Airfare.com Reviews

I remained worried just because of some of the reviews I had read. The day before our flight, I received an email from Kayak saying I could check in online. So I did, and printed our boarding passes. They were legitimate and we flew with zero problems. My advice is: be sure of the dates you want to fly. Most of the reviews I read were people who tried to change or cancel their booking. We didn't need to do that, and we had no problems, thank God!

Cut to a few weeks ago, when I found out through my lawyer that I would be unable to fly due to my current visa status. Essentially, leaving the United States at this time could result in me being disallowed to re-enter the country, so in her own words "it's not worth the risk". I try to do the right thing and contact Airfare.com to let them know I need to cancel, not really expecting to get any credit back. More than anything, I was trying to do right by this company and the airline. It's a pain when passengers no-show. So I call the number of the Airfare.com website. The first THREE times I call, I'm put through to a customer service rep who, after saying 'hello', doesn't speak to me at all. I don't know if the call dropped (it was still connected?) or whether they just didn't feel like working. But either way, by the fourth time I called, I was pretty annoyed.

I tried to explain the situation to the customer service rep who seemed more interested in talking over the top of me. He told me in no uncertain terms that I could NOT get any credit back on the flight and when I asked to speak to a supervisor, he initially refused. It wasn't until I told him very calmly and firmly that I knew I was entitled to speak to a supervisor that he finally put me on hold and transferred me. By the time the supervisor got on the line, I had decided that there was no reason for me to speak to another rude, helpful person in a call center on the other side of the world. Previous reviewers are right, it's near impossible to speak to a fluent English speaker who works for this company. When I asked the supervisor if I could be transferred to someone in an office in the United States, she simply said "No". About 5 times.

Finally, she told me to just email. At this point, I was so annoyed that I agreed. Not only was the connection bad/muffled but nobody spoke anything better than broken English. And they seemed more interested in reciting a script than listening to what I was actually asking them. Email seemed preferable. Upon emailing Airfare.com, I was told that I would have to pay A CANCELLATION FEE. I didn't get around to finding out how much the fee was because at this point, I firmly emailed them back and told them "Haha, no way. I'll just no-show if that's the case." They then proceeded to call ME about 6 times even though each time, I told them very firmly that I was not going to pay to cancel my flight and that I would appreciate if they stopped calling me.

Finally, I called Delta and Virgin to find out if I could do anything on their end. Guess what? They had NO RECORD of my booking. I am not currently listed in their system (as of today, November 9 2015), despite the fact that I am supposed to fly out of the United States on a Delta/Virgin flight on November 30th. In the words of the Delta rep, "your third party hasn't paid us for the flights yet". Even though I booked over 18 months ago. Right. In short, AVOID. This company says they are based in Washington, they are not. They are based in India. It's impossible to speak with someone who is fluent in English. They will give you the runaround and charge you excess fees whenever they can. And it seems like even if I had turned up to the airport and tried to board my flight on the 30th, there's a good chance the airline would have had no record of me as a passenger! Not worth it. I wish Kayak would stop using them as a suggested third party.

When we arrived to the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), we were asked to step aside as they had no record of our flight details, or any other account info that would put us in possession of any tickets and/or on the flight. During this inquiry with American Airlines to find our tickets and flight information, we ended up missing our flight. American Airlines said we could not board another flight (to Chicago) to catch up to our first stop (from Chicago to Rome) because domestic travelers have priority over international travelers and the flights were already full. Then, American Airlines instructed us to contact British Airways for further assistance since the tickets information was with their company and American Airlines was only facilitating the flight. After a lengthy wait on hold, British Airways informed us that they canceled the connecting flights because we missed the first flight to Chicago.

They informed us the insurance we bought was not through them and that we must contact the insurance company we bought the tickets from originally for further assistance and for insurance information. We then contacted Allianz who was insurance company Airfare.com recommended to us and they instructed us to go home, and that we would not be traveling that day. The Rep from Allianz, Jeff, told me very sternly to go home. That WE WOULD NOT BE TRAVELING THAT DAY. He told me that I would have to file a claim via Allianz and hope to get some money back.

I didn't understand why I wouldn't get all my money back and he just kept repeating to me to go home and to check my email and that I would have to file a claim. I asked him again and he said sorry and hung up on me. After our two hour drive home we filled out an insurance form with Allianz and waited longer than the prescribed 10 days (more like 45 days). They denied our claim on the basis that, the plane has left so the tickets have no further worth.

We attempted to contact them 4 more times, but they were not answering their phones. No automatic voicemail or auto-directory. Simply just letting it ring. We noticed that this situation was not the first time someone had this problem with this company after reading various reviews online and we then proceeded to complain to American Express. A formal CLAIM was filed through American Express on September 26, 2015 for both Allianz as well as for Airfare.com. American Express attempted to issue a refund/cancel payment. Each time, they were given a different reason why they could not give us a refund while included contradicting answers. The first answer was that we in fact were on the plane and used our 'e-tickets'.

Once we documented that we never left the state of California, let alone the country, they then changed their answer to say that we never even showed up to the airport. The third time we re-opened our claim with AMEX we're told that it is not in their policy to refund because our reason is not a qualifying issue. It seems to us, that if we are telling the same story over and over again and they are changing theirs each time to fit their needs a bit better each time, someone is being dishonest. My spouse and I are disappointed that we missed a once in a life time opportunity to spend two weeks in Italy on our Honeymoon and treat ourselves for all of our hard work and sacrifice. I lost time (3 weeks) from work that could not be reversed.

My spouse and I lost the money that we spent on hotel deposits, non-refundable museum tour fees, a non-refundable and expensive time share gift from our parents and then the obvious; our very expensive airfare that caused all the problems. We want this company to be held responsible for taking money from us and not giving anything to us in return and Kayak needs to stop doing business with this awful company!!! This has been an awful experience.

I did find out that if I would have gone to Chase within 60 days of purchasing the ticket, their fraud department would have tried to help. That may help one of you, if you have purchased it on a Chase credit card. I've also reported them to the BBB. I don't expect to ever see the money again, just hope that by posting here, it will save someone else the hassle or maybe someone will step in and put a stop to this fraudulent company.

It took a week for Avianca to research this before we even found out who had charged these tickets to my card. I called Airfare.com today after email them and getting some responses; the last one a bit disturbing stating that I cannot get a refund (see below). In that email it also stated that we actually booked 4 flights but they could tell that the second booking was a duplicate and only charged me for the first booking. I think that had something to do with the website not processing my credit card properly the first time.

"This is the only option you have. We have done nothing wrong from our side as we don't have any of your info. You booked it online and you agreed to the terms and conditions. Please reply so we can cancel the booking before departure to avoid the no-show, otherwise you will lose the entire funds." If I booked a ticket and they emailed me how come they don't have any of my info? The man I talked with initially was short-tempered and quite nasty, said why was I so worried about this if I filed a dispute with my credit card company and he hung up on me. I called back and was hung up on twice then the third time I was told to talk to a Mr. AJ in their dispute department in 30 minutes and talk to him. I have filed a dispute with my credit card company but SOMEONE has to INVESTIGATE this company.

I requested a refund again after the flight date and was told that it was being processed and would receive a refund in two weeks. One month later after not receiving a refund I called again and was told that I wasn't getting a refund because I waited until after the date of my flight. I have everything in writing via email that they told me and they still continue to deny everything. I am currently following up with legal action. Customer service for this company is rude and you will be hung up on 98% of the time you call as soon as you say you have a problem. PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE HEADACHE AND NEVER USE THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!! I have reported this company to the DOT and Better Business Bureau.

A month later I again raised the request to reuse my ticket. Dropped 5 emails, called multiple times. There was no response for the email and customer care is so arrogant and ill mannered that they would shout at you as you made a mistake booking a flight. I do not even know how they could be so ignorant and hard headed a part of customer care team. This is a hopeless website. I actually holds Kayak.com responsible for this as well. They should not list these websites at all. I am so upset that I am thinking of suing them for all the inconvenience and bad behavior.

When I called today, the customer service and the supervisor named **, according to him, were extremely rude and disrespectful. Put me on hold for more than 15 minutes, hanged up on me and cut me off constantly - not listening my concerns. Avoid airfare.com. I am also very disappointed with KAYAK.COM to see how they work with very cheap companies. When I called Kayak, they said they are just a 3rd party search engine. I lost my confidence and belief in Kayak as well.

I checked my email after I got off work that day, I received two from Airfare. First one said that I needed to verify my credit card information (which is understandable) the time of the e-mail was 4.30 PM, and then the second one at 4.53 PM saying that my reservation was cancelled. So I had 23 minutes during work hours to deal with that. As soon as I was done with my work I called the company back, completely stressed out that all my other flights and hotel reservations will be worthless and I'm going to lose all the money that I paid was possibly gone due to a disgruntled employee. The person that answered the phone (after 15 minutes on hold) was much more helpful and resolved my issues. However, the EXTREMELY rude voicemail is just unbelievable, that is the worst thing I've heard in my life!!! Never going to use Airfare again in my life if this is not resolved to my satisfaction.

I have called Airfare.com 5 times (they refuse to let me talk to a supervisor. I am very polite on the phone wanting to reasonably talk and try to resolve a problem asking for a supervisor to discuss this with) and emailed them 7 times - NO RESPONSE! The problem was that they verbally guaranteed the miles! NO RESPONSE is just as alarming as the error they made! NEVER AGAIN!!! Don't get taken in by the slightly reduced fares!!!

After navigating their terms several times, which are contradictory to much of the other information on their site, and calling them several times, we were stonewalled with rude customer service, wait times exceeding an hour and being disconnected. We were bombarded with email requests to click to contractual terms in canceling our flight, agreeing to pay a fee that they wouldn't tell us until we agreed to the terms. They wanted our cc info to pay for fees that they wouldn't tell us until AFTER we gave them our cc info. We only did this after making a call to Amex and receiving their guarantee they would go after them if anything untoward happened.

In the meantime, while waiting for these god awful people to get back to us, we called British Airways to see what they could do. They weren't helpful at first, claiming they had no responsibility as the tickets were sold through a third party. However, after railing on them for close to an hour, we were connected to the division that handles bookings with travel agencies. Through them, we learned that these tickets were actually refundable, minus a $250 fee; the travel agency had been deceiving us, claiming that they couldn't refund them because the airline wouldn't allow it.

Moreover, British Airways quoted a price of $250 change fee per ticket that they charge. This agency quoted us $700 to change tickets, plus an extra $250 dollars on a different flight that was priced LOWER than the original flight when we started this process. They flat out told us British Airways wouldn't allow a refund. We got all the names and extensions of the people at BA who shared this information and were able to they telling the truth; this company was price gouging and taking advantage of the consumer. At this point, we decided to forgo the simple change of flights and wanted a refund and to terminate any transactions. In short, these people shouldn't get our money.

Here's the worst part- when we tried to handle this over the phone, they insisted we needed to file a claim. In that process, they insisted we had to click on the terms essentially agreeing to pay their quote which they claimed came directly from British Airways in order to start the process. They tried to casually explain that if we wrote a memo in the box explaining our communication with British Airways, it would negate their terms and we would get a refund. There was no other way to go unless we agreed to their terms in changing the tickets.

And another point of fraud- They claim on their site that BA allows up to two checked bags per person. After inquiring with BA we learned that they only allow for one checked bag. At this point, we will one last phone call to them to give them the opportunity to make this right. After that we are filing with the Better Business Bureau and sending American Express after them for fraud.

4) Communication was prompt

I cannot let one bad apple ruin the basket...I am changing the overall star rating to 3.

Original Review: March 29, 2015

I booked a return flight ticket from kayak.com which routed me through Airfare.com. I normally don't go by reviews because everyone has their own experience. However, what happened with Airfare.com is ridiculous. I am posting this review after 6 weeks, again because I thought it was just a one-off experience or the customer service representative might have been having a bad day. When another of my friend went through the same ordeal, I had to post the review.

Feb 16 was my scheduled day of journey. However, I had to make changes to my journey date and move it by two days. I just wanted to call the help desk and check. ** (I am guessing is an alias) was the person who answered my call and mentioned, "Click 'Change by E-mail' and fill the form." I acknowledged and ended the call. The form was not very user-friendly. It was 700 dollars and my return journey was at stake. So wanted to make sure I get everything right. So I make another call, and this is where it starts going down. ** answers again. The language used was, "Sir, how many times should I inform you the same?" I apologized and said, "I understand the frustration but please be with me. I want to make sure that I fill this correct." He said in a very rude tone, "SIR, IT'S A FORM. PLEASE FILL IT. YOU CAN'T HAVE ME ONLINE FOR FIIIIIIIIIVE (five was stressed for almost 3-5 seconds) MINUTES."

I am a project manager myself and I have seen people having bad days. I did not react to what he had to say and disconnected the call, thinking I will figure out. Basic thing here was that I needed to know where I should mention my new travel dates so that I get a quote from Airfare.com. The form did not have those fields. So I called again and surprise, the same person answers and starts shouting at me again. The third call went for 10 minutes and again the guy could not answer me and this time I did question back saying, "As a customer rep, you should be helping me but not yelling at me." I got really frustrated. This form had a "Other" or some option with a huge text box. I just mentioned everything I wanted in that box and I got a reply back after 24 hours. As much I appreciate the response and overall experience with the website and my travel, I totally find a fault with the customer service department.

I request Airfare.com to get their house in order. You are a consumer facing website with a ton of competition. If you cannot serve your customers with respect, I am not sure what your operating model is. I hope your customer service department don't start their day with, "Hey guys!! Today we gonna piss off 80% of our calls and make sure none of them return to our website." That's the vibe I got and am I running away from your website forever. Anybody in my circle at any point mentions an air travel, I voluntarily make a statement, "If it is routed through Airfare.com, do not proceed and start over your search."

I have been on the phone to my bank, the fraud squad, retail disputes and no one can get them to release my money so I can use my bank account. How can that be? I don't even know if my flight is even booked as Virgin Atlantic, who the tickets are with have no acknowledgment of payment yet so won’t deal with me. So I have to wait and see if the money is returned within the next 5 days. In the meantime I can’t access my bank account. Nightmare.

After I reached Bangalore, due to an emergency I decided to change the return ticket again from March 21st to April 3rd for which I called Etihad airline and they processed the ticket change and I paid $240. AirFare.com somehow figured out my actual reservation made through them for March 21st was changed to April 3rd and without my consent/authorization they charged $1,221.47 (exact amount I paid initially for my reservation). When I called the customer service, they justified saying I need to pay $1221.47 for flight ticket change and was never able to explain why the charges are made without my consent. In total I paid $3164.94 for which I could have booked a first class ticket.

I've never ever experienced this kind of service anywhere and they literally made me go bankrupt. Their customer service is horrible and usually disconnect the calls when there is a question they cannot answer. To all other customer pls be aware of the scam and avoid airfare.com.

I called airfare.com (average wait time is 30-45 minutes) and they tell me that my card was declined (I checked with my CC, they confirmed that there was no attempt made). I immediately understood that I'm a victim of some sort of fraud..... CHEAP TICKETS DO NOT EXIST! The biggest absurd was when the girl offered me to pay additional $50 per ticket so they can try and book the tickets (once I read the reviews I learned that they do it systematically) .... I was promised to have tickets issued within the hour... of course this didn't happen...

I call again (another 45 minutes on hold), now I speak with the nicest person ever... He promises to personally email the tickets within 2 hours.... and of course this didn't happen. So I call again (this time 55 minute wait) and ask for status on my reservation and the answer was: "We are unable to get your tickets as of now, it takes time"... I asked: "How much time?" A: "I don't know".... I asked for cancellation which I received instantly by email.... They must have been pleased to cancel as they couldn't justify their bluff. WOW.... I can't believe that an "educated consumer" like me was trapped into this nightmare.... what a lesson to myself and to YOU out there.

They said they would do an "exception" and charge "only" $550 a person - (6 of us travelling) and wait 4-6 for our refund of the original tickets - minus the $550/person. Then we could book a new flight ourselves on their website. They said the only changes they allow are the date, but same airline, destination, and time, and still pay a fee of course. Once we get our refunds, assuming the flight we want is still available for 6 people - we will not be using airfare.com!

It's been only 8 hours since I booked this flight, and I'm refused. I get angry, ask to speak to manager, he keeps saying "management won't make an exception", and I keep saying "I'm not asking you that, I'm asking to speak to your manager." I get put on hold for 45 minutes and finally hang up, have called back several times and the line is never picked up.

According to the British Airways website (the airline I'm booked with) a name change for a simple misspelling is a quick and easy phone call. I want to cancel and book through the airline at this point (for the same GD price btw) and now after reading these horror stories I am scared I'll be out $2k. I'm also wondering if this is a violation of the DOT requirement for airlines to hold a reservation for 24 hours.

Anyways, I called airfare.com on several occasions to ask why my card hadn't been charged and they were responsive and answered fairly quickly (within 10 minutes). I was impressed that the representative said he'd make notes of our conversation for the billing department, and when I called days later they recited the notes from the previous call. I also called the airlines, Gulf Air, several times to inquire into my booking and everything was fine on their end too.

I successfully took a trip with airfare.com and enjoyed an amazing price. Keep in mind I didn't make any changes to my itinerary like many of you have, and I called them many times so they likely knew I was onto them. Would I fly with them again? Probably. I was extremely satisfied after night flights (again I saved a ton of money and had an amazing itinerary), but i'm not sure it was worth the initial anxiety. If you're reading these reviews after purchasing like me, just DO NOT make ANY changes to your itinerary (the contract pretty blatantly infers you're screwed if you do), and keep on them to make sure they make a note of your correspondence. Bon voyage!

I asked for a supervisors and agent said "he" was the supervisor which was totally unbelievable given his language skills...then he suggested I call his manager the following day...I asked for his name and he said it was "Scott", not even being able to pronounce it!! I hung up thinking I would just call back and then I received an email saying they had cancelled my reservation...and it was followed up by an email saying I should be "happy" they didn't charge me a cancellation fee (which appears to change depending on who you talk with...anything between $350 and $500!) because I discovered the "bait and switch" with the tickets after 24 hours had elapsed. Horrible service, horrible company. I ended up booking through Orbitz...a few dollars more, literally, but a confirmed flight and confirmation. Silly me for trying to save a couple of dollars...NEVER AGAIN!

I am waiting for my 1500$ for the ticket which I never used for travel planned in December as I went ahead and book tickets with other airline. They said they will check again with the airlines and call me back on Monday 1/5/2015. This is ridiculous & unacceptable. Forget the time you spend over phone and email with these guys which is never compensated. I didn't had choice for 0 star so gave 1 star. Only advice is when you book ticket through kayak & get redirected to airfare.com please be cautious. Pay little more and book directly through airline website but avoid using third party sites for cheaper price as it is never cheap at the end of the day.

But here's the kicker: When I got my credit card bill a month later, I saw that Airfare.com had billed me four times for my trip. In other words, instead of billing me just for the one fare (approximately $1100), they billed me for an additional $3,300--about $4,400 in all. I learned this later, when I received my monthly credit card bill, which showed the additional charges on my statement. Thankfully, though, the overcharges were accompanied by corrections that had been made toward the end of the credit cycle.

So in the end, I did not overpay, but I did experience a week where my credit card was not available to me because retailers rejected it. I had to spend quite a bit of time on the phone with Visa trying to figure out why. It was because I had reached my maximum spending limit, thanks to Airfare.com's erratic billing procedures. As soon as I started to be bombarded with emails from them, I Googled them and learned about their bad reputation on the Internet, and I tried to cancel my flight and book through AeroMexico directly; but Airfare.com's stringent no-cancel policy prevented me from canceling the flight. I will never use them again, and have warned my friends against using them.