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MilitaryFares / Skytours Online review: Fake airline booking 24

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12:31 am EST
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Beware! This is supposed to be a website with fares for active duty military but it is actually in germany, at least the company behind it is (Http: / / sky - tours.com) . As soon as we paid and received the emailed "receipt" we knew something was wrong. Instead of a confirmation number we received a "booking number". We called delta and they said it wasn't paid for. In addition there was no such flight number as what we had paid for. There is no phone contact information on this travel agency website. After more checking we found people on forums who had paid for their tickets and arrived at the airport to learn they had no ticket. Also some had been charged additional fees after receiving an email saying their credit card had been denied even though it hadn't. We tried to stop payment, and do a chargeback but the (Visa) credit card company says we have to contact them by phone first. Cute.

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Aliciarosecanham
, US
Mar 01, 2018 3:26 am EST

I have used Military Fares numerous times in the past. I used to be very pleased with their prices but lately I feel like they have started running a scam. The last 2 times I have booked flights, right when i go to pay they say an error occurs. They then proceed to raise the price up 15-25 dollars for the flights. When I inquire about paying for the original flight cost they told me on their chat that the prices changed and they won't give me the original price. When I asked to speak to a manager,

I was informed there wasn't a manager working. Finally, they gave me the service number and some random foreigner answered. Did not seem like a legit answering service for a company at all. Will no longer be doing business with them. Also, I found a ticket 100 dollars cheaper thru Priceline.

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bt1414
Chula Vista, US
Feb 18, 2015 11:07 am EST

DO not use military fares. I repeat do not use military fares. They are not affiliated with the military in anyway. Customer service is horrible, you cannot call them if you have a discrepancy with your ticket. The only way to get in contact with someone is through submitting a request through their website. If you talk to most airlines, they will tell you they never heard of military fares.com, and they will not honor any tickets bought through military fares. Please do not waste your time. Use orbitz, travelocity, or even directly through the airlines website. I had to cancel my ticket and the lady at military fares, told me my ticket was canceled and I would receive credit towards another flight (which this never happened). Come to find out the lady never notified the airline to cancel my ticket. When i emailed them about my flight and credit, the customer service guy was a joke and treated me like I didnt know what I was talking. Lesson learned for me i lost 450 bucks. Do not trust these people. Stay away all they want is your money

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jshaffer
Campbell, US
Jan 06, 2015 3:17 pm EST

We are a legit US company based in Atlanta, with another location in California. Our parent company is based in Germany, and lends it's buying support when it comes to airfares. We offer great fares for military members and their spouses and dependents, and are always working on getting better deals for the members of our military and their families. We have customer support staff in multiple countries to handle calls and emails in most time zones. Our phone support number is listed directly on our site. [protected].

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Tony Barnett
, DE
Jun 09, 2014 1:08 pm EDT
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This is a very shady and dishonest company. They have fine print which cannot see while booking a flight. They have little to no contact information and I had the pleasure of speaking to someone that was in the Philippines who was absolutely clueless. They do not refund you your money entirely, so you will definitely loose money with this people. I live in Germany and they told me that they couldn't mail me my refund check because I have an APO address. DO NOT USE THIS SITE!

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Stallyn
Las Vegas, US
May 01, 2014 5:30 pm EDT

Yeah these guys still suck. They try to charge a booking fee yet there is no flight because thankfully my credit card had the ticket price credited back to me. Wish I would have read about them first, but as others said they seemed legit and the prices were only $100 better than others I found. At least the CAC# is not my soc#, but I still want to beat them.

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Afwife
, US
Apr 22, 2014 11:23 pm EDT

I encourage all military families to contact the Aid Society for their branch or American Red Cross for emergency travel. They can get legitimate discounted fares and even provide interest free payment arrangements.

Air Force Aid Society
Army Emergency Relief
Navy - Marine Corps Relief Society

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Samsam1
, US
Aug 06, 2013 11:23 am EDT

This site is the worst ever! DO NOT USE. Purchased a ticket and they changed my whole returning flights without contacting me. I tried to get out of it and they said " It was going to cost $600.00 to cancel. More issues came up a long the way and they fail to fix the issues. Please do not use this site.

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verdonkmk
Tacoma, US
Jul 24, 2013 1:13 pm EDT

These guys are scandalous. I had to cancel a ticket with them due to illness. Originally, they said I could rebook with them, applying the credit from my first ticket to my new flight. Whenever I tried to do so, they tried to get me to book a flight that was $700 more. If you're in a situation like this, contact the airline directly which they originally booked the ticket with, and they will help you. Just give them the ticket number that you originally got from the militarfares site and they will help you get a new ticket without paying an extra penny. I'll never use militaryfares.com again!

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JcNc
Las Vegas, US
Jul 06, 2013 3:29 pm EDT
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DO NOT USE MILITARYFARES.COM ! my boyfriend (who is in the navy) and I used this site to schedule a flight and we were completely ripped off! He purchased the gold protection cancellation insurance which states is a "no questions asked cancellation protection" however, when he tried to change his flight for an earlier one, he was asked to pay an airline difference fee of more than $300, but when we checked for tickets on a reliable website, the difference was no more than $30. The original ticket purchased on military fares.com was $420.10 and they were asking for $770, which is $350 for flight difference, but the same ticket was going for $450.00 on expedia. Once we realized how shady this was we decided to cancel the purchase to get a full refund . Once we contacted them, they gave us 3 unreasonable options and we proceeded to file a complaint with the BBB. Also, we requested a phone number to speak to a militaryfares representative but their e-mail response completely ignored our request. We tried to log back in to his militaryfares.com account and found out his account had been deleted. We tried to reply to their e-mail and it did not go through. We called the following phone number [protected] and they never answered. We are still in the process of resolving our issue. This company lies by omission and misleads in order to scam military members. Please do not use them! save yourself the headache of having to deal with an unethical company!

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speedyconsuela
, US
Jun 25, 2013 6:32 pm EDT

I booked through this company as well. I have booked in the past and didn't have too many issues but I've always been a little uneasy with the site since I never saw a phone number to call if I did have any problems. I decided to try them once more but this time I booked a much more expensive trip overseas and since I was in a training program which can always throw curves at you, I purchased the "no questions asked" gold protection cancellation insurance. It misleads you to believe that you'll be able to cancel your tickets without penalties or problems no matter the reason. I understood that the cost of the insurance wouldn't be returned of course but now that I need to make changes, there are plenty of hidden costs they want to charge. They will only refund a maximum of $1000 per ticket but also want to charge an extra $100 per ticket to cancel the flight. That means if you purchased tickets that were over $1000 per ticket, you will only be refunded $900 per ticket. How does that mean that a max of $1000 is "allowed per claim?" And what is the point of purchasing the insurance if there are hidden charges for everything if you do need to cancel or change the tickets? I have tried the online customer service, which is a waste of time and a lack of any real answers. I asked for a phone number to talk to someone about my options and was given [protected] which goes to an answering machine just like the number listed on their website [protected]. Needless to say, I should've have done more online research before giving them my credit card number. Just another scam company catered to dupe military members. Great job screwing the people that protect your freedom to snake money from others in this country Skytours!

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enma
Melbourne, US
Jun 05, 2013 6:29 pm EDT

terrible company ...I purchase a tickets on may 22, 2013 after 30 min of the purchase and review the customer reviews I try to contact them by phone (rings and rings)also I leave some innumerable messages for customer service 24hrs x 7 .I never was contacted to canceled the transaction, instead of that next day the company send me the confirmation for the ticket's. I called my credit card company to see if they have another phone number to calling ..they have the same phone number... it is a nightmare all these .

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ceraulooo
oklahoma, US
May 04, 2013 4:28 pm EDT

Since the picture failed to attach. The menu to show your confirmation number is in the upper right hand corner. Just click "Show E-ticket number/s" and it'll be displayed on your flight itinerary.

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ceraulooo
oklahoma, US
May 04, 2013 4:20 pm EDT

After reading all the responses posted in this thread, I noticed an abundance of complaints regarding issues with having the booking number with the actual confirmation number mistaken. Since militaryfares.com is third-party and is external to the airline’s (e.g. United Airlines) network and database it cannot pull up your actual flight confirmation from the airline’s database itself.

Booking Number or Trip Locator- used for searching for your booking information WITHIN militaryfares.com’s database.

Confirmation Number or E-ticket number- used for searching for your reservation information/confirmation WITHIN the airline’s database.

Right after you purchase your flight ticket from the website, the company will e-mail you the receipt with the subject line: "Flight Booking Confirmation". Now, this e-mail consists of a summary of your itinerary: reservation details, basic flight itinerary, and the payment information including the total amount of the cost. If you look at the bottom of the e-mail message, you would find a hypertext link that says:

[CLICK HERE TO SEE YOUR RESERVATION]

If you click on that link it will open up a different browser with the website’s page listing your flight information with much detail. Attached is an image which shows you how to display your e-ticket/confirmation number (everything is blacked out due to security reasons). With the provided ticket number, you may now verify through the actual airline’s website whether or not you have been reserved for the desired flight.

Personally, militaryfares.com seemed quite shady at first because it required all of my private information: CAC, SSN, etc… But I shrugged it off due to their secure internet connection and appropriate certificates. Plus, I researched their associations with the listed companies on the website’s header and it seemed all genuine to me. Lastly, I did verify via the airline’s website that the flight ticket that I purchased through this militaryfares.com was indeed accounted for and was reserved.

So there you go, I hope this helps.

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militaryfare
, US
Dec 21, 2012 11:52 pm EST

Militaryfares.com is fraudulent. You cannot even register as it will give you an error. During the registration process, they obtain your credit card information, Military ID (CAC) meaning SSN or DoD ID, installation, and your rank. They can't even verify if it's true or not, but they still ask you. Militaryfares.com have no association with DoD. So this website pretty much shows you a "good price" on a ticket, gives you an error, and charges your credit either ways. I try purchasing mine a week ago, and I still didn't get the charge back. But, this website works well for few individuals in an effort to make it seem less illegitimate. Stay away.

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kayteenaus
tarawa terrace, US
Aug 09, 2012 10:05 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I too booked a flight using this airport in an emergency situation. We showed up at the airport and was told there was not a reservation for my family. We contacted the airline and received the same response. I then sent an email and have yet to hear an answer. There were only 2 airlines that had seats available until the next day and they wanted nearly 1300 a person. The original purchase price was 300 each round trip. My husband now has to wait for our account to be credited back before he can see his brother who is currently in critical condition. I am going to spread the word till I'm blue in the face.

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dave wilson
Center Blvd. Nampa,, US
May 14, 2012 7:50 pm EDT

Lately I have been reading some reviews here and to be honest, I have been using militaryfares.com for a couple of years now and I have never had any problem.

Dave from Idaho says it is a fair site.

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Chris Elvenia
Ewa Beach, US
Apr 23, 2012 7:03 am EDT

I recently bought a ticket from this site and have even confirmed my reservation with the airline. I looked up reviews and unfortunately found this one. Since it was one of the few I could find I panicked but decided to continue my research. Luckily I remembered that the reviews are stored on https://www.ekomi-us.com/review-skytours.html as listed on the website. With positive reviews my worries slightly dissipated.
In the initial email I received I got a booking number which I can do little with. Within 3-18hrs however you're given a confirmation email and with that I contacted the airline and verified my flight.
I recommend this site to other military members. It's easy to use and saved me hundreds of dollars.
In case anyone is curious here's some additional information
Tel: [protected]
Email: support@militaryfares.com

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babypuwet
, US
Mar 08, 2012 5:19 pm EST

yep, i am one of those people that used militaryfares.com and showed up at the airport and was told i didnt have a reservation. I purchased a ticket traveling from seoul, korea to orlando, fl and the money was taken out of my debit card. When i tried to check in, i was told i didnt have a reservation, I even printed out the email page with my booking number but as the first post mentioned, its only a booking number, not a confirmation number, so it was essentially worthless. It was suppose to be an 8am flight, and since militaryfares.com do not have a phone number listed on their website, my only option was to call the airline office, which opens at 9am. since that would be too late, and I had to travel that day, i purchased a ticket on expedia to fly later that afternoon that cost more than twice the original amount. I opened up an inquiry through their website and received a response later that day claiming that they had sent me an email stating since they couldnt confirm one of the segments of my flight, the whole reservation was cancelled. I doubled checked all my emails, because i didnt delete any of them, and of course, no such email. I ended up getting refunded the original plane ticket, but still i had to pay basically double for the other ticket. I have held a company commander position and have advised everyone i have been in contact with to NEVER, EVER use this website

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JoeDee
Burbank, US
Mar 08, 2012 5:45 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

The to OP. How can you say you disputed it with the credit card company and they told you to deal with the company first - unless you tried to cancel your ticket reservation and get your money back BEFORE you flew. If you tried to cancel the charges before the flight (FYI, you probably purchased a non-refundable ticket) than no credit card company is going to do that. You bought the tickets, etc. So how did your flight turn out? Did you get any charges afterwards that were extra that you referred to?
I've disputed credit card charges a couple of times in my life and was never told that I had to deal directly with the company. You follow your credit card companies instructions on submitting a dispute with them. The credit card company then does all of the leg work in verifying the dispute - not you! If the credit card company cannot get information from the company or they determine outright fraud...they will eat the charge. There is something fishy about your story because if you had a filed a dispute than it would have been handled that way. I think you tried to cancel your non-refundable ticket "BEFORE" flying and your credit card company said no, at that point, you would need to deal with the merchant...which makes perfect sense. Please clarify - I noticed you posted about them on Military.com with the same paragraph.
As to MilitaryFares.com - if that is one of your representatives who wrote that response...you need to either fire them or ask someone with proper English skills to write your response! I have bad English myself but your post seemed like it was written by one of those Nigerian E-mail scams from General Edajladai and his Millions that he wants to share with me!

sdardenne
sdardenne
, ES
Feb 22, 2012 1:57 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Domain Name: MILITARYFARES.COM
Registrar: TIERRANET INC. D/B/A DOMAINDISCOVER
Whois Server: whois.domaindiscover.com
Referral URL: http://www.domaindiscover.com
Name Server: NS2.QUICKSERVE.COM
Name Server: NS5.NS0.COM
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Updated Date: 16-nov-2011
Creation Date: 08-dec-2003
Expiration Date: 08-dec-2012

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beau Hill
, US
Feb 22, 2012 1:50 am EST

First of all the fact they have no phone number sends up a red flag. The response letter above it written vary poorly sends up another. My daughter was going to use this site and after we checked them out I'm glad we didn't. There website is cleverly disguised to have a military look to it. Don't use these guys.

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Lyjo
Killeen, US
Jan 06, 2012 8:35 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My husband used military-fare.com to fly home which is overseas. After paying the full amount, a few weeks later after we arrive at his duty station we get a letter in the mail stating he owed the company an additional 600 dollars and it must be paid by the 21st of this month.. What are we going to do or what can we do about this? Are they allowed to charge us and directly pull money out of his bank account? I'm afraid of what could happen.

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Jordan1
union city, US
Oct 21, 2011 7:37 pm EDT

I was going to book the ticket through Militaryfares.com. However, I didn't trust the site and called the airline directly (which was delta in my case). Delta airline does not post the military discount online so you have to call to get the rate. When I called I found it for the same price and I didn't have to pay the extra $25.00 that Militaryfares would have charged me for using their services.

So, I think you shouldn't use any of those sites because they are getting the deals that you can get directly by calling the airlines and charging you for it.

DO NOT USE THOSE SITES...CALL THE AIRLINES DIRECTLY.

Militaryfares.com
Militaryfares.com
New York, US
Jul 29, 2011 1:35 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Answer from Militaryfares.com
I am the first to apology if you had any negative experience with www.militaryfares.com but would you have contacted us either via our support ticket system or phone you would have received the service you deserved.
Feel free anytime to phone us. The phone number you see on the bottom of this link: http://www.militaryfares.com/info.php?what=terms .
However we prefer if you open a support ticket: www.militaryfares.com/support/ as this allows us betterdocumentation

Skytours is a member of IATA, ARC, American Society of Travel Agents and US Travel Association.
Militaryfares.com is operated by Skytours Online Inc. We are active since 1997.

What you say in your complaint I can´t answer direct, but yes, it's correct, we first give you a booking number, take out an authorisation from your bank over the amount to pay. We than manually control the booking if all is right we issue the ticket and charge your credit card. Tickets generally are issued within 3-18hours from the time of your rerservation.

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