SATA
reviews and complaints

We were set to board a flight back home to *** on 8/29 out of ***. At the airport (and at no point before), we were informed that we needed a COVID test that was taken within 72 hours of departure. Our ticket information contains no mention of this requirement, nor was there any indication during the check in process. *** it was Sunday, there was no appropriate testing facility open. We are fully vaccinated, and we also acquired rapid tests, but the airline said it was insufficient. At that point, the airline required we repurchase tickets for the following day, and charged us the change fee and the increased rate. In sum, we paid $1200 because of a requirement we were not made aware of. This is fraudulent, as they are purposely keeping customers unaware of the requirement in order to charge them twice as much just to be able to get back home. In addition, I am pregnant and this caused significant stress and potential danger to the baby as I will miss a critical appt.

In February, I booked a trip for my family 12 total tickets to fly from *** to *** on July 4 (via ***). Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Global Health Advisory to avoid all international travel it was in the best interest to cancel our travel plans. Additionally, two of my sons are Police Officers and are considered essential workers and are not allowed to travel at this time. While the airline did issue a refund of the tickets they still charged a $250 penalty per ticket, a total of $2,750 for 12 tickets. We are unable to get in touch with management over this issue and are seeking a refund of this change fee as my sons are essential (we provided letters from the Chief of Police of their respective departments) and the Global Health Advisory not to travel internationally remains. We are aware that other airlines have issued full refunds for travel due to the Pandemic and I believe we are entitled to a full refund and should not have been assessed a cancellation penalty.

I purchased 2 round trip tickets from ***, on SATA airlines, SATA ticket numbers *** and *** for travel departing on April 28. The flights were cancelled in March by the airlines due to the Covid-19 shelter in place order. I contacted SATA to get a refund and was informed they were only offering vouchers for cancelled tickets and the vouchers for future travel had to be completed by December, which is unacceptable to me since travel would be impossible for me to complete by their end date of Dec. 2020. Since I booked the tickets through ***, I contacted *** to ask them to help me get a refund from the airline (SATA was the name of the business who charged my *** for the tickets), so *** has sent 2 e-mails to SATA corporate offices in hte past 2 months asking SATA airlines for a waiver in order to allow *** to refund my purchase. However, SATA has never responded to the requests for a waiver from *** nor have they responded to numerous emails from me, except to tell me to go onto their website for a travel voucher, which I do not want. I want a refund for the ticket price.

Hello, I hope this message finds you well and that you are staying safe and healthy in these difficult times. I was scheduled to travel to the *** with my wife on April 13th and return on April 21st. I booked the tickets through ***. The reference number for the booking is ***. The airline canceled the flights due to Covid-19, but they are only offering to reschedule the flights or a voucher that expires December 31st. I called them and have emailed back and forth with them multiple times, but I have not made any headway on a refund. According to the US DoT (***), I believe I am entitled to be offered a full refund. There is no telling how long this situation will continue or whether *** will even survive without bankruptcy, so giving them a free loan that expires is just unacceptable. We would love to actually take this trip in the future, but it should be on our schedule and not one dictated by the airline. Please help me to get this issue resolved, so we can get our refund. Thank you and stay safe, -

I received an email from SATA on June 5th stating my family's bookings were cancelled "due to the evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak." The email provided my options; reschedule or receive a voucher. When I requested a full refund, the response was "the airline's options are only the one's we have sent you in the first communication. For refund purposes please contact your travel agency." Our travel agent has been attempted numerous times to communicate with SATA via phone and email with SATA for refunds on my behalf and the behalf of other passengers. SATA has been non responsive. SATA is misleading passengers as to their rights and options. Per the United States Department of Transportation Enforcement Notice Regarding Refunds dated April 3rd which states; "foreign carriers, operating at least one aircraft having a seating capacity of 30 or more seats, that passengers should be refunded promptly when their scheduled flights are cancelled or significantly delayed." and "the airlines' obligation to refund passengers for cancelled or significantly delayed flights remains unchanged." In addition to our travel agent's attempts, I've sent no less than four emails to SATA since June 5th attempting to resolve this, all without response from SATA.

My wife and I had flights that had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. We were set to fly from *** to the *** on April 4th and return on April 11th. The booking ID for the flight reservations is *** and the reservations were made through ***. After cancellation was official, we requested a monetary refund but were told we could only receive a voucher with an expiration date. This is a service that we paid for but was never provided, and we explained that we would not be able to use a voucher, especially with the time constraints. In the next communication we were told to instead request a refund rather than a voucher and that we would hear back. Upon doing so, we never received a reply about our refund request, and were simply issued a voucher without ever requesting it. The voucher had an expiration date that makes it impossible for us to use. So while we'd love to take this trip in the future, we are being told that the timing of that trip has to be dictated by the airline, which is not acceptable, and will result in a full loss of our money which we need now more than ever. The US DoT has made it clear that this type of business tactic is not acceptable during these trying times and forcing customers to make what amounts to a donation to the airline is not an acceptable business practice. Please help us rectify this situation so that we are not made to take on an even greater financial burden during this time, through no fault of our own. Thank you and stay healthy.

SATA cancelled all flights for me and my husband itinerary ***, departing *** for the *** 22 March . The following flights were cancelled: *** 22 March , *** 23 March , *** 30 March , *** 1 April . Both SATA and the booking agent ***/*** insist that our only option for the air portion of our trip is to rebook by June 30 (though US citizens are prohibited entry into the EU at this time), or to accept a SATA voucher with restrictions that make it unacceptable to us. As we are both considered high-risk for COVID-19 we cannot know if or when it will be safe for us to travel. *** has agreed (after many months) to refund the land portion of our trip, but they say SATA will not refund the air portion. We have also requested a refund of the airfare directly from SATA. We believe we are entitled to a refund under the rules of the US Department of Transportation, including their enforcement notice of April 3, with a second clarification notice May 12, and under the European (EU) Commission 261/2004, and the European Commission recommendations of 13 May , ***. Just today, *** informed us that since we have not chosen to rebook or accept a voucher, they intend to issue a voucher which we have not agreed to. According to SATA and *** there is a deadline for choosing one of these options. We believe this to be arbitrary, and further, we have written to SATA in advance of this deadline to inform them we prefer a refund. Your assistance with this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

I was scheduled to travel to the ***, *** from *** with my family on April 18th and return on April 26st. With a family member heading back again on May 12. I booked all the tickets through ***. Approximately a month prior to departure SATA airlines canceled all our flights due to Covid-19 Now, they are only offering to reschedule the flights with one year or a voucher that expires December 31st. I have called SATA and *** multiple times and have emailed both companies multiple times and still I have not made any progress on getting a refund. *** has even assisted me as well with emailing and calling SATA receiving the same response voucher or reschedule. I even emailed SATA the Enforcement Notice Regarding Refunds by Carriers Given the Unprecedented Impact of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency on Air Travel According to the US Department of Transportation and they still refused a full refund. I believe I am entitled to be offered a full refund for all my tickets as I did not cancel my flights. There is no telling how long this situation will continue or whether or not I will even be able to travel out there with my family during the flight date restrictions that are given as I am a nurse currently on the frontline. We would have love to actually take this trip and would love to reschedule in the future, but it should be on my families schedule and not one dictated by the airline who constantly does not do right by there customer. Please help me to get this issue resolved, so we can get our full refund. Thank you for your assistance during these trying times and please stay safe.

After hours on end attempting, unsuccessfully to contact ***/Sata International, (via email and phone), regarding numerous changes (which I never accepted) and subsequent cancellation, of reservation number *** for 3 passengers ***, *** and ***. Departing *** to *** on June 9th and returning on July 1st. Although my emails to them were ignored they emailed me a couple of timesinforming me that I had to accept one of two solutions, either a voucher for future travel of my scheduled flight or reschedule our trip within the timeframe of December 31. According to the United States department of transportation, DOT, we are entitled to our refund regardless of the reason the trip was canceled or whether or not the tickets were refundable or nonrefundable. I have asked Sata to honor this legislation yet they continue to ignore me and tell me that I have to except one of the two solutions, I previously stated, by a certain time frame. Neglecting to do so will result in the loss the entire cost of our trip which was $2850.26 or they will make a decision for me. As well as this purchas I also made a separate reservation, from *** to ***, for my husband, (reservation number ***) departing June 9th to returning June 17th. (I had to book his trip separate from ours because he needed to return earlier), in the amount of $851.47. Neither of the options that are being given to us by the airline are feasible to us. We do not know when or if we will be able to travel to the Azores again. As of right now the EU has prohibited US residents to travel to Europe. Taking all of this into consideration and due to the fact that the airline is the one that made changes and then cancelled our trip, we would like a complete refund of the amount we paid when we booked our trip. The airline should not be allowed to keep our money and should have to comply with the United States DOT Regulations. Our refund is required under the contract of carriage, if they are unable to re-accommodate within six hours of original scheduled flight a full refund should be issued .

This vacation was originally booked for April . Due to COVID-19 the trip was deferred, in good faith to October 30. In July, the airline was offering refunds/vouchers/rebookings for future flights and on July 29th my first communication was sent as it was becoming evident future travel would be restricted and a refund was requested. ( In fact, the Portuguese consulate has confirmed that travel is restricted unless urgent or unavoidable. I do not believe a vacation falls into this category.) Many hours have been spent contacting this company with conflicting replies to my request. Communications began on July 29 and 31. On Aug. 2 I recieved communication suggesting a voucher towards a future flight or to postpone the trip. Since I had already postponed the original trip, and given the predictions regarding the virus, a refund was requested as was offered on the airline's website. On Aug. 5 I called the office located in *** and the employee sent a refund request (to the corporate office) on my behalf. On August 7 I received an acknowledgement of the refund request stating I would hear from the *** Office soon. On August 18 I sent a follow-up email as I had not been contacted. On September 4 I sent another email, On September 8, I called the *** office to inquire about the status of my request. I was placed on hold for one hour. After disconnecting, I called back only to reach a recording that the office was closed for the day. On September 9, I spoke to someone in that office who told me refunds initiated in July were being processed and that I should wait a little bit longer. On September 21, I received an email from *** stating my refund was being processed and would take approximately 45 days to process (which would be Oct 9) On October 15, I spoke to someone in the *** office who stated we were notified via email that the refund would not be possible. I checked "ALL" email and while the representative was able to forward an email to us dated September 22 stating a refund would not be possible, it was never received. Apparently since the flight for October 30 has not been cancelled, a refund will not be issued. Is there anything that can be done to help our situation. I have copies of all the emails. We stand to lose $1361.00.

I am reaching out because what i am about to write on how my family and other SATA customers were treated on July 13th and on is nothing like i have experienced with any other airline or company. Such disorganization, lack of care for customers and out right not following or caring to follow your companies cancellation policy is unacceptable. A big portions of your customers are immigrants, hard working people that work day in and day out with one of there goals to make enough money to buy a ticket to go see there family in the *** on day. In my case it had been 2 years since i had seen my Mother, Father, Brother and other close relatives i have there with my family. Now for what happened: Our flight was scheduled to go out on July 13th we were staying in *** for a night at *** (which we lost the money for), flight number ***, myself, wife and both kids arrived at *** Airport at 7AM, I had a family member drop us off that morning, we checked in our bags and headed through security. Our flight was suppose to take off at 10:10AM but, around that time we were told it was delayed, 11:10AM we were told the same and so on until 1PM where we were told that the flight was cancelled, to go grab our bags and get in line to get more information on this. Up until here we received a $10 receipt each from SATA after 12PM for a sandwich or something in that value in the airport food court but, we had already bought food since we had been there so early with our kids . Anyways, after the flight was cancelled, my wife went with my daughter to wait for bags and i waited in line with my son to get more information on what to do next. I waited in line for almost 2 hours and was told they had no information but, to leave name and phone number and that someone would call me before 4PM with more information, i left my information which they wrote down on a piece of paper, they gave me SATA's email for complaints and reimbursements and i headed down to help my wife wait for our bags. We waited 3 hours for bags, waited til after 4PM and received no calls, emails or any information updating us on our flights. I decided to head upstairs to the SATA counter again to get more information, was inline another hour or so to only be told again they had no information, that i should wait for a call tonight or tomorrow. I asked for a hotel room since we live an hour away and my kids, wife and I were all exhausted from the day and was told flat out NO, which contradicts and SATA's cancellation policy found here: *** so we got a ride home. Sunday the 14th, was another day of exhaustion, stress, sadness, not knowing and dozens of calls to SATA in ***, *** in *** and *** Airport for any updates or any information at all, which none was given, same information as the day before, i had to await a call for an update. I'm sure you can see how unacceptable this is and how stressful it can be for my family? Spending THOUSANDS of dollars on a trip to see my family and not knowing if i would even be able to go on this trip. I was at a loss. Sunday night came and some of my family members left on there flight with SATA as normal to ***/*** and me and my family with no updates. We were back at home, with no food because before our trip we threw out any food we had so it wouldn't spoil and had to go out for lunch, dinner and any snacks for us. Morning on Monday 15th came and still no updates, I called SATA em *** and *** and still giving me the same responses, until one of my family members *** (I'm sure you will be hearing from her and her family) was able to get herself and my family moved to a *** flight at 6:20PM to *** and then *** only problem was that all flights to *** were full. We accepted that flight change, i had to drive and leave our car parked at *** Airport Central Parking because, we had no one else to drive us in on a work day at that time. We ended up paying another $498 for parking upon our arrival back in ***. We accepted the changed and being that the all flights were full from *** i looked into boats but, they were full as well. I was able to get a private boat company (***) to come get us in *** which i had to pay 500 Euros , we got to *** on Tuesday the 16th at 7PM, we lost practically 3 days of time with my family, with no work from SATA to get us on other flights, it was due to myself and my family members persistence in calling we were able to finally get a flight. This was meant to be an amazing trip were around 20 members of our family were flying from *** to ***, I was baptizing my son and we were throwing my grandmother a surprise 80th birthday party. Although these events did happen, ours and other family members vacation, time spent with family was cut short, some had to cancel because they were only going for a week and had already lost 3 days not knowing what was happening. I've been flying SATA for the past 12 years out of ***, most trips usually having some sort of troubles, delays, strikes but this by far has been the worst experience i have ever had. SATA quality over the past years has fallen off a cliff, i noticed it, my other people have noticed and experience it. I am looking for a reimbursement plus extra expenses i had to pay for parking and boat ride.