Trip.com

In terms of advice for fellow travelers, I recently learned to be wary of booking through a 3rd party in general; if there are any issues with the flight, the back-and-forth is really taxing and it can be difficult to get a refund, compensation, or re-booked.  The strengths of trip.com is that they answer the phone very quickly and are 24/7.  The downside seems to be that it is very difficult to get an issue resolved as communication is lost, you talk to a new person every time you call, and they will send curt emails that made it seem to me like they weren't really paying attention to my request.  Below was my main issue:

My flight from Cologne to London (booking number 18114538791) flight EW 460 on June 25th, 2022 at 7:30am got cancelled, which impacted my connecting flight, UA 900 from London to San Francisco on June 25th, 2022 at 10:25am.  I purchased the flight from trip.com as one flight, totaling $1,323.80.  I showed up to the airport 3 hours before the flight to discover it was cancelled.  Since I had purchased my flight through a 3rd party, the airline told me to call trip.com for the refund.  I called trip.com and they gave me two options: they offered to re-book me but for a fee due to a change in seats (the next flight only had business class), or they could refund me and I could purchase my own ticket on a different airline.  Once assured I would be fully refunded for both legs of the flight, I told them to refund me and I purchased another $1,347.14 ticket (I purchased the ticket while talking to the trip.com person).  Once I got back from my trip, after several weeks of back-and-forth they said they were not going to refund me for the original ticket, emailing me confusing things like "regarding the above booking, we contact vendor and they told us that the ticket fee and tax of return could not be refunded because departure time has passed. And they didn't tell us the specific cost of the return trip. We are really sorry about it."  On the morning of my flight, I called trip.com and spoke to the airlines immediately upon arriving at the airport 3 hours early and realizing my flight had been cancelled; I just don't even understand the logic of their  statement.  They obviously need to refund my ticket as the flight was cancelled and I purchased another flight based on their promise to refund me.  

I tried to remain calm and respectful throughout my conversations with trip.com (after all, the people operating the phones are just innocent workers), but I have felt increasingly frustrated and treated unjustly.  Overall, it has actually been a tremendously awful experience and I highly recommend avoiding this site.

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Colin Holtzinger 2 years ago

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Don't book through Trip.com!
They advised that the car rental company's business hours were 24/7, however the business hours were 8am-8pm. We arrived after 8pm and the rental company did not want to help us.
The rental company told us they haven't charged us for the booking, but Trip.com does not want to refund us the money. So no car and over £350 poorer...

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Gert Rijsdijk 2 years ago

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A complete rip off!
They falsely lead you to believe you need add ons, such as their 'cancellation guarantee policy' (which does nothing other than give you pocket change back should you actually need it). If you do need to cancel for any reason then even your baggage is classed as an add-on & they refuse to refund it (which of course on a short haul flight is almost more expensive than the flight itself & they will not incur any costs for themselves - in my eyes this is stealing) I was offered less than a 3rd of my money back for absolutely zero work on their part.
Of course its all in the small print so there nothing you can do about it! Just a money making scam for those of us who unfortunately don't read the small print before the make a rushed booking! How they can justify keeping your expensive baggage fee's i will never know!! I have checked with Ryan Air and they are not charged for this, thus again, stealing your money.
They charge much more than other agents, and certainly way over the price you will be directly charged by booking with the carrier.
Avoid at all costs - I will never use this company again and will actively seek to deter others.

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Lou 2 years ago

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There was no information on trip.com website which states I need to apply Schengen visa when I was making this booking, so I did not aware that I need to apply a Schengen visa for the short transit in Helsinki airport, therefore, Ryanair airline could not issue me the boarding pass yesterday, I am really depressed as I spent all my efforts and money to prepare this trip, and I miss my home town a lot, I really want to go back to my hometown, I took all the Covid tests and vaccines that requested for this trip but now I am unable to travel as I am unable to apply Schengen visa now because my UK visa has also expired yesterday, I contacted Trip.com, the flights were non-refundable but they are changeable , however they can not find any flights available to change but they should issue me refund by their voucher at least for me to change the flight later when the connecting flight becomes available, i have been waiting for more than 3 days, still no response from them!

It was not clearly stated on their website that a Schengen visa might be required when I made the booking, and also after I made the booking, my flight details are also not stated clearly and it is not stated on the transit flight area that a Schengen visa might be required, the notice provided is inconsistent as The website page only stated baggage not checked through and on the mobile app it stated baggage not checked through and two different terminals!

The Shengen visa requirement is important information and they failed to ensure it clearly stated and it should be placed at the noticeable area. It is shameful that they amended their information quietly, just one day after I made the complaint, that is unfair!

They could not find any flights available to change, and refuse to issue any vouchers! The customer service adviser called me on Sun 16th January 22, said to minimize my loss, but I still have not heard back their solutions yet! unreliable! I am very disappointed, they tried their best to get their commission, if something happens they just simply push it to the airline company, and let you wait for ages, and they are unable to give any solution. In this case I'd better book through airline company directly next time, really disappointed after sale service. Be careful and think twice before you buy anything from this agency, they don't mind to make mistakes as they got experience to cover. Avoid this agency!

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Silvia 2 years ago

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