could get a refund because you purchased another ticket but it was very unlikely. I do understand that dealing with any customer service can be quite cumbersome but we are and did attempt to help you with your situation just understand we do have rules to follow and in times cant make everything work.

Airfare.com on Sept. 27, 2011

I purchased 2 round trip tickets from New York to Sacramento. Total cost was to be $891. Airfare.Com charged me this and an additional $596. My bank noticed the second charge and suspended my card. I have called (from Australia) twice and emailed them numerous times. They said they would refund the unwarranted charge of $596. It is now 8 days later and there is still no refund. They are now asking for the number of my replacement card so they can collect taxes. I have since asked for a refund and they haven't gotten back to me. I've never been comfortable buying online and this just seems like a confirmation of those concerns. At the moment, I don't have a ticket number, I don't have a credit card (just the debt) and I'm spending out of pocket. Now I have to purchase another set of tickets from another company!

Hello Mr. Larson,

Let me apologize for the experience that you have encountered with us, we never wish for this things to happen but there are systems errors that we have to work with. In regards to your situation there was a system error, however when it comes to returning transaction it does take a maximum of 14 to 21 days for an international card transaction. Yes the money comes right out but it does take time for it to return.

Also, you can do not have to purchase new tickets I have looked over your reservation and your tickets are confirmed. I will not put your ticket information on line but you can contact me and I will give you the information so you can contact the airline directly. Please contact me at feedback@airfare.com.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Sept. 26, 2011

This company deserves no stars. In the middle of August, we were searching for inexpensive roundtrip fares to Edinburgh, UK. Airfare.com listed an airfare that looked good. We went to their site and booked three tickets. It took about 10 minutes before they would confirm the flight. And then, the flight schedule only showed a one way ticket. We called them immediately. They tried to make us purchase another leg of the trip for much more total money than many airlines were charging for a roundtrip. When we first got confirmation, they informed us that we could cancel for free within one hour. After we realized that they were trying to rip us off, we cancelled the flight with two emails and one phone call to make sure there was no confusion. We also put a hold on our credit card, because they just felt unethical and we could not trust them. They, nevertheless, were able to place several hundred dollars on the card. We insisted that they pay it back. They have refused and have tried one excuse after another to try to get out of their responsibility.

Hello Mr. Allen,

First I want to apologize about the problems we have put you through. But I want to go over the full account that had happened when you booked your reservation online.

When your reservation was booked online, it was booked by you and our search engine does not show what you dont select. The entire process is automated. For the special fares that you were offered you had the option to cancel your reservation within the hour. You did not cancel the reservation within that time window.

As you know these tickets were non-refundable because of these highly discounted prices, however due to the mistake that you made we were able to refund the reservation for your and only charged you 100 dollars per ticket which totaled to be 300 dollars. These fees were required to be charged buy our ticketing affliates since the reservation was not cancelled on time.

I do apologize about the way things turned out, If you have any questions please contact me directly at Feedback@airfare.com

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Sept. 20, 2011

On August 16th 2011, I booked a flight from LAX to Yogyakarta through airfare.com. I later found out that the start date at the health clinic I am volunteering at was moved up, so I needed to reschedule. I did the email change form and requested a change from my original October 19th leave date to October 27th. I accepted that I would have to pay the $350 fee as well as the $75 difference in fare. I entered all of my information and submitted the request on August 31st. When I re-check the email change request form on the site, it says that my request on August 31st is in processing.

I have since called eight or nine times for a total of 90 minutes on the phone to confirm that my change has gone through but I have not received any assistance. My travel date on September 26th is fast approaching and I am not receiving any help, nor do I have the new ticket confirmed. Apparently, two weeks later, my request has not been processed yet and I am extremely fed up with airfare.com and their inability to help me with such a simple and routine problem especially when I continue proactively trying to get my problem fixed. I need help asap.

I am desperate to have this problem fixed and expect to never purchase from airfare.com again. This experience has been downright unacceptable. Perhaps, the only thing that would placate my anger is if airfare.com contacted me and confirmed my requested change and refunded me the $350 change fee for all the time and energy that I have spent trying to get my situation fixed.

Hello Thomas,

First let me apologize about the experience that you have had with our change department. I see that this situation has already be resolved. Per our history we responded to your change request on the 1st of Sept. Exactly 24 hours after your request and sent 3 different emails and 2 different phone calls. We were waiting on your approval for this change.

I apologize that it seems like it took forever and very happy that the change was processed so you could make your trip. If you have any questions for me please contact me directly at feedback@airfare.com

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Nov. 4, 2011

I booked for an international flight for my wife through Airfare.com in January and we later found that she could not travel on that date for medical reasons. I called Airfare.com and asked to cancel the ticket and asked a refund. They told me that I cannot cancel the ticket but for a fee of $350 they will give me a credit that I can use in the future. I should have protested then because we had a valid reason and asked for a full refund.

I did not want to create a scene, so I agreed to pay $350. Recently when I tried to visit their site, apparently the site was hacked or some stuff like that happened. When I called them and asked about using that credit, the guy to whom I was talking was rude and was not helpful. He was insisting that I have to use that credit only for that particular route (which I no longer need). If they have said me this at the time of charging me $350, I would have called my credit card company and asked to block this transaction. But now instead of giving a credit which I can use, they are asking me to use the same route. Airfare.com is a scam. I thought of saving $100 by going to this Airfare.com site, but ended up paying $350 and it seems I'm about to lose another $500+.

Please, whoever reads this post, do not use the Airfare.com site. Their service is not good. Their site had some hacking issues in the recent past. Their customer service is horrible. The chances of you ending up losing money is more than saving using Airfare.com. Please stay away from Airfare.com

Hello Kumar,

First I want to apologize about the situation you encountered with our site and agents. First, I want to be very clear that our site has never been hacked since it has been launched in 1995. We are protected by a SSL (secure socket layer) and have a programming and development team working around the clock to prevent such actions. Please clarify the error you are having so we can clear this issue up.

As far as your situation, if you look online at the rules and restrictions you will see that our agents were following standard procedures. It clearly stated that all reservations are non-refundable and in some case you can receive a credit for future travel for a 350 penalty to change your reservation and difference in airfare if applicable. This is standard.

When keeping the same routing this is not a rule imposed by Airfare.com this is a rule imposed by the Airline specifically. If you want to dispute such rule take that up with the airline you booked with so we can make sure that your reservation gets taken care of.

I want to help you with your situation so you can understand that Airfare.com just like any other agency has rules and restrictions we have to follow and all are made known to all customers before booking and you have to agree to such rules. Contact me directly at feedback@airfare.com so we can work something out to try to help you with your booking.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Sept. 15, 2011

I booked a one-way flight to Xi'an, China on airfare.com for $877. A few days before the flight I found out my Visa papers were delayed, so I had to cancel the flight. I was told there would be a $350 fee assessed when I was ready to re-schedule (higher than most websites) in addition to paying any difference in fare. I understood this, so I had them cancel my flight and keep the $877 in credit on my account.

In the end, I received my visa documents and the visa itself. So, I called airfare.com to re-schedule my flight. They informed me the only possible way to re-schedule this flight was to give them my desired date of departure; they would choose the ticket from the available flights they were able to find that day. In order to accomplish this, I would have to email or fax them a signed form that listed my desired travel date and allow them to charge me the $350 change fee plus the difference in the price of the two flights. I was instructed by Thomas to list the difference in price as $365 on this form - that is the sum which I was told was the difference between the original fare and the fare on the new date.

That was not true.

The fare that appeared on my new itinerary on airfare.com's 'checkmytrip' website was $1,138.59.

However, when looking at my itinerary on the Continental.com website, it showed the fare as $1,028.59.

Both of these prices were less than the $1,242 ($877 + $365, not including the fixed $350 change fee) I was being charged by airfare.com

I called Continental and they said they were only paid $1028.59 for this ticket, but that there was a note in the record that said mark-up USD tax $110. Continental said they only received the $1028.59, so airfare.com must have charged me the extra $110 mark-up. I called Airfare.com and they told me that Continental charged them the extra $110 to make the change (originally I wasn't even flying on Continental).

When I called Airfare.com again, this time they told me that American Airlines charged them a fee to cancel the original flight. That is why they made me sign a statement saying I would pay Airfare.com the $350 change fee plus an additional $365 even though the actual change in fare was only $151 ($1,028.59-$877). Airfare.com has nearly double-charged me by adding in another $214 hidden fee on top of the already egregiously high $350 fixed fee to change my flight.

Hello Mr. Callahan,

I see that there is a lot of confusion going on with your booking and the change request.

Airfare.com is a wholesale consolidator. We purchase tickets at bulk prices and then sale at the negotiated rate. The agent you spoke with at the airlines was unaware of this fact and you can ask any agent and sales person with the airlines these negotiated prices can not be cheaper than the airline prices.

So as you can see the fare difference and extra charges. These are not hidden fees as you think these are just the total rates that we have negotiated. If you wanted to book your reservation with the airline than you could have as they own the ticket.

As far as the penalty fee. On the rules and restrictions online it clearly stated that these are higher than normal due to the higher restrictions by being a bulk ticket.

I do apologize as you think this information was hidden from you because everything is explained in our rules and restrictions. If you have any questions for me please contact me at feedback@airfare.com

Airfare.com on Sept. 21, 2011

I booked a reservation and proceeded to pay and after I pressed "book now". It brought me to another window with a booking number that said: transaction error. Then I called and ended up wasting 2 hours of my time, I spoke to several people and none of the representatives were able to answer the simple question, "what this message meant?" Nor were they able to honor the price and flight I was trying to book! They put me on long holds, hung up on me, twisted and manipulated every word I said, claimed there was no manager available and/or the representatives then claimed to be a manager. They proved to be completely unprofessional and incompetent people who just play with your head when you call about any problem.

The message their website generated said "not to refresh the page, my booking would be held and to call them and they would fix the problem" in order to complete my transaction. The representatives told me my transaction was cancelled and to close that window and start a new booking. This price and flights never existed. They just sucker you to get your personal info including my credit card number. Their fares are the biggest scam. They also claimed to be a legit company in business for more than 30 years.

Hello "Again" Rebeca,

Again my name is Adrian and I am the customer service manager for the US call center. I have listed to all the call that you have placed to our company and let me give you an accurate account of what transpired.

A Transaction Error is when there was a a problem with the booking. Each one of our agents advised you that the booking was not made, no information was recorded except your name and dates of travel, and that you would not be charged and you can go book back online not with our site but anywhere you felt was ok.

But you not only persisted to call our agents and call centers, you spoke with three different managers who all told you the same thing and once you spoke with me you spoke with someone from our legal team and then started to insult him by calling names, telling him he was stupid and judging the money he makes with our 30 year old business.

All of our agents including myself told you the same exact thing and legally we tried to re-book the reservation for your but got the same error but did not charge you, did not bait you, legally we have no ties to you or any information except name and what you tried to book. I apologize that you feel the way you do but you were not treated the way you claim and did not take anything from you. If you want to continue this conversation contact me at feedback@airfare.com

Airfare.com on Sept. 21, 2011

I booked my flight for 9/1/2011 from Newark to Warsaw Poland. I had to postpone my trip because Hurricane Irene hit NJ and nearly destroyed my house. I tried explaining it to the agent that my house got flooded and I cannot make the flight and if there is anything they could do for me. He said "no" and the fee I have to pay is $ 350.00 because the flight is still on and did not care that a natural disaster happened. I said fine I will pay the fee and cancel my flight. Today I get an email to call airfare.com urgently because they cannot charge me the fee.

The agent tried to tell me that my credit card is declined, after I called my credit card and they said that my limit is over $10,000. After I called back, the agent still insisted that my credit card is declined. I asked him scan in the receipt showing me that it is declined and he refused. I told him what my limit was and he said " Yea I know you have a lot of money, and hung up on me! I also offered to pay with my other credit card and he said no, that I have to pay with the one that I booked with. So I guess I am not getting my refund at all and I just threw my money away? I spoke to Jason - I usually call the main line because he stopped answering my phone calls. Somebody please help. Not only have I suffered enormous damages to my house; airfare will not refund my money.

Hello Regina,

First I want to apologize about the experience that you have had with our customer service department recently and the lack of empathy you have received with your situation. I can assure you that the refund has been processed from our side.

To explain why you were charged the penalty is due to the fact that the airlines did not have any policies for what you were asking. The dates of travel did not land within the specific criteria. You can call the airline to verify but we are following the rules of the airline and if they do not have policies in regards to the situation then normal rules and restrictions must be followed and this was one, penalty had to be paid.

Airfare.com is just a third party wholesale consolidator and we make sure to follow the rules of the airline. There was nothing more we could do in this matter for you and we surely could not issue you a refund for free. We apologize but these were the rules. If you do not take my word for it you can call the airline and ask them directly if refunds were issued for your specific dates of travel and would a waiver had been issued if you had dealt with them directly. If they are willing to issue a waiver then we can confirm with our ticketing offices and see about refunded the penalty but it has to be authorized by the airline.

If you have any questions you can contact me directly at adrian@airfare.com

Airfare.com on Sept. 7, 2011

I booked my dream trip to Thailand for my bday, and saw that the price was pretty consistent with other websites but still chose to go with this website. With my excitement I made the mistake of booking the wrong time. Reading the fine print I did notice that the charge for a flight change was for $350, which is ridiculous. I called today to make a change. The first person told me I needed to fill out a form email it or fax it and then they in return would change my flight - but without giving me a price difference. I actually had to hang up because there was so much static that I couldn't even hear the guy's explanation as to why they couldn't tell me what the price difference was until after they booked it.

The second time the guy gave me the same instructions as to how to fill out the form, and that it would take up to a week to provide new flight prices. I have used Travelocity, Priceline, Expedia and Hotwire and have never ever had these types of issues. I tried calling the airline and got a price quote of $1175.30 for the exact same flight after I had paid $1253. Apparently their reasoning for the high change fees is because they provide the lowest prices. I was better off dealing directly with the airline. It would have saved me money, time and a raging headache. Third time's a charm though. I finally asked to speak to a manager and lo and behold they were able to make the adjustments over the phone.

They kept me on hold for 40 minutes for them to tell me that the difference is $25 plus the $350. I did let them know that I called and checked the website and in fact the flight was cheaper. At this point I was just wanting to confirm the flight before they added another $1000. My lil mistake which would normally cost about $100 cost me $375. Talk about bursting my bubble and putting a bit of a damper on my trip. So my piece of advice don't use this company. If they really offered the lowest price I could maybe try to understand their ridiculous fees but that's not the case. I will be sending a copy of the itinerary I found today and comparing it to the same itinerary they found for me at an additional $375. Never ever again - so disappointed.

Alicia,

I apologize about the lack of explanation of the extremely high change fees. Yes, Airfare.com offers lower than normal prices but not all the time. Airfare.com is a wholesale travel agency. We buy airline tickets in bulk which result in these higher than normal fees. This is why the change fee is 350.00. Airfare.com is not like the other travel agency because we buy tickets in bulk. If you notice every now and then you will see a special fare on these other sites and they will have very high restrictions, no changes, no cancellations. Our agents were following standard procedures when doing the change request and quoting the correct prices. Sometimes it is better to book directly with the airlines for the convince of being able to fix mistakes easier but you lose out on those discounted fares we offer.

Again, the reason the change fees are so high are because we are a wholesale operator that purchases tickets in bulk. This is the real reason, not the story you fabricated or come to believe. If you have any questions for me please feel free to contact me directly adrian@airfare.com

Airfare.com on Sept. 8, 2011

I booked three tickets on airfare.com on august 13th for a trip to Korea. Two days later I find that they have charged me twice for each ticket purchased. I never got an update from Airfare.com about this transaction and it led to over drafting my acct. I called them the very same day and was told by the CSR that the charges have been voided and the money will be back in my acct no more than 2 days. Its been almost one week now and not seeing the credit back to my acct I decided to call my bank again and see what had taken place.

The bank informed me that the second charges were placed with the same authorization number as the first tickets that this is a big no no for any corp/company to do. So I called the same rep I spoke with the week earlier. His gave me another excuse why the money hasn't been credited (the first time he told me the bank is holding the money before it post, but my bank told me that they release it as soon as they receive it). Be very careful. I would never do business with Airfare.com again. Seems like a huge scam! I should have listened to others' complaints. Not worth your troubles. (BTW I have already spent almost 2 hours on the phone with no resolution)

Samuel,

Let me explain the situation a little bit further. When a booking is made, everything is automatically done through the system. There are cases when trying to re confirm the reservations where bookings are charged twice but we will go about making sure that the funds have returned. I have checked with your bank and the agent you spoke with that the charges have been reversed and everything is now fine. If you have any questions please contact me directly at adrian@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Sept. 8, 2011

Five days before departure, I checked on line in their website and saw that flight from San Fran to Shanghai was showing me "wait listed". Called and asked what that meant, and was told that they were unable to confirm a seat for me and that they would cancel my ticket and refund my money. If I wanted to rebook I could go back to their website.

Now I am 4 days from departure with no flight. I had to buy a ticket not with airfare.com and paid an additional $300. It has been 2 days and my credit card has not yet been credited. No one should ever book from them. They took my $694 for 6 weeks and never called to tell me they were unable to get me on a flight. Now I don't know how to get my money back. Forced to show 1 star for my overall experience but it should be minus 5 stars.

Cameron Hayes,

Let me start by apologizing about what happened with your experience with our company. I have researched the situation and want to get this resolved for you.

When your booking was mad on our site it should across as Unable to Confirm. An email was sent out to you the moment this was discovered. Here is an excerpt from our rules and restrictions:

"There are times when we are unable to confirm a reservation. In the rare event that this occurs, we will attempt to reach you by phone and email so that we can re-accommodate you. You must call us back within 48 hours or we may not be able to honor your original booking price."

With that being said the money on your account should have been immediately returned. Because the system is automated by the airline regulations. It is possible the money did not release. I do see that our agents have contacted your bank on numerous occasions in an attempt to release the money back to your account. As our agent told you over the phone when the funds are to be release it will take a maximum of 4 to 5 days. As you said it has only been 2. We thank you in advance for your patients in this matter and we apologize about the experience. The money will return to your account. If you would like me to explain the situation further by all means feel free to contact me and I will be happy to assist.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Aug. 16, 2011

I made reservations with Airfare.com, roundtrip to Russia. When the confirmation came via email, I noted my last name was spelled wrong. I contacted AF.com and told them about the problem. They said the primary air carrier (Aeroflot) put restrictions on changes. I called Aeroflot, they said only AF.com could make the change. I called AF.com who informed me that I would have to pay a $300 change fee PLUS an additional $1400 ticket charge just to have my name spelled correctly. I am not sure my next move.

Hello Timothy,

When it comes to miss-spellings and thing of this nature you can tell from our website that the Airlines have a very strict policy. Here is an excerpt from our rules and regulations:

Reservations Names and Ticket Request:

Once the ticket has been issued the name on the ticket cannot be changed.

All reservations must be made in the EXACT name of the person(s) traveling - no nicknames. For international travel the name on the reservation must be EXACTLY as it appears on the traveler's passport. Once reservations have been made and you have provided payment information, your reservation CANNOT be changed.

However, Airfare.com does recognize that mistakes can be made. We will do what we can to see if we can correct such mistakes if and when they occur. These changes must be minor changes such as; miss-spellings, maiden name and married name for passports, etc. Not complete traveler changes. We will get in contact with the airlines to see if they will allow such changes under the circumstance, but it is up to the airline to allow a name change. Please keep in mind that changing the name on a reservation is considered and treated as a regular change and normal change fees will apply.

As you can see this is a standard policy. However, after looking up your reservation in our system I do see that our agents were able to refund you this highly restrictive, non-refundable reservation for free and our accounting department called the bank to release the funds.

I hope that this course of action was the desired one, and obviously the best for the circumstances.

Adrian

Special Operations Manager

Airfare.com on Aug. 12, 2011

I just wanted to write a brief follow-up to my previous statement. After I posted on ConsumerAffairs.com about my negative experience with Airfare.com, a representative contacted me and helped me resolve my issue. He was apologetic and polite. I am pleased that I will now be able to reschedule my flight with only a small fee. I appreciate Airfare.com's response to my complaint.

Airfare.com is happy that we were able to take care of your situation. Thank you for the follow up!

Airfare.com on Aug. 12, 2011

If you book a less-than-minimum connection on Airfare.com (or websites like Travelocity and even directly with the airline's website) and you do not make your connection on time, the airline doesn't owe you a 'fix' and is under no obligation to do anything about it. It is considered an illegal flight or 'hot connection'. The problem is that it is possible to book these itineraries. I do not agree that they should be readily offered but Airfare.com and other sites display them. I believe this is due to the fact that many sites use systems like Amadeus for their flight combinations.

As the customer, you personally need to ensure that you have booked a sufficient time between flights and transfers or connections. To make matters worse, this information is not listed. It is therefore quite possible to book impossible-to-complete flights.

This is what I did I picked a flight combination because it was displayed on Airfare.com and I assumed it was valid. SAA closes the gate at JFK 50 minutes before takeoff. Making it to the gate from LGA in 2 hours is not practically possible at 9:00 AM. At 6:00 AM, it is possible under perfect circumstances. All of this was news to me and I panicked when the airline told me on confirmation that my family would never make their connection and the booking agent must fix the problem. That's where the wheels fell off.

Airfare.com eventually just made a reservation for an earlier flight at 6:00 AM after trying all other avenues to fix this problem. However, the ticket was not changed. A kind man at the ticket counter helped us and changed the tickets to include the earlier flight. The airline is under no obligation to do so and by rights should have assessed heavy charges. After days of telephone calls to every possible party, this was a huge relief.

My advice is to double check anything you plan on purchasing, including connections. Changes cost $350 per ticket (for international flights) plus the difference in the ticket price, which can be as much as the ticket in the first place if you don't catch it early, and are very tricky to achieve through Airfare.com. Further is that tickets are not refundable. Unless the savings are considerable and you know exactly what you are doing and will make the flight no matter what, you may want to consider other booking options.

Hi Mike,

I am very glad to hear that the airline agent was able to help you at the counter. Airfare.com did everything we could to help you but several different agents clearly stated that you would have to pay for the changes. This is an a situation that was due to a very tight connection time that as stated before we have no control over. As you stated we get our flights from the airline system Amadeus and when they put it in there this is what we have to go by. I do apologize about the turn out of the situation. If there was more airfare.com could do we would have done it.

If you have any more questions please let me know

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on Aug. 5, 2011

I scheduled a flight from Boston to Victoria, BC through Airfare.com on June 20, 2011. I was scheduled to depart Boston on a WestJet flight on August 6th. However, I was recently diagnosed with an illness and was told by my doctor that I would not be safe to fly by August 6th, and that I should cancel my ticket.

I called the main contact number on the Airfare.com website and asked what the policy was for medically related cancellations. The representative told me that there was no such policy, but said that he could contact WestJet and determine what their policy was after I sent him a note from the hospital explaining my situation...but only for a $150 processing fee. I asked him, in disbelief, if it was possible that I would pay the $150 fee and still have my medical claim rejected. He said that, yes, it was a possibility.

I decided to call WestJet directly and get more information. The representatives at WestJet were much more helpful and accomodating than those at Airfare.com. They told me that I could cancel my ticket for a $50 cancellation fee and I would receive a credit in the amount I originally paid for my ticket ($900) that would be good for one year from the time of my cancellation. The WestJet representative told me that all I had to do was call Airfare.com when I was ready to reschedule my trip and they would take $50 out of my $900 credit, and then they would help me reschedule my flight. This conversation with WestJet put me at ease, and I decided to cancel my flight through them directly and receive the 1 year full credit.

Unfortunately I received a call today from an Airfare.com agent saying that if I wanted to reschedule my trip, I needed to pay $350 (the change fee for international flights) plus any change in airfare. I told the representative that I had canceled my ticket directly through WestJet, and I explained that I had been told I would only be charged $50 to reschedule my flight. The representative insisted that I needed to pay the $350 dollars plus any difference in airfare if I wanted to reschedule my flight.

I was extremely frustrated by this conversation and even called WestJet back to clarify. The WestJet representative was surprised at the change fee was so high. She said that it was much higher than most other travel agencies. She said that I should call Airfare.com and reiterate that WestJet would only charge $50 to reschedule my flight, but that she could not control Airfare.com's policies.

I am outraged that Airfare.com first tried to charge me $150 for just processing my medical claim (even though I could call WestJet and determine their medical cancellation policy on my own) and now the company is refusing to abide by WestJet's cancellation standards and want to charge me $350 dollars to change my flight instead of $50. I am very distressed because I have a legitimate medical condition that prohibits me from flying, and I do not feel Airfare.com's response to my claim has been appropriate. I am unsatisfied with the way I have been treated, especially since the airline I was scheduled to travel on was so understanding and so willing to help me.

Hello Molly Radis,

First I would like to apologize about the experiences and the distress that we have caused you in this situation. Airfare.com will do what we can in order to get this situation properly handled for you.

Let me explain that some airlines still charge penalty fees no matter what the reason is;however, as you said this airlines policy is not so. The problem is that this ticket is a bulk ticket and has higher rules and restrictions other than what the normal agent can go over when doing the booking. Never the less I want to make this right for you so that we are all on the same page. I am going to go over all the details with our agents to make sure that this does not happen again. and I will give you a call on Monday to go over some of the information that we have discovered because I want to make sure that this was handled properly and apologize to you personally for how this was handled.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at feedback@airfare.com

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on July 29, 2011

AIRFARE.COM is a scam! USA CONSUMERS - Stay away! No need to try to save $100 or less and potentially risk loosing thousands and then lose many hours recovering your stolen identity or fight unauthorized charges.

In July of 2011, I got double-charged on 4 international tickets to Germany. I was given the same run around, described by many of you, with same old tricks - phone hang ups, placing on infinite holds, requests to "call billing department, etc". The bag of tricks were endless.

What helped me was, I called my bank's fraud prevention department and they helped to force the issue all the way through. The bank called AIRFARE.COM directly and demanded explanation. When hearing shady answers, they put in question pending double transactions. They called the airline company directly and made sure that the tickets were issued, as agreed for. With the bank's help, I am hoping double charge will get worked out in the next few days.

MY ADVICE! Do not waste your time and energy with AIRFARE.COM itself. Call your bank and ask them to place Airfare.com and their directors on fraud watch list. Call visa and master card, explain your problem, point out on several complaints on the Internet, and some duped USA consumers. Call the Airline Company directly and verify that your tickets are issued, and most importantly paid for (important! - paid for, not just reserved!). Tell Airline company your story, point them out to the internet, ask them to search for "Airfare.com and scam" and request to ban Airfare.com and most importantly their directors from doing business with Airline Carriers.

The only way to put them out of this scam business is to revoke their access to airline tickets and revoke their access to process master and visa cards. Nothing else will work. Do not waste your time with BBB, and other consumer protection agencies. They simply do not work. Look at years of consumer complaints about the same scams pulled over and over. Call the police, call FBI, call business licensing agencies of Bethesda, MD and demand for company's investigation. Call also the congressman and senator of Bethesda, MD and demand government representatives to take an action. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

Dear Sir/Madam,

I assure you that there are no bags of tricks involved, endless or not. We simply do not employ such tactics when dealing with out customers. This is due to the fact that we have concrete answers to all of your problems. Whether these answers fall onto deaf ears or not, I guarantee that if you were double charged you will definitely receive your money. Please note that while there may be, and I'm being liberal here with my estimate, around 100 complaints on the internet about our company, this 100 is through 30 years of doing business. Couple that concept with the fact that we get hundreds of thousands of bookings per year, and you're left with an excellent, albeit imperfect track record.

I do not bring this point up to distract you with impressive figures but simply to place the situation into perspective. We have no interest in charging you twice. Even if we did, we would have nothing to gain from it. All of the money goes to the airline, and we have no reason to charge you double so that they may benefit from what most certainly is criminal behavior (if it was done purpose). Did you know that travel agencies such as ourselves only see around $10.00 per booking? It's true. Charging double so the airlines gain thousands while we obtain negligible gains in return simply does not make sense.

Double charges are like a scourge to the travel industry. But it's neither the airlines' nor any travel agency's fault. It is simply due to a problematic booking system that occasionally issues extra tickets. Though these tickets are always voided immediately, sometimes the charge can slip through the cracks and come out on a bank statement. Obviously as a business we hate that sort of thing, but there is not much we can do about it. In order to prove my point, I encourage you to search the internet using the following key terms: double, charge, and the name of any Online Travel Agency (OTA). Even the so-called reputable merchants are at the mercy of a flawed system.

In short, you will receive your money. Despite your preconceived notion that we are bandits seeking to make a profit off of double charges, this is not the case. We would like for it to stop just as desperately as you do. So do all of the other companies.

If you have not received your money in the next 3 weeks please feel free to call us and we will provide you with the updates you desire. Otherwise, I must ask that you wait patiently; the refund will be there. If we could, we would give you the money right away, but unfortunately things do not work that way.

Thank you,

Chris

Airfare.com on Aug. 12, 2011

I'm William of Beavercreek, OH and would like to post a follow up.

I kept the pressure up and on Airfare.com and they finally came up with the full refund on 12 Jul 11 after working this problem for months. Use websites likes this to make you voice heard and keep calling them so they no your not going away.

WIlliam,

I am over joyed to see that your refund has been processed. I am glad that we were able to work things out. I did not believe that you were "going away" because I would not allow it as I wanted to get you your money back. Airfare.com believes that if we truly make a mistake that we correct or mistakes and in a situation like yours if we can help our customers then we will do what we can. On sites like this you only see the complaints but when an issue is corrected ( like yours ) it is never made known. Sometimes it does not even get this far. Because the mistake was made, then we correct it.

Again I am glad things worked out for you if there is anything else you may need please let me know.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on July 18, 2011

I purchased my wife an airline ticket to Thailand from Chicago on February 2011. Her return flight was booked for April 17, 2011. The return flight had to go through Japan. Japan had the devastating earthquake and tsunami, which caused the nuclear radiation throughout Japan. The State Department issued travel alert to avoid traveling to Japan. I called Airfare.com and told the representative we wanted to cancel the ticket. The representative told me that it was safe to travel through Japan.

I mentioned that it was all over the news not to travel to Japan. He assured me that it was safe and Nippon Airline (ANA) also said it was safe. I didn't accept the answer and told him I wanted to cancel. He emailed me some forms to fill out and I faxed it back to Airfare.com. I also told him I called Nippon Airline and spoke to a representative and they said it was okay to get a refund for the unused portion of the ticket, and there will be no fees from Airfare.com because of the situation in Japan. I also printed that statement from Nippon Airline website. The Airfare.com representative told me it will take six to eight weeks.

I called on the sixth week and they said they are still working on it and to call again in two weeks. I called on the eighth week and they said they are waiting for the refund from Nippon Airline. That is not the case. I called Nippon Airline and gave the representative the e-ticket number and the representative came back and said no one from Airfare.com submitted any claim for a refund. Today is June 21st and I still have not received my refund. It will be going on the tenth week.

I advice anyone who is having the same problem to report this to the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and try to call your credit card. The bad part about this is the representative can't give you a straight honest answer. All I want is an honest answer. I also can't understand any of the representatives I spoke to and they don't understand me also. This is what happens if you outsource your work, bad customer service. I just hope someone from Airfare.com would contact me and let me know what is going on. Everyone, good luck with Airfare.com refund.

Hello Davidson Moy,

First, let me apologize about the situation at hand. When the situation in japan happened, you can imagine the magnitude of request that were sent to cancel and receive a refund.
Let me assure you that we are still currently working on your refund. I checked with our ticketing offices today and they are still backed up with other bookings due to the same situation.

Imagine this, we being one travel company receiving 100 request to cancel due to the situation in Japan.(this is not the actual amount received). In order for a refund of this matter to be processed it must go through the airline refunds department. Now since we are just one company sending information to the airline. Imagine how many other request to cancel and receive a refund have been sent out (example: Expedia, 100, Orbitz, 100, Travelocity 100, etc). So including ourselves that would make 400 and they all have to be properly handled by the airline. We did advise you to expect delays in this matter due to the server nature of the situation. I apologize that this is taking this long but I do want you to be aware that we are working in this for you. If I had a magic button to press to issue you a refund back to your card I would do it right now and say all is better; however, I cant there are rules and policies we must follow. We are currently following those procedures and waiting on a response to see if it has been processed or not.

I will track this for you directly and keep you updated myself. If you need to contact me My name is Adrian and you can reach me at feedback@airfare.com

Thank you and have a wonderful day!

Airfare.com on June 23, 2011

I booked a flight ticket using airfare.com to travel from Chicago to Asia for 1350 USD. I paid 550 USD to postpone my ticket for a month. 2 days before travel when I went to print my ticket online, I came to know my flight ticket has been cancelled. When I called airfare for a reason, no one gave a clear answer nor they solved the complaint. They put me on hold for hours and my call got disconnected. I did not had anyother option of booking the flight through another agent and traveling.

When I came back to USA, I was shocked to see another transaction amount of 1350 USD filed on the credit card. They charged me 1900 USD without a ticket and then again they charged me 1350 using the same credit card details. Its so unbelievable that this company is a total scam and will store your credit card details to file even after 6 months. So I advice people who have given the CC details to this company to call your CC company to change your number and all information. I am still struggling to get the money that I lost from them, without success.

All responses in this website are given by a dumb person who will never accept the mistake what they have made. You won't see this many complaint if the company performs in an honest way. It's a total scam. Please spread this news to all your friends and families and social media websites.

Hello David,

First let me say that I am shocked that I have not spoken to you before your situation has gotten this far and you feel the way you do about us and even myself. I can assure you that if you contact me with your booking details I will look into this matter for you. I have been selected by hand to handle this situations and have always satisified my clients to the best of my abilities.

Give me a chance to help you get your money back. Provide me with your booking details (booking ID, ticket numbers, booking email, etc) so I can First, help you any and every way possible and second, give a clear account to the actions that have happened.

There are many people like yourself that are upset at travel agencies and if you search long and hard you will find the same amount of complaints if not more with some of the bigger companies.

Unlike those other companies, we acknowledge our mistakes publicly and publicly are willing to set those things right.

Give me a chance, so I can help you.

Contact me directly feedback@aifare.com
Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on June 17, 2011

I booked a flight for my girlfriend to visit me in japan. I'm in the Marine Corps and stationed there. She was booked to come out here on the 21st of March 2011 and as we all know there was a huge earthquake and tsunami. Also, with the nuclear problems and being that the state department recommended no Americans fly to japan, we canceled the flight. My booking was through Japan Airlines and I was told that they were honoring cancellations and giving refunds because of the natural disasters.

I called Airfare.com and was told to send a formal email listing the reason for the cancellation and my reservation number. After I did this, they said it would take 2-5 weeks for my bank account to be credited with the refund. It's now May 21, almost 10 weeks later, and I have not received my refund. After the initial five weeks, I called and I was told it would take 6-8 weeks. Apparently, the first time they gave me a time line, that sounded like a convenient number for them to just throw out there. After the 6-8 weeks, I called again and was told that any day now, my refund would show. Another two weeks later, I called again and was told it would take another 6-8 weeks. Now I feel like they are just giving me the run around and have no intention of giving me a refund. Do not use Airfare.com!

Hello Mr. Alex Valdes,

First I want to apologize about the experience you are having with our customer service team. I have already taken actions to where you nor anyone else will receive this type of customer service.

Now, about your refund. When you first made your refund request and you were advised 2 to 5 weeks this was the correct time frame "during this time". As the situation in Japan got worse so did the amount of request for refunds. It has gotten to the point to where refunds are taking up to four months. This is an unusual time frame and very unfortunate but there is nothing we can do about this. Let me explain further, as we receive refunds we have to send them to our ticketing offices to be processed. Once our ticketing offices receive them, they are then forwarded to the airline. Now the airlines are the one that have to give the ok to process the refund and they are receiving request from the many different travel agencies as well as their own for this to be done. So you can imagine that they are overwhelmed and overloaded. I am not trying to make an excuse I am trying to state the facts so you will have a clear understanding of what is going on with this situation.

What I have done for you is to resend this to our ticketing offices and the airline to help speed this process up. The only thing we can do in this matter is be patient and wait for them to process the refund as we have done everything we need to do and we are just waiting on a response. Once I get that I will be in contact with you. My name is Adrian and my title and information is below. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be glad to assist.

Customer Service Manager/

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on May 20, 2011

The background: My wife was scheduled to fly on 19 April with United from Dayton to Chicago and then with Korean Airlines from Chicago to Inchon, Korea and then onto Manila, Philippines. United Airlines canceled her flight due to thunderstorms in the Dayton area. The United representative at the airport told her to go home and reschedule her flights through Airfare.com, which is who we bought her tickets from.

Below is a time line to show you the time and energy I have put into solving this myself: 8GNQAT Timeline: Keep in mind, my wife's cancelled flight was on Tuesday, 19 April at 10:45AM. On 19 April (Tuesday): Person 1, I didn't catch the name, (1:30PM EST) told me to email CS@airfare.com with problem, sent email as requested. Person 2, didn't catch name, (4:10PM EST) told me I would be contacted by email. Person 3, didn't catch name, (6:30PM EST) I was told to wait on email response. Person 4, Phillip, (8:30PM EST) told to wait on email response. Person 5, Brad 316, (9:30PM EST) didn't know how long it usually took them to respond to emails. Person 6, Ryan, (10:30 PM EST) said Rex would contact me next day between 9-5 EST. NOTE: found out later that the Changing Department only works Monday to Friday from 9-6 EST. 20 April (Wednesday): Person 7, didn't catch name, (4:30PM EST), placed on hold for 1 hour 17 minutes until line went dead (Line hung up on me). Person 8, Brian, (5:50PM EST) could not answer why Rex did not call me as promised. I asked for a supervisor. Person 9, supervisor Kenny 218, (6:00PM EST) promised to email Rex and me about rescheduling my wife's flight. No email ever received from Kenny. 21 April (Thursday): Person 10, Rex 215, (12:10PM EST) finally contacted me and tried to reschedule my wife's canceled flight. Rex was not able to see anything available and he suggested I book my wife with another company to get her out. Rex said he would work with the airlines for a refund. Since I told Rex about a Continental flight, I booked through them. Rex said he would contact me on Tuesday 26 April with more information. 24 April (Easter Sunday): My wife flew out with no problems with tickets we purchased on Thursday from Continental.com.

After going another day with no contact from anyone from Airfare.com, I sent an email (7:57PM EST) to feedback@airfare.com , CS @airfare.com and rex. @airfare.com to inform them that I am tired of waiting on a reply. In a strong tone while trying not to sound threatening, I wrote in part "Someone from your organization needs to call or email me with an answer to my dilemma by Friday (29 April). At that time, this matter will be elevated to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau for resolution". I should have included your website as well. 29 April:

Adrian, (email 12:12PM EST) a Customer Service Manager/Special Operations Team Manager from Feedback@airfare.com contacts me by email saying that Nick or Rex will contact me with a solution to my problem. NOTE: This is the first contact by Airfare.com to me by email since this started. Nick (3:10 PM EST) called me and said they were still trying to reschedule my wife's flight! I informed Nick about my conversation with Rex and trying to reschedule my wife's flight 10 days after it was canceled was ridiculous. Since I was at work and the conversation was going nowhere, I told him to email me.

CS@airfare.com (email 3:56PM EST) informed that they could give me credit towards another international flight but that it would be a $350 change fee and would have to be used by January 2012. (email 5:16PM EST) I sent an email back to feedback@airfare.com , CS @airfare.com and rex. @airfare.com asking: "Why is it a $350 (international) fee instead of $200 (domestic)? Also, why am I being charged a fee at all? The (domestic) AIRLINE canceled the flight due to weather, my wife was there on time". I went on to explain that my wife had already booked through someone else and that the credit was worthless to us and to contact me. 4 May (11:20AM EST): Rex calls to say he is still fighting with the airlines for my refund and asks for a copy of my wife's itinerary with Continental. I send it to rex@airfare.com and CS@airfare.com a half hour later. 13 May (11:02 PM EST): My wife returns from her trip that we booked through Continental. We are still waiting on a refund from Airfare.com. 15 May : Filed this information on ConsumerAffairs.com after giving company nearly a month to solve my issue.

Dear Mr. William Crenshaw,

My name is Adrian that sent you the email back on the 27th of April. Thank you for the detailed listing of your contact with us. However a few pieces of information are missing. So let me try to explain it here so you can see where we are with your refund and make this detailed account a bit more clear.

At the start of your trip United Airlines cancelled there reservation due to weather. This is correct as you stated above, however your wife should not have just gone home to try to re-schedule the booking without more information. When you have more than one airline on a reservation only one airline can own the ticket and that is Koren Airlines and their flights left on time. So they considered your booking as a No Show booking. This is why we are taking a bit of time with the airlines because we have to fight with them.

As you stated on the 4th of May you spoke with Rex, Rex also advised you to please send us a copy of the receipt or tickets you had to purchase in order to make the trip. This we need as proof to the airline so we can continue to fight on your behalf. We are not against you in this matter nor have we tried to do you wrong. In fact we have only made 5 dollars off of this booking which was not paid by you, it was paid by the airline. So why would we try not to assist you in getting your money back from them. We need the documents to fight for you and if you are still willing to work with us we will be glad to assist. I will make sure that a better communication is kept but you have to understand that this is not something that just happens over night. It does take time and accuracy. So you have to be patient and let us work. If you have any questions please feel free to email me again at Feedback@airfare.com so we can speak again.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on May 19, 2011

Avoid Airfare.com like a plague. I wish I had researched this company before submitting myself to their consumer torture. It seems that they teach their customer service guys to lie. I had to change the date of my flight in December 2010 for health reasons. They charged me an arm and leg for the change plus the difference in airfare.

These guys quote a price about $800 over what the airline was requesting for the flight. The flight costs $1,400 including taxes to Africa, and these guys were quoting $2,200. The most brazen aspect about all this is the fact that their own website quoted $1,400. Can you believe it? I reported the matter to BBB, but as was expected, the issue was not resolved. They could not care less, so take your money elsewhere. They are no good.

Hello Marda,

After a little bit of research I have found your reservation in our system and gone over all calls and notes in regards to your booking. First, I would like to apologize about the way you feel as if you were treated. In no way does Airfare.com teach or train our agents to lie and or mis-treat customers in anyway.

Now in regards to your change request, to help better explain the situation the total cost to make the change on the reservation was indeed 800.00. This included the airline difference in fare of 450.00 and the airline penalty of 350.00. As stated on our website in the rules and restrictions, any change on a booking would cost 350.00 dollars. You had to agree to these rules and restrictions before making the booking. As you know flight prices change constantly and all reservations are ticketed different and have to be re-ticketed the same way. So even though you were seeing a cheaper fare online it had to have been with the same airline and the same routing. The fare you could have been seeing at that time could have been for a different airline but since the flight has already been changed and past we can not recall it to tell.

I hope this better explains the situation, as Airfare.com does not lie or want to wrong customers in anyway. If a better explanation is needed then all a customer need to do is ask for one and our agents will help you with that. We do not condone poor customer service in anyway. I do apologize you feel as we have wronged you and treated you in such a manner. I hope this clears things up for you.

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on May 10, 2011

I have a very unpleasant experience with Airfare.com lately. I suggest people not to do business with them because Airfare.com would bring you nothing but headache. 1. Outrageous cancellation fee. My boyfriend and I booked tickets flying with Air Canada in March 2011 through Airfare.com. Due to our work schedule changes, we have to cancel the tickets from SFO to Shanghai in May 31, but they charged us $400 fee per passenger! 2. Airfare.com requires cancellation fee ($800 total) deposited before they process our cancellation request, and we cannot receive our ticket refunds until 6-8 weeks later. In this case, we are going to scarify our cash flow of ($1400+$800) for 6-8 weeks. Does it sound ridiculous to you? 3. Terrible customer services. The first time I called them, they put me on hold for 15 minutes. The second time I called them, they put me on hold for 20 minutes.

I have read through many complaints here and found out that many people had the same experience as mine. Airfare.com keeps saying that all the discounted tickets are non-refundable per the rules of the airline. However, it is just not the case. I talked to Air Canada and found out that the tickets are refundable. Airfare.com is doing nothing but taking advantage of our poor customers. Again, I will never ever buy tickets through them!

Hello Sherry,

First, I would like to apologize about the experience you had with us. Dealing with refunds and cancellations can seem a bit stressful but we want to get to the bottom of this to make sure that you as our previous customer are still satisfied.

With that being said I tried looking for your information in our system to see what happened on our end and I cant seem to find any booking for you. Can you please provide me with this information at feedback@airfare.com so we can shed some light on the situation for you? This would be greatly appreciated as we want to help you resolve this matter and right any wrongs done.

I have an idea of what is going on with this situation as far as cancellation fees, the process, and customer service. However, I do not want to speak without proper information so if you could please provide me with any information that will allow me to find your booking in our system is again greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Adrian,
Special Operations Team Manager

feedback@airfare.com

Airfare.com on May 2, 2011

I purchased a ticket of Continental Airlines from this company (listed as airfare.com) through bing.com on April 4th 2011. The airline ticket was from El Paso to New Delhi, India via Houston, TX and Newark, NJ and back. My complaint is as follows:

After I bought the ticket, I had to change the starting point of the flight in 3 days. The company said that they cannot because Continental Airlines does not allow. After much imploring, I convinced them to cancel my ticket but with a $550 cancellation fee. Given no options, I agreed to the clause and authorized the cancellation on April 7th. Generally, Continental cancels your tickets at a rate of $350, but this company charged me $200 extra purportedly because the tickets were non-cancellable. This outrageous act shows that the company is taking advantage of a hapless customer.

Even after a week of paying the cancellation fees, which was promptly charged to my credit card, my ticket has still not been cancelled. I figured they would return the ticket amount less the cancellation fees, but instead, I saw the $550 charge on my card. In a telephone conversation with a representative (April 10th), I was told that the refund will be done in a few days. I called up the company just now (April 14th) and was told that the cancellation and refund could take anywhere between two weeks to a month and Continental Airlines is responsible for the delay. However, in my past experiences with cancellation, Continental removes the charges in three days. This is extremely poor service and reeks of shady and bad business. No airline cancellation takes a month! This is preposterous.

The customer service of the company is atrocious. I have had instances when they have hung-up on me. The representative spoke to me in a rude/condescending tone; and of course, here, where after having taken an additional $550 from me, the ticket is still not cancelled.

I hope you can help me in this case and use your offices to insure that other unwitting customers are not cheated and mistreated by this company.

Jay

Hello Jay,

I want to deeply apologize about the horrible experience you had with us. In no way you as a customer should be talked to in a condescending or rude tone. Please let me clear up a few things that will show to you that we are in no way "shady" and do "bad business".

As stated on our website we are "Airline Wholesale Ticket Consolidators". What this means is that we purchase the product in bulk from different ticketing sources. As stated on our website in the rules and restrictions, "Once purchased tickets are fully NON-Refundable". When purchasing highly discounted tickets higher rules and restrictions apply. For example, if you purchase a computer or some other product at a highly discounted rate than the actual manufacturer offers and something goes wrong with the product, even though the manufacturer has a nice return and get your money back policy the place you purchased it from doesnt. Therefore, even though Continental would have done the refund for you for their price, that is only if you purchased with them.

We are not trying to cheat you or mis-lead you in any way, this is why we advise of who we are on our website give all of our customers several chance to read the rules on our website that these tickets are highly restrictive and you have to agree to these same rules (whether you read them or not) before you can complete the purchase.

When refunding tickets, it is hard for any agency to refund a non-refundable ticket. We have to check with our ticketing offices and dig deep into the contracts, terms, and rules we have established to offer such cheap fares. In some cases some customers arent able to get a refund because of these "bulk" tickets but you were at a higher rate.

Now when it comes to getting a refund because it has to go through the airline ticketing system it does take some time. This is why our agents advice such long dates. Once you agree to the refund, we get the refund processed. After careful review of your booking. You were refunded and charged on the same day. But as I said before dealing with the airlines directly is totally different than dealing with any "Third Party booking agency."

I really do apologize about this situation and hope this sheds some light on the matter because we are not trying to cheat, and/or mistreat anyone. We are simply providing a service and as everyone knows rules and restrictions do apply. They are on our website for everyone to see. Again I hope this clears things up. If you have not received your refund within the next 2 weeks please contact me directly my contact information is below and I will look into this for you. Thank you

Adrian,

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on May 2, 2011

Buyer, beware. Airfare.com charges you $500 to cancel the ticket that you just purchased within 24 hours. They charge you $350 to make international flight change and $200 for domestic flight. They charge you hidden fees, and after you've been charged these fees, you can only use the good money you just dropped into their pockets as a toilet paper. This site has very lousy customer service too.

Hello Angry Cat,

When you book on our website, we do have higher rules and restrictions because we have highly restrictive tickets. Here is the full copy and paste of our rules and restrictions and the link to access them. These are not hidden fees as you stated. You have to agree to these rules and restrictions before you book your reservation and you are given several chances to review the full rules and restrictions before you book your reservation.

I apologize that you feel as if you were wronged but everything was clearly put in front of you and you agreed to them.

Once purchased, these tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE / NON-RE-ROUTABLE. Under absolutely no circumstances will the airline refund these highly discounted airline tickets.
The ticket(s) you are purchasing are completely NON-CHANGEABLE after the first travel date has passed. Ticket Upgrades /or frequent traveling mileages are purely at the discretion of the airline. Please check directly with the airline

In order to change the ticket(s) that you have purchased, you must:

- REQUEST CHANGE:

Request a change before the first travel date.

- CHANGE FEE:

Pay a fee of $200 (for Domestic Flights) and $350 (for International Flights)

- DIFFERENCE IN FARE:

Additionally, 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.

http://airfare.com/airfare5/content/regulations.aspx

As you see once you purchase the tickets they are fully non-refundable, and if we are able to process a refund it will cost extra fees.

I hope this clears up the information that you stated above. Have a wonderful day!

Adrian,
Special Operations Team Manager

feedback@airfare.com

Airfare.com on May 2, 2011

My wife and I had purchased tickets to Europe leaving December 14, 2010. My Father was killed in an accident on December 9, 2010. We contacted Airfare.com on December 10, 2010, to see if we could change the tickets to attend services. We were instructed to purchase new tickets and the original tickets would be refunded when I provided a copy of the death certificate. We purchased new tickets and flew on December 22, 2010.

When I received a copy of my father's death certificate, I emailed it to cs@airfare.com as had been requested. I was then asked to sign the change of itinerary form. I did reply that I refused to fill this form and return it for lack of security. No reputable company will ever request a copy of your State issued ID and Credit Card information in paper form. They will offer a secure webpage requesting this information. Since then, I have been promised multiple times of the refund and that airfare.com has attempted to contact the airline carrier without success.

I have been in contact with the airline carrier as well, who is sincerely sympathetic to my dilemma. They are ready to refund the full amount. All airfare.com needs to do is contact them and send a copy of my father's death certificate. For some unknown reason, airfare.com just can't do that. Instead, I continue to get the run-around that airfare.com seems popular for, after reading the rest of the complaints. The latest being that the accounting department would be contacting me in two days, this was last week. One more thing I will add is that I had been given an extension for a supervisor, **. I have been trying that extension for a month but no one ever answers, no voice mail either. I believe that it is another bogus attempt to get rid of me. It is my hope that filing a complaint may yield better results.

Hello,

First and foremost I would like to extend my deepest apologies for your loss and how our company has treated your situation. Please give us the time we need to make sure we take care of all of your needs. This does require a little more patience but I promise that we will make sure this situation has been handled properly.

We have researched the situation with our refund and accounting departments along with our customer service managers to assure that nothing was missed. Based on our investigation we have been able to determine that we had sent off your request along with the relevant documents to the airline immediately after receiving it from you. We did this because all refund situations in case of death must be handled by the airline. We have been trying to obtain a special waiver for this kind of refund. The airline received all of the documents we forwarded to them but unfortunately the airline has not been responsive as to the status of our refund request. We think that because the name on the death certificate does not match any of the passengers' there may be a few problems. We also believe that due to the increase in volume of refund requests as a result of civil unrest in Egypt/Middle East and the earthquake in Japan, they may take longer than usual to respond.

We are deeply sorry about the break in communication and lack of follow-through on our part, as up until your last email we honestly thought the refund was done and you had already gotten your money from the airline. Please be advised that we resubmitted all of your documents again to the airline and we have been following it up and plan on doing so until we get a response from them explaining why your money has not been refunded to this day. Because we deal with deeply discounted fares we have to go through specific agency channels to get refund requests completed. This is especially true for death certificate cases, as it must be done by the airline and they have full control over your money to either refund or keep. We are both at the mercy of the airline, and we must both wait to see what happens.

Since these developments, our customer service admin system has been updated with all of your current information and recent updates. This will enable all of our customer service representatives to be aware of what is going on with yout situation. What this means is the next time you give us a call for an update, any agent who picks up your call will be able to tell you exactly what is going on. I have also resent all of the information to our ticketing offices and the airline refund department for further review. Your case has also been marked as high priority in order to get everything expedited for you.

I do apologize that this will take a little bit longer, and I thank you for your continued patience. I have sent this response to your email address which was located in our booking archive ---please feel free to save my e-mail address so that you may be in direct contact with me. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me directly. Again I am humbly sorry and sincerely wish to take care of this situation for you.

Thank you,

Chris

Airfare.com

Airfare.com on April 13, 2011

I booked airline ticket for my son and his friend from Dallas to London with airfare.com. When they are at the airport to get boarding pass for Continental airline, the ticket of my son's friend was cancelled by airfare.com. I am taking this to court to get my money. I hope I can refund my money.

Hello Mike,

Hello, my name is Adrian and I am a Special Operations Team Supervisor. We apologize for the experience you had with us. We have researched your booking and situation to try to find you the best solution. If I find that Aifare.com has done any of the wrong you stated in your complaint we will immediately get this corrected for you as we believe and committed in providing world class customer service.

We have found your booking "4R5OMQ" (for your reference). We have noticed that you contacted us the 18th of December, to transfer the ticket from one passenger to another. Please be advised, airline tickets are non-transferable. This was clearly stated in the rules and restrictions that you agreed to when booking the reservation. Since then you were trying to change the reservation and our customer service team were trying to help you and notified you that it would cost 350.00 penalty and any difference in fare. On the 19th of December we received an email from you requesting to cancel and change the name of the passenger due to "visa issues". At your request because the travel was leaving on the 20th of December we cancelled the booking and then again advised you that we were not able to change the name only the date. We have been waiting on your response as to when you wanted to travel as the tickets are still open for use.

Per your written email request the reservation was canceled. That booking is still open and ready for use but it is only good for the traveler and penalties and fees would have to be paid as you agreed to when booking your reservation.

Please contact us as soon as possible so we can get this resolved for you. If I do not hear back from you in the next couple of days I will be in contact with you to try to get this resolved.

Thank you

Adrian

Special Operations Team Manager

Airfare.com on April 12, 2011

I purchased a ticket to fly from Newark to Panama City through Airfare.com on 10/21/10. It was on a code-shared flight on Copa Airlines/Continental to depart from Newark on 12/25/10 and return on 1/2/11. When I got to the airport, they told me I didn't have a seat on the plane and put me on standby. Luckily, I was able to get a seat. But they told me that I would have an issue on my return flight that I had to wait 24 hours to deal with it. When I got to Panama, I was informed that my return flight had been canceled. I called Airfare.com. They told me that everything was fine and that I wouldn't have any problems. When I called Continental to confirm my ticket, they told me that my ticket had been 'reserved' but never 'purchased'. They told me that if I showed up at the airport, I would have to purchase a new ticket to get on the flight.

I spent hours on the phone with numerous Airfare.com agents trying to explain this situation to them. I had to call back 3 or 4 times to speak to different agents. They continued to tell me that everything was fine, until finally one agent recognized that there was a problem. But I couldn't stay on the phone any longer because I had to leave for the airport. Somehow at the airport, Continental worked out a seat for me. It wasn't until after I landed in Newark that I received some sort of email from Airfare.com about a confirmation number. I am now being charged hundreds of dollars ($300) for the phone calls that I had to make from Panama to work out this issue. I feel I should be refunded this money from Airfare.com. I have called them numerous times asking to speak to a supervisor. I can't get through to anyone who can help me. These guys are complete idiots and are running a total scam. They give false names and play dumb when confronted with an issue. They also kept telling me the line was cutting out and that they couldn't hear me once I started asking for a refund or to talk to a supervisor.

Ms. Stefanie Z*****,

We have maintained throughout the course of our investigation into your case that there was nothing we at Airfare.com could have done to prevent your situation from occurring. At times there are certain miscommunications between the airlines and third party travel agencies. We do acknowledge, however, that the situation could have been handled better by our customer service staff and as I have mentioned in our other correpsondences, these issues are currently being addressed and we have diverted much of our resources to ensuring a more optimal outcome to situations such as yours. But as it stands, it is neither within our interest nor our power to cancel your booking whenever we want to. It simply makes no sense for us to cancel your booking for no reason. We issued valid tickets from the beginning; I do not know why you were initially denied passage, but if we had not issued valid tickets the airline would not have had the ability to work out a seat for you as you mention in your complaint. The tickets were not conjured out of thin air by the airline.

As such, though we do not accept blame for the root cause of your problems, we do acknowledge that our customer service department certainly could have handled the situation better. As a sign of our remorse in this regard as well as our gratitude for your patience and understanding we issued a refund weeks ago for your phone bill to your submitted mailing address. If you do not receive said payment please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

Chris

Airfare.com

Airfare.com on April 15, 2011

I purchased a flight for 12/22/2010, but when I showed up at the airport, we discovered that the reservation was for 01/22/2011. I couldn't see how I could have made such an idiotic mistake. Assuming reluctantly, that it was my fault, I resolved to pay the change fee of $350 and called Airfare.com to change the flight to 12/31/2010, which was the same cost as my original flight. After multiple phone calls, long holds, being misinformed, lied to, and disrespected the change never went through. The price of the available flight tripled. So I decided to shoot for 01/22/2011. They botched that one too. Now, after reading the posts on consumeraffairs.com, I realized that I am not alone and that it was probably never my fault.

2. Buy a different flight from a reputable dealer and try to get my money back.

Since I want nothing more to do with these shady **, I'm going with option #2.

Hello Mr. Wolf

I have researched this situation and I have found something that will benefit you in the future. Let me clear up a few things.

On Sept 30, 2010 at 1:56pm you purchased a reservation to go one way on Continental Airlines to go from Buffalo to Genveva via Newark. This is under the PNR YL5BWF, we do show in our system that you were the one that booked the reservation as log all ip address that were used for verification purposes.

I am not sure why the airline was not able to pull up your booking by your name as a valid ticket was issued. Please call one of our agents and reference the reference number above so our agents can give you the ticket number.

Also, on December 14th , at 3:18pm under the same IP address we see you booked another reservation online going to and from the same destination for the January 22nd 2011, I see where you needed to make a change on your reservation but you were unsure of how to make that change or the cost. the booking number is 44U842.

We have both of your tickets intact and still open for use for you. Please call us referencing these numbers so we can go over details on how you will be able to use the credits we have.

I see that your booking was clearly a miss-understanding and we have always been willing to help you this matter. Please be aware that airfare.com does not have your money as all the profit for the ticket went directly to the airline as we only made 5 dollars of this booking. That was not paid by you but by the airline.

We can fix your situation please get in contact with us so we can go over details.

Adrian
Special Operations Team Manager.

feedback@airfare.com

Airfare.com on May 2, 2011

I have filled a request to ticket / date change on airfare.com by accepting $350.00 cost and called them as they told me before. They told me that after they check, they will call me but as they told me, they don't have the ticket available. However, I see tickets now online and sent them even the link but they are making me wait for ticket prices to go up before new year and I will accept another dates because according to their rule if the new ticket is cheaper than previous one, they don't pay back the difference. They want me to fly after new year. Normally I never complain about companies. This is the first and I am sure it is the worst company ever. No guest service at all, they make you wait on the phone for 1.30 hour and then "we will call you", hang up and no call!

Mehmet Tekeli,

When making a change request as you agreed to before booking your reservation online it clearly stated that if you were to make changes to your reservation you would have to pay a change penalty fee and difference in fare. Understand that we can not book you on any airline, and put you on any flight. We have to follow the rules of the issuing airline ticket carrier.

In other words, if you booked a Delta flight to London, you can not change to a United flight to Japan. It does not work like that. We can only put you on what is available and what is acceptable by the airline. This is why it took so long on the phone. We have to make sure we are processing everything correctly so you will not have any problems at the airport for your requested change. So we were actually serving you in more ways than you realized.

If you have any questions email me at feedback@airfare.com.

Adrian

Special Operations

Airfare.com on Feb. 9, 2012

I ordered a round-trip ticket from Springfield, MO USA (SGF) to Istanbul, Turkey (IST) on 12/15/10. The departure was for 12/29/10 and the return flight was for 3/16/11.

After reviewing the confirmation email (while I'm buying other tickets for my friends from my credit card , I thought that the company had good deals and told my friends about it), I discovered that the date of departure is not what I ordered. It was 01/29/10 instead of 12/29/10. If the change was for a couple days ago or couple days later, it would not be problem. However, 1 month later at which date I would never have been interested is not good for me at all. I tried to reach Airfare customer service many times by phone and email prior to my departure. The customer service did not allow the issue to be resolved until now. (Of course they were rude and even told me that "it is your problem! ") I have paid $785 for this ticket.

Since I don't have a long time to solve this problem, I probably will buy another ticket and my money is gonna be trashed! Of course I will dispute it and try to get my money for which I didn't get any kind of service yet! I also have another problem now. It's about my friend's ticket; it is on the right date for now but they are asking me to send them more information by fax and by my hand writings which they didn't ask me before. As I read from the previous comments, it is not a good idea but not sending is not a good idea either because they will charge more and more. I saw that there are company answers to all complaints and 99% of them are copy/paste :(

Resolved

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

Airfare.com, the thing that I don't want to hear for the rest of my life!

I booked my flight on September to fly from LA to Auckland, NZ. I used my mum's card and signed the contract they sent me (which is so troublesome), then they just sent me an email saying everything has been filed and my booking has been confirmed. Now it's December, I will be flying next week so I just called my airline as to reconfirm my booking, but the lady said we don't have any information with you and you need to check with airfare.com. Then, I experienced world's worst customer service like all the people have described.

After talking with the airline lady, I immediately called Airfare.com, I told the representative my problem with confirmation and he just let me hold on the phone for about 15 minutes, then said you should call tomorrow morning during working hours.(Later I know that he can definitely do something even if it is not working hour, what is the point that they even have 24-hour service?) So, I listened to him, almost worried for the entire night and called them again on Wednesday morning at 9 am. Another representative picked up the phone and I told the same thing. After letting me wait for 20 minutes, he then said he will call me back in 15 minutes.

I actually gave them an hour, but no one called me so I called them again. Then the person just said we don't have you on record. I was like, "What? I just called!" The guy sounds really impatient and checked again and told me that your problem is in processing, I don't know how long it is going to take. I was thinking all they need to do is just give the airline a call and what makes it so hard? But I still gave in and gave them the whole day to deal with my problem. In the meantime, I was checking here as well and all those bad reviews really freaked me out. Come Wednesday afternoon, I called them again to check, repeating the same thing again, hold on the line for another 20 minutes and this time, Airfare.com said that they will inform me within two days. I asked, "What took it so long?" He said that they cannot reach my airline, and I told them I reached them easily, how come they couldn't? However, all he was saying is we can't reach them and we will reach you again within two days.

Later that night, I called my airline (V Australia) again and the nice lady told me that they can just call this number and find their airline agent and it is impossible that they can't reach the airline. I got so mad and called Airfare again and told them there was no way that they cannot reach my airline. Then they finally did something, but this time, they asked me to send front and back of my mum's credit card, her bank statement and her ID. I asked why and didn't we have already signed the contract. All he said is, "This is really important to us, we need to have this checked by our security". (Okay, at least they are doing something.)

What else can I do? I called my mum in New Zealand and asked her to fax all the documents and then I called back. (Every time that I call, I have to explain everything all over again and I don't think their extension number is even working.) And they said we didn't get the fax and asked me to sent am email. Okay, I called my mum again and let her sent email and keep calling airfare.com, and this time they said, "We didn't get your email, please just send it again." I asked him to check the fax again because my mum also sent another fax.

After a while, I don't know if he has really checked or not, he said he got none and keep telling me to resend the email. I tried to confirm with him the fax number and he even didn't let me finish and said, "Just resend the email!" I really got mad and said I would rather send it through fax because it is easier for me. (My mum is unfamiliar with resizing files and it took really long to upload files.) And then I don't know what happened. He just said, "Okay, I got your file." What! Was he just playing with me or was airfare.com just too lazy to turn on their fax machine or what! Seriously ridiculous! Then finally, after being on hold for another 30 minutes, I got to speak with their managers and he said my ticket from LA to Sydney has been re-booked, but not Sydney to Auckland and asked me to call another manager or whatever on Thursday working hours. Okay, finally half way through with them. On Thursday morning, I called in and dial the person's extension number several times and no one picked up the phone. I totally realized the extension number is just useless. Never believe a word that Airfare said to you.

So I just called in the normal way and try to find the person, by the way, 30 minutes holding again. He said he will call me back within an hour. Of course, waiting for more than hour, someone called back and said that my booking has been canceled because I used an international credit card and I didn't have them checked by those required information earlier. (No one has ever told me I need to send all those documents apart from the authorization contract.) And he told me that the credit has been paid back.

So if I want to rebook, I have to sign a new authorization form and pay the fare which has been increased $400 from original. He said he will send all the detail to my email. An hour later, I went home to check my email. There's nothing he has sent me, so I have to call again and finally I got that document. The final thing is I asked my mum to check her bank statement to see if the money has really been paid back, and it is there. I'm all done with airfare.com and I booked everything again at **.

I know I may take some responsibilities for this issue as I should have called my airline earlier and I should really check my bank statement carefully. Still, they could have just sent me an email that told me that they need more stuff or they just could have simply told me that my booking has already been canceled the first day I called in to report this issue. I really have no idea what they are thinking exactly! Hope no one else will experience what I have been through.

This has been resolved

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

I booked my return air travel through airfare.com from EWR to DEL and back. I have to travel from EWR on Dec 16, 2010. For my travel from EWR to DEL, they charged me in M class but booked me in H Class. Continental has refused to fly me because of this discrepancy in class. I keep calling Airfare and they refuse to fix this discrepancy. It is very urgent for me to travel to India for personal and business reasons and to honor my next travel which I have booked from India (worth $4000). I am sincerely hoping that you will help me resolve this before December 16, 2010, or else I will incur heavy loss and huge mental suffering for which Airfare.com is completely responsible. I have my vacations planned in India that include air tickets of $4000 plus hotel advances. I will lose that. I have booked an appointment for US visa stamping in Delhi. I will be penalized by US Embassy if I do not make that appointment and I may be rejected visa because of Airfare.com's lack of integrity in solving my problem.

This has been resolved

Airfare.com on March 9, 2012

I had booked a round trip ticket from SFO to Mumbai, India. The dates were 21st Dec, 2010 to 14th Jan, 2011. Due to some parameters, I had to change my itinerary slightly. As per Airfare site, I found another itinerary which was costing 150 bucks more and their change fee is $350 so I agreed to pay extra $500. But the guy was asking me to pay $700 more. I tried to ask him to explain me on what basis he is asking me this amount. His English was not good and he was not ready to give phone to his manager.

He kept on putting me on hold and the total call continued probably more than 2 hours. This was really a pain for me. I tried to be calm and nice to him but he was very rude. He almost told me, "If you want to loose your money don't do anything and book another ticket." I had no other choice than accepting to pay 700. He trapped me. Right now, there is a pending change on my card and the guy has still not sent me new ticket. I really feel like complaining about this company. Its a mere way of minting money from customers. At least be true to your own words and take the exact money. Their service is just pathetic and I don't feel sorry for my words here.

Dear Gargi,

I am deeply sorry about the situation and the experience that you encountered with us. I do wish you were able to get to a manager so this situation can be explained to you as it as not how you say it is. Let me try to explain to ease your mind as you were not trapped.

We are a wholesale consolidator as stated on our website, which means we purchase tickets at bulk prices from other ticketing offices. This means that all the tickets are not priced the same way as they come from different places which allows us to offer such low fares. Now once your ticket is purchased it is purchased under a set of guidelines we must follow. Especially when it comes to re-pricing so even though a lower fare was found online, that does not mean it is the same type of ticket you purchased. We have to reprice under the same guidelines as you originally purchased. So in some cases it might be higher.

Also, ticket prices change constantly so from the time you looked at the booking online to the time the change was processed, the fare could have changed. So there are many factors that play along with this.

I totally understand your frustration as if this was explained to you before it would have been alot easier to deal with. But our agent did not try to cheat and or trap you. You as our customer our the ones that put food on our table. I am currently going over call records for the dates and times we have here for you and will deal with any poor customer service issues on our end. We are also implementing new things and ways to make the customer experience more enjoyable.

I am deeply sorry for the experience you encountered with us and hope that if there be a next time that it is more pleasant.

Adrian,
Special Operations Team Manager

feedback@airfare.com

Airfare.com on May 2, 2011

I ordered a round-trip ticket from San Francisco, USA (SFO) to Tallinn, Estonia (TLL) on 8/2/10. The departure was for 8/9/10 and the return flight was for 8/29/10.

After reviewing the confirmation email, I discovered that the date of return had changed to 9/29/10 instead of 8/29/10. I tried to reach Airfare customer service many times by phone and email prior to my departure. The customer service hours did not allow the issue to be resolved before my departure, I was told that this could be resolved once I arrive at my destination prior to my return.

On August 31 I spoke to one of Airfare representatives and was trying to solve the serious issue I had with my flight scheduled and confirmed by Airfare company for Sunday, August 29 .

I arrived to the airport on August 29 at 16:40 prior to my scheduled flight for 18:10 and gave them a printed copy of your booking reservation. The airport representative couldn't find your reservation and stated that they only have one reservation made for September 29. I had no choice and bought the new ticket at 5:47 p.m. well before my scheduled flight for 6:10 p.m. The error made by Airfare customer service cost me 16256 EEK (1038.95 EUR).

Dear Traveler,
Please email me with your booking reference number, contact phone number and a good time for me to call you at feedback@airfare.com. I promise that I will look into this situation and I will do what we can to resolve the problem.
Again, I apologize for the experience you had with us, please give us the opportunity to make it rectify your situation.
Regards,
Adrian

Special Operations Manager

Airfare.com on Nov. 7, 2011

I bought tickets through this company. I received confirmation. Then they cancelled (after confirmation) and stated that the price was much higher than what I booked and they wanted more money. I think rabid raccoons may have more customer service skills than the men I spoke with at this company. A complete and total failure from start to finish and I truly am finished with them and would highly suggest looking for another company to deal with, even if it costs more money. Customers expect stability and integrity from businesses they deal with, especially when it involves travel - this company cannot and will not provide you with this service, from my experience.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. Airfare.com offers cheap airfare through airline consolidation strategies but still have no control over the airline ticket prices. The prices that are offered on the website are the fares that the airline gives to us to provide. We do not control how the prices fluctuate from a day to day basis; only provide our customers with the lowest possible fares available. Our company culture also insists upon exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com. This team is specially dedicated to working diligently to resolve every customer concern.

Airfare.com on Nov. 7, 2011

Airfare.com offers cheap tickets, but all are part of a scam. On the date of your flight they would cancel one or all the flights and you'll end up inside the airport without a ticket. Then, they would recharge your Credit Card for the full amount, stating that you canceled the ticket and they need their cancellation fees. (Do not sign a Cancellation Form like they ask, because then they are justified that you approved the cancellation). Banks can't do anything about it because they say "it's between you and the agency". Contacting the customer service at airfare.com does no good, because they are the ones that sold you the tickets, and they would not help you, not to mention that they are the rudest ** I've ever dealt with. So, pretty much you end up losing the money. What a smart way of scamming people and they get away with it!

Help! Let's put an end to this scam. Any good idea would be greatly appreciated. I've already pretty much gave up on the money ($1007.20); all I want now is for others not to fall victims of this scam. I filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and I'm awaiting for their response. If you want to help please contact me.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 7, 2011

I tried to buy a ticket for my friend using my credit card from airfare.com because it's much cheaper than other websites. I should have checked Google before I purchased. However, I didn't. Then I got a lot of trouble. First, it asked you to authorize to use the credit card with lots of documents, including passport, driver's license, credit card and other documents.

This is an email after you confirm. So basically it is a trap before you can find out. Second, it told you even you didn't authorize it, your card is still charged, because you have confirmed. But when you confirm, you know nothing about it. Third, when I called Delta Airline to cancel the reservation, I called them every day about canceling it. After I canceled it, it would re-book again without any authorization. However, each time after rebook and after your call, the ticket is voided. But the next day it would rebook again and void again. Delta cannot do anything about it.

Fourth, my credit card company cannot help me because the money was charged by Delta Airline, but Delta Airline says they only see a ticket and they cannot do anything. So nobody can do anything and you will lose the whole airfare with nothing.

Finally, I tried to call airfare.com. Generally, there is only one person as the representative of airfare.com. Every time, he used different names and tries to use different accents to fool people. But you can easily tell he is the same person. After you told him he was the same person, his attitude became very bad and shouted at you like you did something wrong. It's very ridiculous! I don't know why this spam website can still be there and can be the agent of so many airline companies. Someone shut down this business please! I still don't know if I can dispute this or not, but I'm trying to.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 7, 2011

This company is a scam. I don't want anyone to go through what I went through. I bought 4 tickets from airfare.com about 3 months ago. Because we were going out of the country and it was a fairly large trip, I called airfare.com to confirm the tickets. They told me that I needed to call each individual airline to confirm my tickets.

I started to get worried when I called the airlines, and they told me that I was not confirmed on the flight. That is when I decided I needed to speak to the manger of airfare.com. When I spoke with Mr. A., he told me that there was nothing they could do to help me, and that if I wanted any help whatsoever, I had to speak with the airline. I told him that this didn't make sense since I bought the tickets from airfare.com, but he went on to say that it was all in the Terms and Agreements.

Then a few days later a family emergency arose. I called them to let them know that I would have to cancel my trip. When I called aifare.com, a man named Mike told me that there should be no problems because there was a week before the flight, and that I would be able to get a full refund if I filled out a "change form". When I did everything he told me to, a woman named Deseree told me that they do not give refunds, and that there is no exceptions. I explained to her that I had a family emergency, but she did nothing to help me.

How heartless can this company be? Airfare.com is a very unprofessional company and I am extremely surprised that they are still in business. I just want other consumers to know they should stay away from airfare.com, and to not make the same mistake that I made. I did not only lost $6,000, but I was also treated like garbage. They have no manners when dealing with people, and they are always frustrated and blame everything on you. For example they say, "You are the one that bought these tickets, so it is your fault". I lost $6,000, and was troubled by all the consequences. I am afraid to fly with anyone now.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 7, 2011

Airfare.com is a scam! Like the others, they asked for a printout of my credit card and ID. That is a load of crap. Then the airline changed my ticket b/c of a mistake with the time zones, this screwed up my other flights. When I called airfare.com to help with rerouting my flights, they refused unless I paid them more money. I told them absolutely not, it was not my fault and that they are the booking agent, they need to take care of it. They again refused and told me to call the airline who told me to call airfare.com. I told them that I was onto their scam. At that point, there was a big pause on the other end of the phone. Now, I am stuck with a flight from Lanzarote to Barcelona, but no flight home to NY. Unreal. I find it funny that their address is in Maryland, but the telephone number is Virginia.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on June 28, 2010

I spoke several times to Airfare.com to change the date on my brother's airline ticket because he is overseas. At first they told me I needed to fill out their form and pay $350. They needed the credit card info on the form. I did not think this was a legitimate form. After speaking to them several times it was apparent that the people I was speaking to on different occasions was indeed the same person switching accents and switching names. This was highly irritating and unprofessional, so I told my brother to leave his flight date as it was to avoid any problems. Then two days ago I received a phone call from "Rex" stating that I could change the ticket one day prior to the date my brother wanted for $675! Does this business sound legitimate to you? I will never deal with the fake organization again.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on June 25, 2010

I purchased a flight to England with Airfare.com thinking that I would save some money with a flight comparison site; however, the exact opposite happened. I purchased the tickets, but the travel agent for the site required photocopies of my debit card, the number of my bank, previous addresses and a signed notification that charges could be made on my card in "installments" over an undefined period of time. Fearing that they would use this information and the permission to charge in installments, I refused to sign the forms and give the information and they still charged my card for over $1,000 for a round-flight trip. They charged me and withheld my tickets because I refused to give them control over my bank account.

This is a fraudulent "company" and I feel this is an act of extortion. The "customer service" consists of one man with very poor English who puts me on hold multiple times and dropped my calls while pretending to forward me to a manager. I wish I had seen these complaints earlier. I am now in the process of closing the card associated with my purchase in fear more charges will occur. I lost more than $1,000 and was not issued tickets that were purchased due to my unwillingness to issue very personal information for reasons they claimed would "prevent me from falling victim to identity theft," as if these measures were for my protection.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on June 18, 2010

After emailing us to contact them because they needed more information, Airfare.com bullied us into paying more for our tickets because they had been canceled because they didn't get our paperwork. I realized the scam prior to completing the transaction and refused authorization, so they charged a card I was not authorized to purchase against anyway.

When caught, they continued to charge the account and cause issues with our card. We thought the matter was resolved until we were on our trip. That's when they convinced Chase to reopen our account and leave us stranded in Italy with a negative balance just to show us.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on May 19, 2010

Booking Buddy emailed me 3/17/10 with cheap round trip fare from New Orleans to Las Vegas. I tried to book a flight through Airfare.com with Continental Airlines. Their original form to charge to a credit card asked for all the normal information. I was a little concerned when the form asked for 800 number on back of Credit Card. I filled in the information and sent it in to book 2 RT tickets and travel insurance.

I got an email request form from them requesting a copy (front and back) of my Credit Card and ID card! This immediately alerted me that something was wrong. I immediately called them at 10:26 am central time. A foreign man answered and I could not understand his name. We had a very bad connection (sounded like he was on a computer telephone call with echoes). He called me back and I asked him where he was located. He claimed Bethesda, MD (I had my doubts).

I explained to him I refused to fax him the requested information because: (1)it was my elderly Mother's card information and she was 200 miles away from me and (2) I had used credit cards over the internet and telephone and the information I had filled out on the original form was more than sufficient for a legitimate company to charge on it.

The man tried to explain they needed copies of the card and ID to be sure it was a legitimate card. I told him I did not believe him and refused to send the information. He told me he'd try to charge less than $2 to the account to verify if it was a good account and I could call the bank and verify the amount then he'd email me and I could only reply to him through that email, then he would waive the request for copy of credit card and ID. I told him okay but it I didn't reply - do not charge the account.

We hung up, I had my Mother call the bank and no charge appeared, so I contacted Continental Airlines to ask if the fare was purchased by this company that I suspected to be fraudulent and they told me no. I called the bank myself and told them I had checked online and found numerous complaints about Airfare.com being a scam, Fraud, ID Thief, and under various investigations. I asked Chase to check the account and they found -0- charges. I told them I was going to book the flights myself through Continental and to allow those charges. I booked with Continental. I continued researching this company's complaints and became very concerned.

I replied to Airfare.com 's emails and cancelled the transaction. Immediately after I emailed them to cancel the transaction because I had not completed their requests to complete the transactions, I called the bank back and Airfare.com had put in the airfare charge of $341.60 (pending) and the amount around $18 (pending) for trip insurance. I asked them to block this and they said since the charges are not yet posted and only pending then I can't stop the bank charges until they go through (then I can dispute the charges).

I called the bank the next day, 3/18/10, to see if the charges were still pending, they were. Bank contacted Visa and was told that even if we closed that account and got another card and number that Airfare.com could still charge us for the canceled airfare and insurance since it is considered a "point of sale transaction". This is not a very fair answer - no good deed goes unpunished. The bank informed Visa this company is under a lot of complaints (Visa did not care). Bank said all we can do is wait until the charges are posted then we can dispute the charges. The paperwork I printed from Airfare.com's emails to me have the names and numbers of Airfare.com, Wholesale Travel Center and Amadeus Check My Trip. I believe these people need to be charged, jailed and pay restitution.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on March 18, 2010

Beware of the bait and switch from airfare.com. Booked a trip to Russia via sidestep.com yesterday and got rerouted to the airfare.com. After finished booking, found out the schedule was not what I wanted. "Fortunately," I didn't provide the complete info and airfare.com wanted me to call them back right away of which I did. However, during the conversation, the rep told me the ticket had been booked and credit card charged even without the complete info, disregarding my protest that I had not authorized the payment yet and the schedule was not what I wanted. They then agreed to change the schedule for an additional $103. I didn't want to pay any more as it wasn't my fault that the system came up with a wrong schedule. Today, I found out that I was charged twice on the credit card. I'm in the process of fighting the charge now.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Feb. 27, 2010

I booked a flight for one date and when I looked back a few days later the date of the flight had changed by a week. Somehow they changed my flight to a different date and when I called to get it for the correct date, they told me it would be a $350 charge. They blamed all of it on me and told me they could do nothing to help. When I asked to talk to a manager, they told me I could talk to a thousand people and none of them would help. Only after asking multiple times was I transferred and the manager was just as rude. I then called the airlines directly and they apologized and helped me change it, but I still had to pay $265 more than I was supposed to. Do not use them. They are rude and not helpful and add multiple charges in addition to what they tell you they are going to charge you.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Feb. 22, 2010

I booked a ticket for a friend to fly JFK/NY to Milan on Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010 through airfare.com. They sent me a blank for that, I was to sign and return along with a copy of my ID and a copy of the front and back of my credit card. This was, they said, for my protection to prevent fraud on my account! I told them my credit card company watched for that, so I called the credit card company and they said they could see the charge for $611.33 had been submitted. Then I called Alitalia to see if the ticket had been confirmed and got a seat assignment.

We went to NY on Mon. Feb. 8 and I started receiving emails from airfare.com that were almost threatening in nature telling me that the authorization I did not sign had no relevance to my owning the ticket. When our friend got to the airport Wednesday evening, he was told that his ticket had been cancelled. I tried to call airfare.com but there was no answer. The ticket agents were very sympathetic and kept calling me to see if I had gotten it corrected. I had confirmation codes etc. but they could not help me.

Finally, I called American Express Platinum Concierge Services 45 minutes before the plane was to leave. That wonderful service arranged a new ticket for our friend to proceed but I had to pay $2097.00! When I returned home, I called airfare.com and was treated very rudely. When I asked who had cancelled the ticket, I was told the airline cancelled the flight. When I assured him I knew better he blamed me for not returning the authorization form--blank, am I crazy? I tried to read him the email I received 2 days before the flight and he simply said he would not argue with me and hung up. I have reported this company, which I believe could be a scam for identity theft. They told me they had been in business 2 months. I noticed also a name of WTC on their email and they also gave me a name of USA Washington when I asked for their address when I booked. The difference in tickets cost me $1,485.67.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Feb. 17, 2010

Everything I am reading here is familiar, way too familiar. I booked an international flight to NZ in November of 2009. I received confirmation email and reservation number, everything was kosher. I found out 3 days before the trip that airfare.com had not paid one of the carriers for my flight and my seat for those legs were cancelled. I had o pay $900 to the carrier to ensure I would make my connections and airfare.com was extremely rude and refused to help. I was put on hold and told to call back countless times, given false misleading and incorrect information. I was not told of fees and "total non-refundability of anything" as they claim on their website.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Feb. 2, 2010

For all the people out there who have been scammed by Airfare.com, you need to complain to the FTC, and hopefully they will be able to do something so other people don't get scammed in the future: **.

It is Airfare.coms belief that providing world-class customer service is a top priority. We are committed to answering all questions and handling all issues. All of our agents are thoroughly trained to handle all of our travelers needs. In the interest of providing effective and timely service to our travelers, airfare.com does utilize off-shore call center services to supplement our U.S. team. Airfare.com takes customer feedback very seriously and has enacted a major overhaul of the customer service department beginning in July, 2010. Airfare.com is committed to our practice of providing out clients with world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Jan. 11, 2010

On 10/12, I have bought this ticket on their website and nowhere did they have any mentioning about the extra $40 that they were going to charge to my credit card. I didn't realize this was the case until I got the confirmation page that showed the final amount charged to my credit card being $1105.79 ($40 more than the agreed amount). I have saved all the pages I went through up until the confirmation page and nowhere did they mention the additional charge of $40. Shortly after, they sent me some documents to sign to authorize the payment. Given that this practice is extremely unusual and afraid that something weird was going on, I never signed anything.

I have called them on 10/13 to discuss this issue and they tried to blame it on me being dishonest for saving the reservation pages. They then said that unless they get the full amount, they will cancel my ticket. After they charged the $1105.79 to my credit card, I was afraid something is sketchy and I canceled my credit card. I have the credit card statement that shows that they have charged the full amount to my credit card and that they never refunded. On 12/15, two days before my flight, I got an email from airfare.com confirming my flight. I also checked on checkmytrip.com (a website they provided) my confirmation number. My flight information showed up as confirmed. On 12/17, my departure date, I showed up to the Delta ticket counter only to find out that my ticket had been canceled by the travel agent on 10/13. I then tried to call the travel agency and they told me that even though they took the full amount out of my account, they canceled my flight because I did not return the signed authorization documents. I do not want my signature on any piece of paper that has anything to do with these crooks as I fear they might use it for their dubious activities. Please shut this business down!

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Dec. 18, 2009

I bought a ticket to fly home for Christmas using a UK credit card. I got an email telling me my tickets were booked and 5 minutes later I get another email telling me I have been charged an additional $40 because of the "out of country" credit card. I then get another email telling me I need to call and confirm with them the details of the card and give the home address. After doing that I get yet another email telling me I need to fax over a 3-page credit card report giving them every detail possible as well as a photo ID and a copy of the front and back of the card. After calling up the credit card in Scotland to confirm payment had been taken out, I faxed off all the details to airfare.

Again, another email comes through telling me they received all my details and now they needed me to call up my credit card company again because they added an additional fee between $1-$2 and I needed to tell them the exact amount. I replied telling them that the credit card converts to GBP (UK currency), and depending on the rate at the time it will be a different amount than what they added. So no matter what I tell them, the price would be different. We argued back and forth, they called several times and finally I told them I would call my credit card company for the third and last time!

My credit card company said that there was no additional charge and I forwarded the message onto Airfare.com. They then emailed asking me for a copy of my bank statement with the address on it. Heck no! After explaining identity fraud to them and that I would never send it or deal with their company ever again, they haven't been back in touch. Thankfully, I did, however, get all of my details squared away with United Airways and confirmed my seats, etc., so I should be flying home within the next couple of weeks. But never again will I ever book with Airfare.com. I didn't pay an additional $40 for hassle!

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Dec. 5, 2009

I purchased two international tickets and got an email from Airfare.com that the tickets were issued. However, when we went to the airport, the airline told us that Airfare.com has voided the tickets that we paid for. After several attempts to try to get in touch with Airfare.com, I talked with the supervisor, and he said that the tickets are nonrefundable for any reason and if I wanted to make any changes, I'll have to pay $350 per ticket. I said, "How can you say nonrefundable when you never issued us any tickets?" But they didn't want to understand. Then, I did a search about this company and it was full of complaints of fraud from customers. Be careful with Airfare.com. They are a fraud company.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 12, 2009

Basically, it's bait and switch. I called beforehand to ask if 2 tickets were available. The transaction went through, but only one ticket was issued. When I called back, they said there were not anymore available at that price and it would be $500 more. I said, "I just called you." And this is classic; he said, "Ma'am, you said you wanted the 2 passengers on the same flight and time, but you didn't say you wanted the same price."

The customer service is so rude and unreasonable. i had no idea there were so many complaints against them. Now, I am just fighting with a credit card company. Airfare.com refunded my ticket and then charged me an agent fee of $1650. Seriously, I don't know how they are allowed to operate!

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Oct. 27, 2009

I booked a ticket to Japan via Airfare.com. Everything looked kosher until I got my itinerary, which had my layover on the route home stopped at SF Intl for 7 hours. I live in Los Angeles, a mere 45-minute flight from San Francisco. I immediately called Airfare.com to get this corrected. The rep I spoke to spoke what seemed to be limited English, and after having repeated the situation to him 3 times, I asked to speak to his manager.

The manager was friendly enough, despite asking I call back in the morning, as they would try to get me booked on the correct flight. I didn't get the whole morning bite, but I complied. The guy who answered the phone this morning was so incredibly rude. He not only spoke down to me, he also talked over me and continued through with yelling at me, all of which he got back. He insisted that historically I had booked the incorrect flight. Yeah right, like I wanted the 7 hour layover while waiting for a flight that would take me home in 45 minutes, especially when the price was identical for the 1 hour versus the 7-hour layover.

He continued yelling at me and slightly calmed down, as I told him he had the worst customer service ever and that I would make sure that none of my friends would use their site and that I would rate the company online.

I wish it had dawned on me for customer ratings/complaints beforehand, but if you're reading this, the minimal savings isn't worth the aggravation this caused! I have to add though that I did receive a call from another rep approximately 3 hours after the fact to let me know they could accommodate my initial fare for an added $89. When I said no, he then offered a suggestion which I will be taking and that's dealing with the airline directly to get this rectified. He also repeatedly apologized for his co-worker's attitude. Like I told him, it's a shame the company didn't have more reps like him and that I won't be using them again, especially after all the complaints seen online.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Oct. 26, 2009

I bought a ticket from Airfare.com. They only put a ghost entry in the system. I never got a real ticket from them. They were very rude on phone especially Andy at ext **. I never got a ticket or refund from them. I had to go through credit card dispute process to get the money back from these cheats. Beware! Beware! Don't buy at any cost from these cheats. You will regret your decision for sure.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Oct. 25, 2009

I booked a trip and was charged a fee for using international cc-card as well as third-party credit card while using my own. When requesting the fees back, all of a sudden, my trip was never confirmed. And they asked for $200.00 more for the tickets. I spoke to several people, most of them did not know much English or had any manners. Also, they put me on hold several times for more than 20 minutes and then hung up "by accident."

It's my first time using this site, and I never posted any negative feedback about anything. But I just wanted to warn others that it is not worth booking with them, as I spend hours dealing with this so far and might end up paying more for the tickets than going directly through KLM.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Oct. 12, 2009

I originally booked the ticket in 2008. I paid an extra amount for a refundable ticket. In October 2008, I needed to change my return flight. The person I spoke with, Sam, stated it was possible, I just needed to fax over a form requesting the change. I did so as instructed. Now, in August 2009, I attempted to rebook the ticket a second time. I was booked on a flight that later 'disappeared' and then I was told the flight was never confirmed and they could not book that flight without paying additional fees, which were almost twice what the original ticket had cost. This all happened after several phone calls, in which, every time the staff at airfare.com was rude and usually hung up on me.

They now say they will refund the ticket amount (to the credit card used) for the remainder of the value of the unused ticket, but I have yet to see this refund amount reflected on the credit card that was used to purchase the ticket. The staff at airfare.com stated the refund would be shown on the credit card within 7 to 14 business days. It has been more than 21 and counting. Let me also add, my boyfriend allowed me to use his credit card for this transaction. I don't need to explain the stress this adds to a relationship. Remainder of ticket value is $682, and has not been refunded as promised. So much stress.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Sept. 4, 2009

I ordered an airline ticket by my debit card via Airfare.com. I checked my bank account and saw that it has been charged a correct amount. However, they still told me that they needed to get verification from the bank and asked me to give them my personal information. They also sent me a form, requesting me to fax the copies of my passport and both sides of the debit card. They said they are unable to issue me a ticket, until I gave them those personal information. However, they didn't mention they need customers' personal information before I made the payment.

They called me twice to request my personal information yesterday. In the first call, the staff transferred me to a so-called "bank agent" who claimed that he's going to get me verification from the bank and then asked me some personal and card information. I gave them something, including the last 4 digits of my SSN. But I refused to give them my current address eventually, because the staff who dialed me was listening to me talk with the "bank agent." I know he was listening, because I can obviously hear his rapid breathing from the beginning to the end of this phone call.

I asked the staff why I still need to get a verification from bank after my bank account has been charged. He can't answer me what kind of verification they wanted. He just said it's a different thing. I felt very strange and then called them back to cancel my ticket. They said the cancellation is totally non-refundable, because refund agreement is not in their policy, though it was one day after my reservation.

They have charged me money, but they never issued me a ticket. Moreover, they are not even sure if they could get me the ticket successfully. The confirmation number that they gave me is the confirmation number of Airfare.com, not the confirmation number of the airline company. So it is impossible to check flight reservations on the website of the airline company.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Aug. 2, 2009

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 everybodyOne word: CROOKS.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on April 7, 2009

Finally, someone at Delta told me that the itinerary and e tickets didn't match. I finally got it straightened out about 12 hours before our trip. It was totally nerve wracking. We never flew due to another issue. But I still wonder if the problem was really fixed. I wasted so much time on the phone. They were totally incompetent. DO NOT USE THEM. Stick to the majors.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on March 6, 2009

Airfare (aka Wholesale Travel Center) is a company with clear signs of being a fraudulent outfit. When I had booked a flight through them, Airfare tried to claim that because I was using a card from another country to pay for a flight originating in the USA, they needed me to provide verification and so they asked me to complete a form, sign it and also photocopy both sides of my card and fax everything off to them. I was suspicious of this request and after they claimed that they had called my bank and my bank could not verify my card, I told them I would call them back.

I then called my bank who informed me that the bank does not give our any of my information by telephone and that it is not normal for a company to request photocopies of the back and front of a card and that I should treat such requests as fraudulent and not to go any further with this company. Airfare also sent me, without my asking, a link to their site that has the Verified by Visa form for completing, which looks genuine, BUT the form is on THEIR SITE. However, you cannot know who is getting this information once you enter it on a website and I chose not to enter any information after speaking with my bank. I suggest you run a mile when you see the name Airfare.com or Wholesale Travel Center. They are based in Bethesda, MD.

As my bank has challenged the payment and will not allow it to go through my account, there should be no damage to me.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Jan. 2, 2009

I was booking a flight from LAX to IST, routing through CDG. Upon paying for the flight I was emailed my itinerary, but it had the flight originating from CDG instead of LAX. I tried to call to see what the problem was and the line went dead while I was on hold and someone answered once but it was so scratchy that they eventually hung up on me. We decided to stop payment on the credit card since we couldn't get ahold of anyone and didn't want to pay for a flight from Paris when we live in California.

Two weeks later they called to say that they need us to fill out a form saying that we canceled the flight and that we should be charged a cancellation fee. I told the man that we didn't want to pay a cancellation fee on a flight that was incorrect and he responded saying I wasn't the one sitting at the computer who put in the wrong information and then hung up on me.

That same day they charged us the full amount again ($1740) and put a note passenger traveled this day or something to the effect that the travel had been completed. We were notified by the bank that they had recharged the account and eventually decided that we should just cancel the card. What a nightmare!

Canceled credit card.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 7, 2008

i had a similar experience. why do they want me to send my personal documents, no other travel agent i know of needs this. what makes them so special? is it that thay are really Identity thieves? it's very suspect. the customer service is the rudest and worst i have ever encountered. give airfare.com a wide birth. they are unprofessional boardering on criminal.

i have no idea whether i actually have a booking, they withdraw 945 pounds off my credit card within 10 minutes

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 2, 2008

October 31 2008, I was purchasing tickets through Airfare today, when I got notice that my credit card could not be processed. Through email I was asked to FAX my card info, card photo-copies and drivers licenses. I called to find out if this was a legitimate business, staff person said to cross out parts that I did not want to be seen and FAX to process my card. I called again to say that I will not do this as it was too much information to be given out and in to cancel the reservations.

This time the staff person got upset with me when I stated that I wanted cancel the tickets. I hung-up. He immediately called back wanting to know why I hung-up. I told him I was cancelling the tickets, and he stated that he would get the sheriff to collect the money. well done customer service, I hung-up again. I then called my bank and they put a conference call together to yet another Airfare staff person who repeatedly recited their policy. Several times he stated that I needed to fill out a form that would not be processed until Monday. He repeatedly stated that when I pushed continue it was saying I agreed with the terms of the purchase.

I feel once I got the Airfare Has Sent You Authorization form to Sign email and did not send it back in after Airfare requested it, I therefore did not authorize the use of my card. Airfare is trying to have it both ways- either my card was invalid or not, it seems it was not until I did not want to FAX my personnel information and cancel the transaction. I find it difficult to understand why my card was not ok to be approved, could not be approved without my authorization after it was requested, and now can not be canceled, all within a couple of hours time. Lessons learned, never use debit card on-line, and never use Airfare.

$525

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Nov. 1, 2008

I booked a flight with them to and from Europe. They kept changing the flights around and sending me emails. The latest email said there was a change and when I looked it up the return flight had DISAPPEARED.

When I called the airline they said Airfare.com had screwed up and not paid for the ticket properly and thus the reservation was cancelled. I have been unable to reach them by phone despite their 24/7 guarantee. I get to the front of the line and then I get a busy signal. Do not use this company. I don't know if I will ever be able to straighten this out as they are unreachable.

If they never fix this the loss will be about $935.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Sept. 27, 2008

Tried to book a hotel, they've charged my card 3 times the same value within a few minutes, but gave me no reservation. Phone support is null - they do not take phone for a long time, if they do, then after telling'em a story, I get cant help you now, please call tomorrow and hang up. It looks like the only way is to call my bank and try to cancel charges. Never use Airfare.com - they are cheaters.

$1000

It is Airfare.coms belief that providing world-class customer service is a top priority. We are committed to answering all questions and handling all issues. All of our agents are thoroughly trained to handle all of our travelers needs. In the interest of providing effective and timely service to our travelers, airfare.com does utilize off-shore call center services to supplement our U.S. team. Airfare.com takes customer feedback very seriously and has enacted a major overhaul of the customer service department beginning in July, 2010. Airfare.com is committed to our practice of providing out clients with world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Sept. 21, 2008

Airfare.com charged me for the hotel reservation which they have never did. Right after they charged me somewhere between $600 and $700 (they didn't even sent me a receipt of the transaction). So.... There is no protection from the bank other than dispute AFTER transaction posted. My transaction is not posted yet (it can be posted onto my account anytime airfare.com wants).

Chnging the card, or closing and opening a checking account is not helping either (HSBC). I did call MasterCard but they couldn't do anything. I just filed a complaint with FTC (Federal Trade Commission). You can do the same if you want. If more complains received, there is more chances they will be reviewed so call FTC and file a complain you too.

$650+

It is Airfare.coms belief that providing world-class customer service is a top priority. We are committed to answering all questions and handling all issues. All of our agents are thoroughly trained to handle all of our travelers needs. In the interest of providing effective and timely service to our travelers, airfare.com does utilize off-shore call center services to supplement our U.S. team. Airfare.com takes customer feedback very seriously and has enacted a major overhaul of the customer service department beginning in July, 2010. Airfare.com is committed to our practice of providing out clients with world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Sept. 15, 2008

I tried to make a hotel reservation in the US via airfare.com. They refused to deal with it because I made this via a European creditcard. I live in the Netherlands so I don't have another. However withn 5 minutes they blocked over $ 1250 on my creditcard. I phoned them about this situation and they assured me within 24 hours they would solve this problem. I confirmed by e-mail. Now it is over 4 days ago and the amount is still blocked on my cc. account so I am limited in booking other tripcosts.

I am very limited in making other bookings because my limit is far used up. I think it is very strange they can block amounts on my card without doiing business with me.

It is Airfare.coms belief that providing world-class customer service is a top priority. We are committed to answering all questions and handling all issues. All of our agents are thoroughly trained to handle all of our travelers needs. In the interest of providing effective and timely service to our travelers, airfare.com does utilize off-shore call center services to supplement our U.S. team. Airfare.com takes customer feedback very seriously and has enacted a major overhaul of the customer service department beginning in July, 2010. Airfare.com is committed to our practice of providing out clients with world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Aug. 24, 2008

Booked a ticket to Germany with them. A month later i decided to check on line to see if all was OK. All I found was half a ticket to NYC posted. When I called they told me to call back. What I did find out was the flight from NYC to Germany was canceled and they never even told me. I would have been stranded. The worst customer service possible and what a headache.

We were up all night trying to find a new ticket. It was the sheer stress of the whole matter.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Aug. 22, 2008

My bag was stolen in Prague with my paper airline tickets I had received from airfare.com in it. When I attempted to contact their customer service line (which is stated as being a 24 hour service 7 days a week) I remained on hold for an hour (the whole time I was first in line to speak to an operator according to the recording) and finally hung up because the phone call was far to expensive to continue. After speaking with the representative of Czech Air I was informed that I needed Airfare.com to simply confirm with the airline that I had purchased the tickets.

I had to get a friend of mine back here in the US to deal with airfare.com and she mentioned it was the worst experience she has ever had in terms of customer service. They were very rude and would not call the airline on my behalf stating that it was out of their hands that my bag was stolen and my tickets were lost. When my friend urged the simplicity and importance of this single phone call she was told it was my fault the tickets were lost and it was not their responsibility. Because they would not make a single call for me I had to miss the flight and stay two extra nights in Prague.

Czech Air representatives tried to contact Airfare.com and recieved no response for the simple authorization request. I had nothing but my confirmation number from airfare.com to use and Czech Air went out of their way and accepted this so I could return home. I was stranded by myself in a foreign country and was abandoned by airfare.com which is a very lonely and helpless feeling. After reading so many horror stories about this company I have no idea how they are still in business and have not been sued for everything.

75 USD fee to change my ticket 150 USD living expenses to stay in Prague the extra two days and nights.

It is Airfare.coms belief that providing world-class customer service is a top priority. We are committed to answering all questions and handling all issues. All of our agents are thoroughly trained to handle all of our travelers needs. In the interest of providing effective and timely service to our travelers, airfare.com does utilize off-shore call center services to supplement our U.S. team. Airfare.com takes customer feedback very seriously and has enacted a major overhaul of the customer service department beginning in July, 2010. Airfare.com is committed to our practice of providing out clients with world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on July 7, 2008

i purchased a ticket through them and they were very unhelpful. i purchased a ticket to johannesburg but because United airlines cancelled an airline (air canada), there was a long line and delayed my check in time. When i called airfare.com, they gave me the run around. i called more than 20 times and spent the whole day on the phone.

When i asked for a sup, the put me through the IVR,t hen i called again and when i asked the gentleman his name, he put me through the automated system again. I ve had the worst experience with these people and i hope no-one buys tickets from them again.

they threatned that i'll lose my $2000. I m filing a dispute with the BBB and my bank.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on June 17, 2008

I needed to change a ticket I bought through airfare.com to China. I tried calling them and after many attempts I finally got through. The person on the other line told me that I should fax a request for change to their changing department and they will reply within a couple of hours. This was pretty urgent because the flight was less than two weeks in the future. They did not get back to me for 5 whole days (3 business days) during which I tried calling their 24 hours /365 days customer service but to no avail. No one would pick up even though you were given the impression that you are queued and will soon be answered.

On the 4th day I decided to contact Visa and and involve them in the situation. They were receptive and even tried to contact the merchant themselves, but with no success. They agreed to start a dispute. The next day, someone from Airfare.com contacted me and very rudely informed me that tickets cannot be changed nor rerouted and she e-mailed me some cooked up regulations to that effect. I was furious at their attempt to deceive me and informed the person that, fortunately, I kept the ORIGINAL Terms & Conditions and no such conditions are present there. After much back and forth she was finally convinced that I will not be fooled and agreed to try and contact the air company (Continental) to see if the tickets are refundable.

After about half an hour she contacted me back saying that the airline has agreed to refund me but I will be charged a penalty of 450$ (the ticket was for 1454$). Since I didn't want to deal with this any longer I agreed to that and asked her to e-mail me the agreement after which I faxed my consent to them. For good measure, I called up Continental and inquired about this charge. They assured me that there is absolutely no way Airfare.com has contacted them because those are bulk tickets. The airline company sell those tickets to the merchant and has no authority over them henceforth. They (Continental) couldn't possibly issue a refund or deal with the ticket even if they wanted to.

I bring this story simply as another example of dishonesty on the part of the merchant. I am content with paying the penalty simply because I have no desire nor time to deal with this issue any longer. I kept Visa informed and involved at all times. I haven't received the refund yet, but that may take a while. In any case Visa is aware of the situation and I hope this will help in case any further issues arise regarding the refund. Overall, dealing with Airfare.com was a horrible experience. They would give me extensions to call to where no one would pick up. They were rude and unhelpful. They did not contact me until I threaten them with Visa. Just horrible costumer service in great contrast to what they promise on their website.

I had to pay 450$ for the penalty even though on their Terms & Conditions the changing fee is only 350$. But more importantly, it caused me a considerable stress and anxiety. Being unable to contact the merchant with regard to an air ticket so close to the date of departure is an experience I don't wish for anyone. Having to contact Visa in order to resolve this issue was something I never imagined necessary when being the air ticket.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on June 4, 2008

They messed up my ticket, issued it to the wrong name then changed it incorrectly, and forced me to fill out and fax these ridiculous forms each time after spending hours waiting to speak to people that dont speak english!!!! The customer service is horrific!!! you can wait on the phone in a que for an hour only to be disconnected when you reach position one!!!!! I had to spend hours on the phone with them to fix their mistake and they still insisted on charging my credit card $350!!

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on May 9, 2008

5/2/08 i bought tickets for an up coming flight to Africa with my 2 kids under 10 yrs old early this morning,the wep site never give me an option to put child or adult,which caused me to pay full adult fee for kids under 10yrs old.Immediately,i tried contacting the agency but for hours all thru the day,a person answered but hanged up on me and than at approx 6:30 pm a rep called David and rudely let me know unfortunately in order for me to adjust the price from adult to child i would have to cancel what was issued to me and pay $100 for each ticket,than go back on the web and get issued new tickets and this time be carefull because avery mess that happens will cost me.

I was in shock and am still in shock,because despite the cost of the tickets of a total of $4293.02 it occured to me i gotten my self with the wrong company. I asked to speak to manager but David said call back on monday,dsepite they advise of 24hrs service.

cost of flight fee for kids the same as an adult.The demeaning feeling i got for being stupid of making this mistake,which they web site didn't offer,hours of time and phone cost of calling all day and waiting on hold over and over and on set headacher with physicaly tried and sick to my stomach of this matter.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on May 3, 2008

we bought a single ticket for $ 660.40 on 4/4/08. our checking account was charged twice on that day, the account overdrew, and we were faced with a $50 penalty from our bank for no fault of ours. next day the second charge was refunded from airfare.com. we thought it was all resolved at this point. 8 days later, on 4/11, a third charge for 660.40 now shows up on our account, and it overdraws once again, slapping on another $25 overdraw fee from our bank.

calling airfare.com is an experience of its own. everyone answers with a strange eastern europian accent, and everyone is quite rude. after talking to dozens of people after holding for hours. after faxing my bank statement a few times. we finally hear back from 'Ezy' saying she has refunded the fraudulent third charge (not a single apology so far).

we wait a day, for the money to show up in our checking account, then called again, and finally had a chance to speak to Ezy, she was extremely rude, and had such a strong accent, it was very difficult to understand what she was saying. she said the money has been refunded from their end, and it will take up to a week to show up in our account!

not only were each of the agents i spoke with so far on the phone extremely rude, none of them even apologized for their mess up, one of them even tried to blame me and my bank for creating additional phony transactions!

It is Airfare.coms belief that providing world-class customer service is a top priority. We are committed to answering all questions and handling all issues. All of our agents are thoroughly trained to handle all of our travelers needs. In the interest of providing effective and timely service to our travelers, airfare.com does utilize off-shore call center services to supplement our U.S. team. Airfare.com takes customer feedback very seriously and has enacted a major overhaul of the customer service department beginning in July, 2010. Airfare.com is committed to our practice of providing out clients with world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on April 16, 2008

Airfare.com is a really shady company. In the final stage of purchase, they told me I would have to pay an additional $30 for authorization purposes because the passenger's name does not match the name on the credit card. It said I would have to fax in authorization. I had never heard of this when purchasing a ticket online, but I was worried about losing the fare so I agreed. However, at the end of the transaction, I did not know if I had in fact purchased a ticket, or if I had only made a reservation. Very stressful. To make matters worse, I discovered that I put the wrong last name for the passenger. (Unbeknown to me, my friend whose ticket I was buying for my wedding had changed her husband's last name to her middle name after her divorce.) Immediately, I tried contacting the agency. I live in Japan and every call is very expensive, but every time I was put on hold and was treated rudely by men with thick accents who seemed to take pleasure in disconnecting me. When I did speak to someone, they acted like I was stupid for being worried that I would be charged for changing the name. He told me repeatedly that I had to first send authorization and that then, and only then, I could simply call the airline--and that they would simply change the name. Of course, when I asked to speak to a manager, I was disconnected. When I contacted the airline--both in Japan and in the U.S.--they told me it's the agency who has to change the name. If the airline changes the name, they charge $350. Airfare.com's website also says that they charge $350 for changes.

I spent hours on the phone making international phone calls. Fortunately, I never sent in authorization, and so I imagine that is what saved me from having my credit card charged. I was also finally able to cancel the reservation through the airline. The incident caused me a tremendous amount of stress and headache. I was worried sick about airfare.com still charging my credit card. As a final precaution, I reported my credit card as stolen. I am fortunate that I was able to read other people's experiences with this company. I hope other people will read my experience before sending this company any credit card information. They are really untrustworthy.

We apologize for the experience you had with us. We heard your complaint as well as the complaints of others, and we acknowledge that our policy has been somewhat cumbersome. It is not airfare.coms intentions to inconvenience our customers in any way. Since we value our clients opinion and strive to provide the utmost in customer service, we have changed our policies. We will no longer asking for an authorization form to be sent on third party bookings. We here at Airfare.com are listening, and would like to thank you for your concerns and helping us continue to strive for world class customer service. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on Feb. 28, 2008

I attempted, several times, to purchase a ticket to Japan from Airfare.com. I was trying to get a flight that had a shorter layover time, but every time I selected the flight that was 18 hours it would tell me that it was sorry, but due to the fluctuations in the airline business, it could not let me have that flight. FINALLY, I resolved to purchase a flight that was 20 hours in length, and lo and behold, I was able to purchase it.

I have no idea why it would perform a search, give me certain results and then literally 2 seconds later tell me that I am unable to purchase it.

They were apparently having a problem with my credit card, so I called them and was told, by a very thickly accented person, to fax in a credit card authorization form. I resolved to do this, though I thought it seemed odd and also a waste of my time to do so after I was back from vacation, as bed and breakfasts don't usually have fax machines for guests to use.

A couple days later I checked my account and I had been charged twice, even though I only purchased one ticket. I responded to their e-mail with my confirmation number on it telling them about the mistake, expecting a response in the normal 1-2 business days. When I received no such reply, I attempted to call their 1-800#, which was busy. I have never, in my entire life, encountered a busy 1-800#. They have no hold system or phone tree of any sort. I called their land line and got a busy message that said all circuits are full , please call again later.

After calling 15 times, 5 to the 1-800# and 10 times to the land line, at my own expense, I finally got someone. It was impossible to understand him and he said something to the effect of the charge will go away. When asked if it didn't, he said I had to fax them yet a different form, something about a bank statement. This part made no sense to me, why would I have to give them paperwork to fix a simple oversight? It's their fault, not mine.

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on July 31, 2007

I bought my flight ticket from airfare.com. The paper ticket that they sent me (which I booked online through airfare.com website) was to leave SFO on Jul 13 at 11:15 am and arrive to Munich on Jul 14 10:40 am. Then my flight from Munich to Istanbul would leave on the same day at 11:20 am. Airfare.com sent me my paper ticket with this itinerary. Later they changed my flight from Munich to Istanbul without telling me anything or having my consent. They changed it such that I would leave Munich at 7:20 pm.

They never sent me a paper ticket with this update and I'd have never known that they made this change if I haven't checked my reservation myself. With this itinerary change, I have to wait at Munich airport for more than 8 hours and arrive at my final destination Istanbul very late. This is very inconvenient.

I contacted airfare.com customer service multiple times. they continuously blamed the airlines, they kept me on hold many times and even hung up the phone on me. They promised they will fix this and help me but they never did. I even contacted the airlines (both US airways and Lufthansa) on the phone as well as at the ticket counter at the airport. But since this is a paper ticket bought through the travel agent, they could not help me but direct me to the travel agent (airfare.com).

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. In some cases notification is not sent to us so we can not 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. Our companys policy insists on exceeding customer expectations, by looking for every avenue to assist our customers If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on July 10, 2007

I bought two tickets online using airfare.com. The first one was OK and I got my ticket last week by FEDEX. The second one, however, was intended to be for my sister. When I was going through the process of purchasing it online, an error occurred with the automatic feature for credit card information and it took away all my sister's personal information including her name and the mailing address. As a result, a second ticket was issued under my name for the same travel dates, times and destinations.

I called the agency right away and they first told me they will try to change the name. It was a Saturday. So, I then called them on Monday and they asked me to fax a change form to change the name. After I did that, the agent told me: We cannot change the name!! and also that the ticket is not refundable but that he will try his best to get it refunded by contacting the Airline, mainly Alitalia.

So, it has been three weeks now and each time I call them, they barely give any response back about what they are doing with my issue and when I expect to hear back from them regarding at least a prospect for a refund. Now, the ticket has been cancelled and I am still unsure whether I am getting my money back or not. I contacted the better business bureau of Washington DC who also contacted the agency. The response I got from the agency was cold and rude and really nothing new. I also contacted the visa card and they were more reassuring. This my last card to play but I still think I need to pursue this further because it looks like this agency has had many complaints in the past.

The consequence is that I paid 1450 dollars for an additional airline ticke that neither me nor my sister can use, since it is under my name along with another ticket with flights departing and coming back at the same time.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on June 4, 2007

After incurring an unusually high $200 original change fee due to a date keyboard error that I discovered within 5 minutes of making my original reservations made in mid December, on Feb 4th I had a serious accident requiring extensive surgery to my leg and shoulder forcing my cancellation of our Mar 21 flight to Japan. I immediately notified Airfare.com of my situation (apparently the booked airline, United in this case, cannot issue credits for any airfare.com initiated tickets). I then provided extensive documentation requested by Airfare.com, and attempted to contact them on multiple occasions in writing.

I have received no response to my multiple requests for their promised partial (original cost less $350/ticket) credit for my cancelled tickets. Without a refund or a credit we have lost over $2000 we paid to Airfare.com for our original tickets.

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. 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. Our company policy insists on exceeding customer expectations by looking for every avenue to assist our customers. If you have any comments, questions and/or concerns please feel free to contact our Special Operations team at feedback@airfare.com.

Airfare.com on March 13, 2007