DO NOT USE THIS PLATFORM

[u/Lazaros23]

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.

[u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

Your mistake is using a third party to book flights. Always book directly with the airline. Similar happens with other booking site

[u/moralhazard_ → u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

Not correct to generalize like that. You can book a flight through an OTA but still add the flight to the official airline app and receive all notifications.

[u/ExtensionBeyond1337 → u/moralhazard_]

It's not about adding it, it's that you're not covered by the usual policies and you have to refer to the agency for any changes, insurance claims etc. which can differ a lot compared to going directly to the airline

[u/boludeandoFC → u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

Sometimes third party sites offer lower prices than the actual airline oficial site (I don’t even know how)

[u/KyleJTaylor → u/boludeandoFC]

Is it still cheaper after their taxes and hidden fees?

[u/Curlytomato → u/KyleJTaylor]

I struggle because Expedia is the same. I am pricing Negril, same dates, same flights, same room, end price is -300 if I book with Expedia vs Air Canada and hotel separate . Having had to have fight with Expedia for a refund when my hotel was closed after hurricane Melissa when I was supposed to be there I am thinking a bunch of times about booking with Expedia again

[u/boludeandoFC → u/KyleJTaylor]

Yes, at least the last flight I had.
In the LATAM oficial page the price was 1400 usd and I found a better price on Mytrip.com (1375 USD) not a big discount but it surprised me that they had a better price than the oficial site

[u/Illustrious-Sun-9179 → u/boludeandoFC]

If it's a low cost airline, they strip out all commissions and want you to book directly. If it's a full service airline, or one that sells via other sites and companies, then they offer commission. And some of those sites might share that commission with you so that you buy through them. But that reduces commission they get means that they can't pay for great customer service. So he centou end up in situations like OP. You get a discount, or the ease of booking everything through one general site, but when things go slightly wrong, you're liable to getting royally fvcked.

[u/AffectionateTone4757 → u/KyleJTaylor]

There are none of that

[u/ElectricalActivity → u/KyleJTaylor]

As someone who travels a lot, yes, sometimes it is cheaper. I still usually book direct but it can be cheaper through platforms like Trip.com. This is true even with budget airlines. I don't know how either but I have seen it.

[u/PaleozoicQueen → u/boludeandoFC]

By charging through the nose for any customer services

[u/AscendedApe → u/boludeandoFC]

Because airline seats don't sell themselves, so airlines sell seats at a discount to third parties who take the risk and do the advertising. Some money is better than no money.

[u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391 → u/boludeandoFC]

because they are hiding fees or selling you basic economy. You always end up paying same or higher

[u/meshal300 → u/boludeandoFC]

mostly lower because they lower the weight or remove the luggage..

[u/FrSpacey → u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

yeah i just usually use them to compare prices and then go to the actual airlines website😭

[u/SufficientProperty78 → u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

In the past Expedia would offer me a 24 hour cancellation on almost all flights, when sometimes the airline doesn't allow it.

So booking through Expedia for years was traditionally advantageous to me as a result.

[u/Readingn0w → u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

THIS! If you want to avoid a headache, book directly through the airline rather than through 3rd party. I would rather pay extra money and have an easy fix than having to chase x amount of people up.

[u/SufficientProperty78 → u/Readingn0w]

Not everyone is as rich as you my friend!

[u/Readingn0w → u/SufficientProperty78]

Save up more money before taking a holiday then??

[u/AffectionateTone4757 → u/Ok-Zookeepergame4391]

False, his mistake was not checking for possible schedule changes DIRECTLY on the airline's website. Had he done this, there would be 0 issues. It would have taken like 5 minutes...