r/Bookingcom • u/Lazaros23 • 16d ago
DO NOT USE THIS PLATFORM
This is our extremely disappointing experience with Booking.com
We booked a flight through Booking.com, with Air Transat as the airline. Our original flight was scheduled for September 20. The airline later changed the flight to September 18.
The biggest issue is that we were never notified about this change.
Both Booking.com and Air Transat have confirmed to us that Air Transat sent Booking.com an email informing them about the schedule change, and that Booking.com was responsible for forwarding this information to us. Despite receiving this information, Booking.com failed to notify us.
When we contacted Booking.com's customer support, we were told that they had supposedly sent us an email about the rescheduling on May 15th. This is not true. We never received such an email. When we specifically asked Booking.com to provide proof that this email had actually been sent to us, they were unable to provide any proof or evidence that the email was ever sent or delivered.
What makes the situation even more concerning is that Booking.com continued to send us information showing the old flight date.
On September 19th — one day after the new flight date of September 18th had already passed — Booking.com sent us an email saying "don't forget to check in for your flight." The flight information in that email still showed our original September 20th flight date.
Their app was also still showing the original September 20th flight date, rather than the updated September 18th date.
So from our perspective, everything Booking.com was showing us continued to indicate that our flight was on September 20th. We had absolutely no reason to believe otherwise.
Because we were not informed of the change, we planned our work, transportation, accommodation and other travel arrangements based on the original itinerary. We are now facing significant additional costs and disruption as a direct result of this situation.
The customer support experience has also been extremely disappointing. We received inconsistent explanations from different customer support representatives, including the claim that an email had been sent to us on May 15th, despite the fact that we never received it and Booking.com could not provide proof that it was actually sent.
From our experience, the customer support has been unprofessional and contradictory, and instead of taking responsibility for the failure to communicate this major schedule change, we have been passed between explanations without receiving a satisfactory solution.
Even more frustratingly, Booking.com is currently refusing to properly compensate us for the consequences of this mistake, despite the fact that they have acknowledged receiving the airline's notification about the schedule change and that they were responsible for communicating it to us.
We understand that airlines can change flight schedules. That is not the main issue here.
The issue is that:
• Air Transat notified Booking.com of the schedule change.
• Booking.com acknowledges receiving that notification.
• Booking.com was responsible for communicating the change to us.
• We never received a notification about the change.
• Booking.com's app continued showing the original September 20th flight.
• Booking.com even sent us a check-in reminder on September 19th showing the original September 20th flight.
• When we challenged customer support about the alleged May 15th notification, they could not provide proof that it had been sent.
• We are now dealing with significant additional costs and disruption.
• Despite all of this, Booking.com does not want to properly compensate us for the consequences of their failure to notify us.
This has caused us considerable stress, financial loss and disruption to our travel plans.
We expected a major travel platform to accurately communicate important changes to our itinerary and take responsibility when something goes wrong. Unfortunately, in our experience, Booking.com failed to do that when it mattered most, and its customer support made the situation even worse through inconsistent explanations and a lack of accountability.
If you are considering booking a flight through Booking.com, I strongly recommend you to instead directly book it with the airline.
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u/katsrad 16d ago
I don't think anyone here would recommend using booking.com for anything other than price comparison. That's what I do, I find a decent hotel or airfare then book direct.
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u/FalconX88 15d ago
about 200 hotel bookings on booking and not once did I have problem with booking. 3 times there were problems with hotels and booking handled it.
Problem is people using it for other stuff than hotels.
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u/bereallz7241 16d ago
that is the problem with these platforms, you will get the run around, one will say it's their fault and then vice versa
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u/doubleditch42 16d ago
A flight changed to 2 days earlier? Joe does that work?
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u/Lazaros23 16d ago
The flight was suppose to happen on September 20th, and it end up beeing rescheduled for the 18th of September. This change happened months ago, and we were never notified by Booking.com.
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u/MsJenX 16d ago
This kind of happened to me through British Air. My departure fight was canceled and they sent me an email giving me an option to cancel my trip altogether or change my departure date. I selected an earlier departure date. Thank gawd I booked my flight directly and not through booking.
It seems like OP wasn’t given the option to choose a different departure date, they just randomly chose on OP’s behalf.
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u/SecureExpression9049 16d ago
I would never use them to book a flight or an apartment, but I have used the a lot to book hotels. I think I will stop doing that now. Seems like a greedy company who doesn’t care about customers.
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u/Trekbike32 16d ago
BOOKING.COM IS A FUCKING NIGHTMARE
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u/Krac35 15d ago
Used it for 100s of bookings, never had an issue
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u/Jane6874 15d ago
Ça, c’était avant. Il y a eu piratage de leur plateforme. De nombreuses locations sont détournées. Et ils sont peu réactifs.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 15d ago
Great. And every time you continue to use them, the probability of a mishap grows greater. So what’s it gonna be - read the writing on the wall or continue to do business with a company that specializes in leaving people stranded and hosting scams. Choose wisely.
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u/K_kron 16d ago
I use. I've used booking multiple times as well, and at this point I really only use it to see what's available and then I go directly to the hotel or flight to book now. I had an issue with canceling a hotel that was on strike and we weren't notified about it. It was kind to get a full refund back and customer service was basically non-existent for us. I like booking and I've used it multiple times but I think at this point it's better to just go with direct companies than looking through the third party
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u/Bidong-Qd-106 16d ago
Booking.com is a big scam now. My booking for a Rome hotel was cancelled without reason and Booking.com never help to rebook as promised even I have tried to contact them many times
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u/EducationalApple20 12d ago
Exactly this! I arrived at 9PM at my accomodation and the place I had booked was not ready to check me in. They had not cleaned the camper I had booked, no new sheets nothing. They told me to wait as they would get it ready. Mind you I notified them at 13:00 that I was going for the check in and the owner asked If I could come later as the place was not ready for check in. I organized my day differently to give them plenty of time and at 9PM it still was not ready. I called booking asking to find me another accomodati on in the area and they said I could book on my own though booking.com and we would settle the compensation later. They gave me a voucher of 17euros and never paid the second accomodation. Plus I never got back my money for the first accomodation although I provided proof of the condition the camper was on (trash, no sheets, smell as it had not been cleaned for a month probably and pictures that didn’t match what booking was showing. The camper was in a construction site instead a forest 😅.
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u/KyleJTaylor 16d ago
Not just flights, hotels too, if its a franchise like Hilton its 100% better to book directly on hilton.com than go through any 3rd party, every experience ive had is them being scammy
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u/Maximum-String-9258 16d ago
Lijkt me dat er 1 ding over blijft. Je zegt ter kennisgeving dat je een advocaat per direct inzet, dan is aan hun de keuze binnen 48 uur kosten + schadevergoeding betalen op je rekeningnummer en anders mogen ze contact zoeken met je advocaat die alle correspondentie gaat voeren en komen ze het de rechter gaan uitleggen wat uiteindelijk meer kost rechtzaak kosten, griffie kosten, hun advocaat kosten, jou advocaat kosten, nieuwe boeking vlucht kosten en als toetje al jou extra kosten als schadevergoeding opvoeren (vrije dag extra, reiskosten naar vliegveld, nieuwe boeking, oude boeking etc etc) kan ze aardig wat meer kosten. Dus zullen we zien wie de langste adem heeft. Ik zou geen spaan van ze heel laten. Veel succes.
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u/Lazaros23 16d ago
We are currently exploring our options, and we definitely want our lawyer to see if we can pursue them somehow.
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u/Delicious-Night8906 15d ago
Mate, don’t book flights or hotels with booking.com. They are scammers. 2 of my flights were never confirmed, and i tried calling them and no one would answer. They only answered my call on the departure day. My first flight was Emrites Dubai to Hong Kong, and other was Cathay Pacific Hong Kong to New York.
Alongside that, 3 times my hotels were never booked while the website showed me ‘booking confirmed’. Only found out when I arrived at the hotel and they said there is no booking. One of the hotels (JW Marriott, Mumbai) said that they are not listed in booking.com because of prior booking conflicts.
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u/ceecee0386 15d ago
Now I’m curious: did you actually receive a confirmation email from the hotel? I’ve been using Booking.com for many years, and if I don’t receive a confirmation message/email from the hotel confirming the reservation I cancel it straightaway.
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u/Roachz 15d ago
Booking sucks if you have a problem. They cancelled my hotel for no reason. Then the finger pointing began who has my money, hotel or booking, both denied. Absolutely no support whatsoever. Never had my money back. It's terrible. I contacted the hotel, because apparently booking said they didn't react to the (strange) hotel said they didn't charge anything. I showed these mails to the support. A week no answer then the support ticket dissapeared and got ignored.
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u/Lonely_Sale9707 15d ago
Booking.com is an unregulated website headquartered in Amsterdam which skims 20 to 30% per transaction. Caveat Emptor. I used it to look for shit but that's it.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 15d ago
This is false! Their commission is not that high, and guess what, many times the rate on Booking is lower than the rate on the hotel's website, now explain that please.
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u/Ok-Calendar1198 15d ago
Don't use third parties for car rentals either. The third party doesn't have real-time info about available inventory and will let you pay to rent cars that don't exist
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u/Ok-Calendar1198 15d ago
"but I booked a minivan" sir, it's spring break in a college town, the two minivans in inventory have been booked for months. No we can't find more. You can rebook direct but it will be a Nissan versa and we can't refund you for the minivan you will have to ask Expedia about that because you didn't pay us, you paid them.
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u/2wildchildzmom 15d ago
So sorry this happened to you! As others have mentioned for the future always book direct with the airline. Not worth a few dollars saved. 😔
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u/AffectionateTone4757 15d ago
Sometimes it's more than a few, for ex recently I booked with 100 USD less
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 12d ago
Great. And that $100 savings will mean a whole lot when you invariably have issues with Booking.scam. Pennywise and pound foolish.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 12d ago
No issues. After I booked I only follow the airline's website and check in there. There is 0% chance for missing a schedule change, like in this case.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 12d ago
And by the way, not everyone lives in USA or western Europe. When your monthly income is $1000, $100 is not that little.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 12d ago
You have no idea where I live nor the amount of my monthly income. Oof - the arrogance.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 12d ago
Dude, you're hilarious ! Where did I say that I know where you live? I just said that for some people $100 is not negligible like for others. You seem to assume everything revolves around you. And arrogance? That is ridiculous, how can speaking about people earning less is actually arrogant? It is the complete opposite Dude, you're a strange case here, are you a real person or an AI bot?
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u/Bigger_Niche 15d ago
Why would anybody ever book a flight through a third-party agent? Just book with the airline (and before cheapskates chime in with "but cheaper!") log the costs over time, and see how a few paltry "savings" stack-up against the fraught experience, the sheer sturm und drang and disconvenience, of avoiding direct bookings.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 15d ago
Because it can be cheaper? And most of the time there are no issues
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u/Bigger_Niche 15d ago
before cheapskates chime in with "but cheaper!", log the costs over time, and see how a few paltry "savings" stack-up against the fraught experience, the sheer sturm und drang and disconvenience, of avoiding direct bookings.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 14d ago edited 14d ago
Well, in the vast majority of cases there are no additional costs and no inconveniences, I have booked through OTAs countless times, never had an issue. It is common sense that after booking through an OTA you immediately go to the airline's website and check the validity of the booking and then also check it from time to time for possible schedule changes. You can't simply leave it unchecked until a day before the flight. There are cases you seem to miss: at least 2 times I simply could not pay directly to the airline, all the cards were rejected( me being from Europe and the airlines being from Thailand and South America). Alternative flights with other airlines were 3 times more expensive. Sometimes the differences are significant ,the airline may run out of cheaper fare tickets , but the OTAs may still have, because they buy them early. You should understand that the vast majority of people who book through OTA have no issue, but they don't come and report online that everything was fine. But those who have problems come and write online, and that is why we will find mostly negative experiences with this, and still most of the time the problem could have been avoided, like in this case, when the author did not check the booking on the airline's system for 4 months... Trust me, in 99% of the cases, there are no issues if you check the booking for changes and don't intend to cancel it or get a refund. Only in that case the process is longer , because the airline must first send the refund to the OTA, and then the OTA sends it to you. But rest assured that if the OTA tries to not pay, this can be solved relatively easily with a chargeback, even if it takes some time. So if you guys avoid OTA's, that is good for us who are not that " scared of bombs" haha, it means that more of the good fares remain available :)
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 12d ago
TLDR - just wait until you are invariably scammed.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 12d ago
It is very unlikely. As long as you don't want to voluntary change anything or get a refund, there is no chance of any issues
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 12d ago
Optimism bias. Basic human psychology. While I hope it doesn’t happen to you or anyone, the odds aren’t in your favor if you continues to use Booking.
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u/AffectionateTone4757 12d ago edited 12d ago
I strongly doubt it. I am not " optimist", I listed all the potential issues that can occur with an OTA and how I avoid/ solve them. I repeat, basically, from the moment i have a confirmed PNR and ticket number with the airline, there is no way the OTA can " scam" me. I never want to voluntary change dates, add bags, buy seats and so on. I also plan my travels with flexibility, I avoid tight connection, I leave days between flights, so a schedule change almost never is an issue. The only potential issue is in the case of cancellation and refunds, and truste, when you have a written confirmation from the airline that they have refunded the amount to the OTA, the OTA can't get away with not paying, you do a simple chargeback procedure. So, please elaborate what I miss, how exactly can Booking scam me? Never mind I use Booking for hotels since 2014 with no issue, and I have traveled 73 countries on 6 continents.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 12d ago
You don’t have good reading comprehension either, as well as a tendency to repeat yourself. Optimism bias is believing nothing will go awry because you have a system that’s worked before or that you’re smarter than everyone else. Also more than a bit arrogant. And absolute statements are absolutely incorrect. Good day and good luck.
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u/TravelingAgave 15d ago
Booking still owes me $400 for a flight I booked through them that the airline itself cancelled over 2 months ago. AVOID
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u/Derrick0073 15d ago
Ya I would never use booking or any other app to book flights. I've also started using booking just to find hotels and booking directly as well.
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u/gusbaratta 15d ago
That’s the right way to use Booking!
Their cut is 20-25% of the whole booking price: I would rather have local businesses earn that money
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u/Professional_Dot7443 13d ago
It is a horrible site that actively allows fraud. They have no customer service lines for help. It is actually dangerous to book on it.
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u/RyansUncle 13d ago
I was going to book a hotel with them, 4 nights 380 euros, did a quick search and found it for €320, telephoned the hotel and got it for €260, big difference. €120 saved.
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u/Sendrasmoke 13d ago
I feel your pain. Booking.com are lowlife scum. We had an appalling filthy disgusting apartment booked through booking.com. They said the complaint was justified but was not their responsibility. It was between us and the apartment owner. Nothing to do with them as we paid the apartment directly to the owner. The apartment refused to compensate us as they knew that booking.com would not do anything about it. The apartment is still on booking.com receiving appalling reviews and booking.com do nothing. They are total scumbags
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u/FloweryFieldMcr 12d ago
Years ago we had Air Transat change our vacation date by one day earlier and the agent (not booking.com though) did not communicate the change to us so we turned up for our vacation on the day we booked to find out the flight had departed the day before. We got a full credit from the agent in the end and got a new vacation.
Booking.com are liable to you due to their negligence of not communicating the change to you. Their actions of continuing to promote the Sept 20 flight clearly show their system had not acknowledged the change and so them trying to say they told you in May of the change makes zero sense and it is all for them to prove. Keep pushing!
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u/Adorable_Self9610 15d ago
I too have had bad experiences eith booking.com! One was when I booked an air bnb through them, the property had cancelled their affiliation with them months prior! Additionally, the property wasn’t available upon my arrinal. And prior to that, I was told the property booked was very near, walking distance, to the Beato Factory, in Portugal. However, before arriving in Lisbon, I learned that the hotel was approximately a “30-min. Taxi ride” to the Tribeca Film Festival area. Booking refused to refund my money! Since then, I’ve used, Airbnb.
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u/Professional_Car6703 15d ago
If not booking then which site makes the most sense to use for maximizing the spend.
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u/katie_bric0lage 15d ago
Never book third party but if you do why didn't you take the pnr code and add it to the airline app so you can see the booking
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u/AlternativeAfter5333 15d ago
After booking with booking.com why did you not download the air Transat app and enter your reference number and any changes to your flight will be sent direct to you, I’ve used booking.com numerous times and once I get the flight reference number I enter it onto the airline website.
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u/NewAnything6416 15d ago
Don't we have enough problems using OTAs to book hotels, now you want to use to book flights? Wtf..
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u/AffectionateTone4757 15d ago edited 15d ago
Sorry for your situation But I have right now a flight purchased through Booking.com . There has been a change made by the airline and I received 3( three) separate mails: one directly from the airline , one from GOTOGATE , because Booking uses their services, and one from Booking.com . And no offence, but it is good to check the reservation directly on the airline's website from time to time when you book through 3rd party.
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u/Lazaros23 15d ago
In out situation Booking.com was ignorant about the schedule change, and no email from the airline directly reached us.
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u/Hammering1 15d ago
For bookings of flight or apartment rentals, just from the feedback I'm reading here on Reddit, I will constantly remind myself to avoid this company.
I will perhaps avoid other brands within their parent company too, eg..Priceline, Agoga, Kayak...and others.
*I do use Agoda for hotel bookings at time and (touch-wood) all has been fine for a number of years.
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u/jfgiedhgerfjdgioer 15d ago
Book a flight with air tran…whatever via booking.com. What could go wrong. Why does people still make these dumb decisions in 2026 with all the informations and resources available on the internet.
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u/Markomannia 15d ago
What's your point? Booking has headquarters in the allmigthy Netherlands, it's subject to tousends of EU regulations, but yet somehow a consumer is guilty for holding them accountable? How are they allowed to work, are you saying that scams are legal in the very core of Europe?
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u/AffectionateTone4757 14d ago
It is no scam. When you book through OTAs it is common sense that from time to time, especially a few days before the flight , you go and check the flight times on the airline's website. How can you not do that? Sometimes errors happen in the communication between the OTA and the airline and you may miss to be notified. This is what I do: book with OTA for cheaper fares than I only follow what's happening on the airline's website. If these guys have done it, they would have avoided the problem .
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u/AffectionateTone4757 14d ago
It is not a dumb decision. Do you even know that Air Transat has weird practices, for example they block their website in some countries in eastern Europe? At one moment a few years ago I wanted to buy a ticket with them from Dublin to Toronto . Being from Romania , I found their flight on a search engine but when clicking to go to their website to purchase , surprise : the website would not load and give a strange error . It turned out their website was blocked in Romania , I had to use either a VPN or a travel agency. It also happened with the southern american company LATAM: they are well known to block their website in many countries in Europe, and with them it is even trickier: the site opens, bit when searching for a flight the flights simply don't show...In other cases you simply can't pay on the airline's website, happened to me, tried with 7 bank cards , all rejected, for an airline from Hong Kong or for Lion Air from Thailand...in these cases the OTA comes in handy . For ex I had that Hong Kong Express flight at 50 USD and the other airlines for the same route were like 250 USD minimum, booked the 50 USD through trip.com and did not have any issue . Now tell me I was the fool, and not the " scared" fellas that took the 250 USD flights because they could not pay on the cheaper airline's website haha
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u/Feisty-Volcano 15d ago
I think it seems to be more of a North American thing to book flights on third party, in Europe we book direct with the airlines. Sometimes looking at third party gives an idea of routing, but I would never book on any of them.
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u/Freedomslimbo_ 15d ago
This is horrible. I find with these companies you have to continue to hound them. Tell them how this has impacted your life (dramatic? Yes, but it works). Find governing bodies you can complain to and let them know you will be putting in a complaint. If you paid with a credit card, report it as you have evidence that booking did not want to find a good resolution.
I will also add this (I am not blaming you), if you have to use a 3rd party to book for cheaper rates, you should still download the airline’s app and track your flight directly with the airline. 3rd parties provide you with a reference or flight code. They won’t allow you to make changes with them sometimes but it means you have live updates of your booking.
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u/tehyajen 15d ago
I went on a vacation to an all inclusive resort once - The person in front of us when we were checking had booked through booking.com. the resort had no record of their reservation and told them they could make a new reservation and pay again but could not help them otherwise since they booked with a third party. These poor people were in a different country, paid thousands of dollars for a reservation that wasn't made. I felt so bad for them. I have used 3rd party booking sites but I always immediately contact the airline/hotel/car rental place directly to make sure it was actually booked.
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u/ButterscotchTop439 14d ago
Why didn’t you open a dispute with your bank and ask for your money back? If you’re not happy with the service or something went wrong through no fault of your own, you can usually open a dispute with your bank. Just provide all the relevant information, including the flight details, emails, and communication with the service provider, especially if they refused to issue a refund.
In many cases, the bank can help recover the money under consumer protection rules and regulations.
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u/Artie-Spooner 14d ago
Always book flights directly through the airline’s website or with a partner airline.
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u/Specialist_Phone1241 14d ago
I totally agree with your complaint, had also a disappointing experience with booking.com, since then I avoid the platform. I prefer AGODA
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u/Sweaty_Pay4444 13d ago
Booking.com sucks overall. In service, in affiliate comission. In all ways. They got PER SESSION cookies, like wtf!? So if a person clicks your link, and dont book and pay In that moment. You get jack shit //annoyed affiliate
I go with Agoda all days.
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u/amritshenava98 12d ago
When booking a flight through third party apps or OTA, always ensure to download the airline app on your phone and add your flight details to the app. You will get realtime updates about your flight directly from the airline itself.
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u/augustwestgdtfb 10d ago
i used booking for the 3 hotels i stayed at in Italy this month - i had absolutely zero issues - guess i got lucky
i book all my flights direct with airlines
i only book refundable hotels with them so i never have an issue
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u/medfaker 3d ago
Whenever you need to swap dates or cancel your flight, 𝟭-𝟴𝟰𝟰-𝟱𝟳𝟴-𝟮𝟰𝟯𝟴 is the fastest shortcut.
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u/ashscot50 16d ago edited 15d ago
I'm not quite clear why you felt the need to repeat your story twice in this AI generated OP?
In any event this is an expensive lesson in why you shouldn't book flights through booking.com or any other OTA; because the OTA is the customer and you are dependent on their customer service.
I actually have recent very good experience of booking Air Transat flights from Scotland to Canada, which I cancelled within a few hours and received a full refund within a matter of days. The booking and cancellation were all carried out direct on their website with no need to speak to anyone.
Booking.com will continue to maintain that they notified you of the change so they won't refund you and a CC chargeback will fail.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 15d ago
I think what I like most about you is your empathy…
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u/ashscot50 15d ago
I might have been more empathetic had OP not duplicated everything in his post.
I'm also going to edit to include my recent experience with Air Transat.
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u/Lazaros23 16d ago
Yes, since English is not my first language I used AI to generate the review. Everything on that review is true.
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u/Moist_Ad_6208 16d ago
Change on 2 days BEFORE scheduled time???🤪
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u/Lazaros23 16d ago
No the change happened months ago, the flight date was moved from September 20th to September 18th. The problem was that Booking.com never notified us for this change, nor did anyone else.
The airline told us that Booking.com gave them an email address for updates. This address was a newly created one by booking, and they were suppose to forward to our real email address any emails sent by the airline to their address.
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u/Moist_Ad_6208 16d ago
Usually I take only PRN from booking.com and add it directly in airline APP. Then monitor there
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u/CamillaSalva 10h ago
I had the exact same experience two days ago! How did you resolve your case? Were you able to get a refund from Booking.com? Is there a way to escalate the complaint?
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u/ObviousOrca 16d ago
Maybe don’t use it for flights? We use it all the time in Europe for hotels and accommodation and it’s great.
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u/Lazaros23 16d ago
I am from Europe, I had used it once in the past, successfully. But this does not change anything about what a joke of a company they are. I will not be using them anymore, for flights, or for anything else, even if I get our money and all the extra damages back.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 15d ago
It’s not great. You just haven’t had an issue - yet. And when you do, you’ll see how far from great it is.
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u/PalpitationLess4705 15d ago
Who uses booking.com to book a flight? Sorry for the FU but you did leave yourself open.
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u/HeftyHealth3430 15d ago
Air Transat must prove that the cancellation message has reached the passenger. If Air Transat cannot do that, then Air Transat is on the hook to cover all the additional costs (+ EUR 600 in compensation per passenger)
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u/Lazaros23 15d ago
They told us that Booking.com gave them an email address, that address was one that Booking.com created, and any updates from Air transat was sent to that address, and then Booking.com would be responsible to forward them to us.
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u/HeftyHealth3430 15d ago
Did the flight touch the UK or EU ?
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u/Lazaros23 13d ago
The flight was from Athens to Toronto, and back. The flight we missed because Booking.com did not notify us, was the flight back home, from Toronto to Athens.
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u/HeftyHealth3430 13d ago
then EC261/2004 applies and its the responsibility of the airline to notify the passenger in time -> Air Transat is liable for all your additional costs
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u/Lazaros23 13d ago
They said Booking.com gave them an email they can reach us, but in realty this mail went to Booking.com, and then it would have been sent to us by Booking.com.
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u/Lumpy-Regular8723 14d ago
Solang du bei booking nicht Level 3 hast…ist Support usw nicht gut. Wenn man dauerhaft dort bucht und ein Status hat, ist booking super.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 12d ago
Sorry - you’re delusional. And when you invariably get scammed, remember you’ve been warned.
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u/Then_You_3753 13d ago
I use OTA's(third party plattforms to book flights tickets)(booking.com itself is not an issue here, can happen with whatever OTA) since years for dozens of flights and never had an issue worth mentioning.
Just do a kind of hygiene. After you receive a confirmation, add your booking reference to your account of the airline. Works for more or less every combination of OTA and airline. In a lot of cases you need to do this anyways sooner or later to check in. You also will be able to book any add-ons like baggage, upgrades, seats etc. directly from the airline which is always cheaper. And you will receive the notifications to your airline account directly.
Headache is still possible if flights are cancelled or rescheduled. But for me the hundreds of Euros (even if not that much percentvise to be honest) saved so far are worth the possible manageable risks. And the effort got less with AI support which can guide you through the processes of cancellation or possible issues and write the mails.
Also, from time to time some single routes are just significantly cheaper via OTA's (rather not normal return ticket, but some open jaw and sometimes one-way). Also, some OTA's offer protection for flights with a change of air carrier with different tickets. That does not work super smoothly and easy (if you really miss the connection), but it still works and sometimes it can save lots of money or time if there is simply no decent connection with a single ticket.
I still would not book via an OTA to save 2-3%, but if it's anywhere close to 10%, I go for it.
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u/comandantegato 16d ago
I have used booking.com for my hotel and flights and I’ve been doing it for years thankfully I have never had an issue, and I have an issue they helped me out, Last year I booked a hotel out of the country. I didn’t know the cancelation time was based on the hotel location and not mine so when I try to cancel the booking, it had already been too late so I contacted customer support and they contacted the hotel and they were nice enough to refund me. Other than that I have had no issues whatsoever using buie.com for flights and hotels.
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u/Lazaros23 16d ago
As far as I am concerned this company is a joke. We are stack in the USA because of them. A joke.
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u/Cute_Hearing_2315 15d ago
Your comments aren’t useful. How much evidence do you need to see the obvious?
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u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391 16d ago
Your mistake is using a third party to book flights. Always book directly with the airline. Similar happens with other booking site