Complain about a product or service

Cheapoair

lolita of san francisco, CA August 19, 2009

I purchased a round trip ticket with cheapoair on line for Denmark last May 26, 2009 for September 2, 2009. After payment through Credit Card they sent me my confirmation and e-ticket. The Booking number is 2303674 and ticket numbers 1177431556440 & 1177431556441 Scandinavian airlines. When I called the airline for my seats nos. they said that the booking has been cancelled and that I have to talk to cheapoair. I called last week tuesday Aug. 11 and was able to talk to debbie in las vegas and she said that she cannot do anything about it and that a supervisor should take care of it. She said they will call me in 24 hrs but they did not call. So I called after my work thursday August 13 to know the status. I was able to talk to susie and told me there was double booking and the airline when they receive this automatically cancels the booking. She was offering me for another ticket at a higher price double of what I paid which is over a thousand. I said I am not at fault why would I pay for it. She said they will try to reinstate my booking with the airline company and I have to pay for the reinstatement I said ok. She was not able to contact the airline company because it was closed. Since it was already a weekend she said to call Monday. When I called she said they were not able to reinstate it and offer again another ticket but double the price. I said no because it was not my fault. Then she said they need more time. When I called last night she did not want to talk to me and ask rina to tell me that they need another 48 hours. I don't know what tactic they have but I am running out of time.

Rory of Fort Wayne, IN August 17, 2009

I contacted a CheapOAir account representative whose email address was posted on this website. She was able to straighten out my problem in a very reasonable amount of time. My main problem with CheapOAir was that they did not notify me that my flight was cancelled nor did they respond to the complaints I filed on their website. Had I not stunbled on to the right person via this website I am not sure how long it would have taken to resolve my problem. I do want to thank Katie at CheapOAir.com for posting her contact info on this site. My flight schedule has been corrected and hopefully, I will make my connections without any further problem.

flurim of bronx, NY August 13, 2009

never before anything like this hapen to me ,and i have been flying for some time.i booked a round trip from jfk to Mcallen tex.on 7.31 .09.to fly on 8.7.09 at 4pm from jfk with northwest airlines.from previous experience and new regulation i know that u have to be at airport 1hr.before,well imade sure to be 1hr .10 minutes early .was told by a northwestemploye that iwas late.i tried to tell him that this very important that i am going on my honeymoon ,just got married ,also my vocation,he would only give some eight hundred numbers to call.

i requested asupervisor which never showed up.i waited from 2;50pm till 6pm for any kind of explanotion.when i finally spoke to a employe of northwest she lied to me so i can leave to come back the next day on standby.i live to come back the next day,when igo back they tell i dont qualify for a standby.i have tried to talk with cheapoair to no avail,personally i think that they should get involve helping customers since they in business of selling tickets.

personally i intend to have this matter fix in courts both against cheapoair and northwest.i cant have my honeymoon when cheapoair and northwest tells me.i also intend to let the publik know about my terrible experience.also i know alot of friends and family that have used both cheapoair and northwest,after this would not use their service.

Megan of Wallingford, CT August 6, 2009

Never in my life have I ever experienced such a frustrating and unjust experience as the one I experienced with Cheapoair in June in 2009. I purchased three tickets to Shanghai leaving from New York. The total airfare came to 3400. I gave Cheapoair my debit card number (which I now realize was a mistake). Soon after, I received numerous phone calls to my cell phone and home phone notifying me that there was a problem with my card. I double and triple checked and assured Cheapoair that no, indeed, I had given them the correct card information. The next day I checked my bank account and was shocked to see that not only had the original 3400 charge gone through, but that Cheapoair had charged me two additional times. I was now more than -7000. Immediately, my bank charged the overdraft fees. I immediately contacted Cheapoair and they were less than helpful/sympathetic.

They said they would fix it, but after a week had passed I was still -7000, I contacted them again. No luck - I had now gone for more than a week without a penny to my name and they could have cared less. Funny how it takes them seconds to charge me 3 times, yet days to refund that charge!! Finally, after 10 days and no word from Cheapoair, my mother contact a high official in our state government who is a friend of hers. It was only through him that, two weeks later, the money was refunded to my account. I would probably still be without this money if I hadn't had this connection.

Rory of Fort Wayne, IN August 4, 2009

I booked a round trip flight on CheapOair.com from Indianapolis Indiana to Athens Greece for a trip leaving October 1 and returning October 17. I booked this back on May 30, 2009. I received the trip confirmation that included an eticket number. My trip involved both Delta and AirFrance airlines. I assumed everything was set but two weeks ago when I checked the Delta and AirFrance sites to see if my flights had all been confirmed I noticed on both sites that the Atlanta to Athens flight was not listed on either website. I called Delta and AirFrance and they confirmed that the flight had been cancelled and that I should contact CheapOAir. I went to the ChepOAir website and sent them an email about this cancellation. They responded that there was a problem and that they would work on fixing it. I have sent them several emails since and called them yesterday. I was told by one of their operators that someone would contact me within 24 hours. That never happened.

I checked the CheapOAir site this morning and my schedule still shows the cancelled flight. I have since gone on line to see if there are similar complaints about CheapOAir and I have read dozens of horror stories about their service. I am unsure at this point what can be done about this and would appreciate any advice on what recourse I have. My gut feeling is that they are going to get me another flight at a much higher price. I fell as if they should honor my original deal as I have already paid for this flight. According to CheapOAir's website the fares are non-refundable but I would think this should not apply if they can't honor the original agreement.

kathryn of seattle, WA July 29, 2009

I have now had the same bad experience, dozens of times and on multiple days, when attempting to purchase airfare through Cheap O Air.com. After selecting a fare for 208.00, I went through all the prompts to purchase a ticket, providing sensitive personal and credit card information. However, after providing that information and agreeing to purchase the ticket, I received the same message each time I attempted to make a purchase.

The message states in part: We are sorry, this fare you are trying to book is un-available, this happens quite rarely when the last seats on the plane get sold out. Please choose a different flight option below. Thank You. Please note that the advice is to select from the fares being offered. Those fares were also bogus and not available and I continued to get the same message. The message states, "this happens quite rarely". I can assure you my experience indicates that the opposite is true. When I chose a different flight option I got the same message, every time. So I called the telephone number listed on the site.

I was on hold for very long times before a customer support person answered to tell me that the fares had not be updated by the airlines and that it was not their fault, and that they could sell me ticket for about 450.00. This was the response I received each time I called about the problem. I indicated to my courteous assistants that it was multiple airlines and that I didn't believe that Cheap O Air should post expired fares, since nowhere on their web site do they indicate that they list unavailable fares. To the contrary they represent that their information in current and guaranteed to be the lowest in most cases.

After one of my experiences, I e-mailed my concerns and got a return phone call at about 4:00 a.m. Pacific Time. The customer support person indicated some excuse similar to what was stated above and also tried to sell me a ticket in the range of 450.00. This is significantly higher than what was offered and was even higher than other posted offerings. In fact, it was higher than what I could have purchased directly from specific carrier on the same day.

During my most recent experience, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold for an hour. I had the phone on speaker and waited as long as possible before I had to hang up. This also happened before. I've had other similar experiences with this internet retailer. I thought I just needed to watch for updated listings but that has also proven not to be true. In a few attempts, the fares were freshly posted after I conducted a new search for fares. The fares were not previously posted and were listed only after I updated my search for the same dates, hoping that the fares would be updated with lower rates. They were. They were all simply unavailable. Those same fares continue to cycle in and out of their listed offerings and continue to be unavailable.

In Cheap O' response message it suggests that the fares will not be available after all seats have been sold out. Not only do the related fares continue to cycle in and out of Cheap O's offerings but, in my case, they relate to dates that pertain to January of 2010. I'm just sure that all those seats are sold out. Give me a break.

I could see on occasions there being a glitch and fares not working out for one reason or another, but this is happening too often and too many times in a row to be anything else than fraud, in my opinion. It appears that Cheap O Air is operating a bait and switch scam and blaming the airlines for the occasion . This is not a rare occurrence, it is a practice. Please note that no information is dated as far as a posted date so they can say whatever. I have been attempting to purchase airfare for late in December and into January of 2010. Please don't tell me that in this economy there has been a run on airfare several months into the future.

Everything I know tells me that Cheap O Air is running a scam. When you call for help, they say they'll be with you momentarily. They don't have a time queue. So don't be surprised if you find yourself waiting for an hour or more. If you do have time to wait for an answer, then you've likely passed Cheap O's test for being an easy mark so expect them to try to sell you airfare at a much higher price. If you e-mail them, be prepared for an early morning wake-up call and an offer to sell you higher priced airfare with lots of added fees for assisting with telephone reservations, which they may or may not disclose to you.

Cheap O doesn't break down their taxes. If you click-on for tax information, you simply get a generic tax schedule, nothing adds up. Be careful about this internet company. If Cheap O can sell you on their lowest almost airfare, the increase in costs due to their unexplained taxes and fees will likely make it a profitable transaction for them. All the while you were thinking that you were getting the lowest airfare. Think again.

Christina of Van Nuys, CA July 10, 2009

On July 9th I went to CheapOair.com to purchase a ticket and was provided with a Reservation ID and a booking number. Now, I also went directly to the airline's website to verify the prices, and they were accurate, BUT Cheapoair was offering a 10 instant coupon so I figured I would purchase the ticket through them and not directly with the airline itself.

A few hours go by and I did not recieve my ticket so I called them. I was on hold for 15 minutes and then was "disconnected". I then called back and after another 30 minutes was told by a representative that they were "processing' it and I should have a ticket shortly. A few hours later I call back. I waited 30 minutes on hold and once the representative asked me "do you really need a morning flight"? At this point, I'm thinking something is obviously wrong. Apparently, they were unable to offer me the ticket that I had purchased and booked. I requested to speak to a manager and was transferred to SHAW. He would not provide a last name. He basically kept giving the run a round and tried to continuously blame the airlines. I told him that if I had NOT used the CheapOAir service and directly booked with the airline that I would have had a ticket so what reason do I have to use his service ever again if they can't provide what they advertise and promote? He did not have an answer. I made him give me a written confirmation that I would not be charged. I also requested the name of a superior. He declined to give me any names so that I could formally complain and told me to send a generic email to their feedback@cheapair.com. I gave him ample notice that I was going to post my story anywhere I could to warn other consumers that this website does not provide the services it charges to the customer!

renee of new york, NY July 7, 2009

Maria of Kansas, many airlines do not have ticketing agreements, that is why two seperate tickets had been issued, or the fare was less expensive. It appears that due to the airline Continental being delayed, that is the reason why you missed your connection, also it is entirely upto the airline personel to let you board the flight. In my opinion it appears due to the operational issues with the airlines, that is where the inconvenience lies, and the added expense. The reservation was made on our website, therefore the schedule is one that you chose. The flight is operating on the return as scheduled, I belive you sent an email that your concern was it was not operating. We can most definately try to get a refund on the portion of the ticket you did not use, but that is not until your trip is concluded which will be July 30. I am very sorry for your inconvenience, and we will do our best on your behalf to try and get the ticket refunded. You can contact me directly at: randrews@cheapoair.com

Marie of Lawrence, KS July 5, 2009

Follow up on my March complaint about my Kansas City to Tallinn Flight. BEWARE OF cheapOair issuing separate tickets for the same flight!!! If the airlines aren't partnered they will NOT honor the ticket if you are late for their connection....See below.

After experiencing the same bait and switch that people have complained (I reserved a flight on CheapOair thinking that it had been done only to realize that the flight had not gone through---then when I realized, I tried again, but was still getting non-confirmation emails (but these were about the earlier flight--the second or third time i tried had gone through)--so thinking I didn't have a confirmed flight I reserved on through Expedia...but when I checked my credit card I say a cheapOair charge...I tried calling them about it but I could never get CheapOair to answer the call {I was on hold when I wrote the complaint in March] so I finally gave up holding and called Expedia and cancelled the flight I had just made with them and figured if I just flew on the flights reserved through CheapOair, I'd be fine. Expedia was very nice about it and charged me a minimum for the cancellation.

But CheapOair had booked me on a flight with 2 electronic tickets---when I checked in to the Kansas City-Stockholm leg the airline (Continental) just booked my luggage to Stockholm and said I would have to collect my baggage and check into Estonian Air at that point...well needless to say the Continental flight was late, the baggage was very slow coming out, I got to the Estonian Air gate about 35 minutes before the flight (actually it was SAS since there was no Estonian Air personnel around) and they hemmed and hawed and wouldn't check me in....they said I was checking in too late. (This was about 18 hours after I had checked in, in Kansas City.) SAS wouldn't just put me on a later flight and after talking to the highest level person there, I paid for another ticket to Tallinn--228.50

I emailed CheapOair (I am phone-less here in Europe...and after a month of waiting (since I have not been able to confirm that I still have a flight on Estonian Air on the return end [since I missed the outbound leg] ...and I want to be refunded the cost of the Stockholm to Tallinn ticket..this is the exact email I received from cheapOair

"We would like to inform you that we have confirmed with the airlines and verified that Estonian Air operating on 30JUL. Your all flights are confirmed. Please re confirm the same directly with airlines. Please feel free to contact us for any further query."

Brittene of Houston, TX June 30, 2009

I purchased a one-way ticket from Houston to Atlanta for 119 plus taxes and fees from cheapoair.com because it was the cheapest I had seen on any website for weeks. I then purchased a greyhound bus ticket for the trip to Houston and was going to fly back. The 119 ticket was for an Airtran flight which on every other site was published at 243+.

Several hours after purchasing both the plane and bus ticket and receiving confirmation numbers, Cheapoair sent me an email that due to "Technical dificulties" they were unable to confirm my ticket at the quoted price. I called Cheapoair and after waiting for 30 minutes, I finally reached a human being who basically told me Airtran retracted the fair and there was nothing they could do but charge me over 100 more. I spoke with her superviosr Nancy who said the same thing. So now I am stuck with a ticket to Houston but no way to return unless I pay almost double the price. Cheapoair insists that because Airtran hadn't updated their website with the higher fares, it wasn't Cheapoair's problem. In actuality, this is Cheapoairs' issue because the same Airtran fare was posted on every other travel site wxcept cheapoir so they are the ones who failed to update their system.

So in the end, I am stuck with a ticket to Houston but no way to return unless I pay the ridiculous increase. Cheapoair would not budge to accomodate me or rectify this situation at all.

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