CheapOair review: is there some sort of meltdown going on! 118

I had a bad experience with CheapOAir last July. I booked a flight then less than 24 hours later decided to cancel. They do not respond to the email address they supply and they just send you around in circles on the phone. I consider that they STOLE MY MONEY.

Last week I've purchased 8 tickets from Sfo to Bzn, the return is Bzn to Las for the trip date 9/7-9/11.For this trip we already booked/paid the hotel and rent car. However, last night I received the email from cheapOair that informed me my flight is changed. They changed my return to 9/12 and said if I do not accept the change, I will lost entire value of my ticket. Its ridiculous! It just like you buy a apple from store but they give you orange after you paid. Then tell you if you don't accept, you can't get refund. I don't understand why does such problem happen in U.S. company?
Is there anyone can help me to cancel our tickets with refund?
I purchase ticket by CheapOair. I would never use it ever!
Below is the information from CheapOair:
======================================
If you wish to not accept this new option offered by the airline:
There is no guarantee that the airline may offer you another option.
You may lose the entire value of your non-refundable ticket(s).d

All the people out there please don't make a business with them I am one of the victim, they charge me $500 dollar cancellation fee plus I didn't even get the refund yet! This company is a ### totally scam, is anybody the victim here one to speak up I am not let them doing this again I wanna take this to the court. this is my email tracy_flp@yahoo.com all the victim email me. We need to speak up!

I agree all their complaints, I cancel my reservation and they charges me $ 500 for the cancellation fee! Pls I hope all the people around the world don't make a business in this site cheapoair is a rip off! I wanna file a case against them.

Chippy, we are requesting "proof" of your VISA DENIAL, not proof that you canceled. Your airline ticket is non refundable, therefore we are working on your behalf to get the airline to refund a non refundable ticket. So the additional information needed, only helps your case in the airline giving you the refund. This is nothing that CheapOair has done, you purchased non refundable tickets prior to having proper citizenship papers to travel.

One week after paying an additional $250.00 cancellation fee(even though we purchased trip cancellation insurance when we bought the tickets) We are now told that Cheapoair wants more proof. We have an agreement from a cheapoair agent to cancel this ticket. now it looks like we will be out additional funds to pay attorney fees to sue CheapOair. This is the worst experience I had in 40 years of flying. This company needs to be shut down and it's management put in prison for theft and fraud!
Below is a copy of the letter from the CheapOair agent;
Dear Izolda V Matthews

Thank you for choosing CheapOair.

As per our conversation and as agreed, we have canceled APARIN/ALEX your
booking number 7678126.

We are now submitting a request to the airlines to refund your tickets.

Upon airline approval you will receive a refund of $ 1654.10 to your
original form of payment.

Please note, there will be a new charge of $ 250.00 on your credit card
for the airline cancellation fees.

While we make every attempt that the amount is credited back to you at the
earliest, in some exceptional cases this may take two-three billing cycles
to reflect on your credit card statement.

Please contact our Customer Service team 24/7, toll free number
[protected] or [protected] (if you are calling from outside the U.S.)
for further assistance.

Thank you,
--
HOLM DAWSON

Sr.Travel Consultant
Cheapoair.com

213WEST, 35TH STREET
SUITE 1301,
NEW YORK, NY-10001

Toll free :: [protected]

holm@cheapoair.com

" A Organization is known by the people it appoints "

I really like that last line about the organization being known by its people!

Dear Sir, we do not remove any facebook postings unless the languge is not acceptable. If what you say is true, we would remove every complaint that is there. But as you mentioned, you see several on our site!

ummmm...you used a site named 'Cheapoair' and you are surprised you got crappy service? Really?

I just checked them on Facebook, and there are a lot of unsatisfied complains there too. I posted my opinion on the wall, and this morning it was removed and I was unsubscribed from their "likers". I wonder how many negative comments they remove on average per week? UGH!

I just purchased three international travel tickets (for me and my two minor children) to attend my sister's wedding. Confirmation received within minutes, and then couple days later (on Friday) email came in saying the fare has changed (and reading all those posts seems like it is a pretty typical bait&switch technique they use) and I must contact them to accept or decline the new prices. I was out of town for a weekend, and did not get to check my email or phone messages till Monday. They allegedly canceled my fair - did they expect me to correspond during the weekend?! I just called them and have been on hold for 1hour15minutes. $ 4K later I might be taking my business elsewhere. FRAUD! Contacting BBB for sure - resellers like CheapOAir need to be closed!

At the top left of this page, there is an advertisement for CheapoAir!

Dear Customer, for a complete breakdown of the pricing our billing team will go over this with you. As I can see, you have not been charged any additional fees other than what you agreed to. The base price of the airline ticket, plus the mandated taxes.

Dear Cheapoair,

This is now the fourth (maybe 5th) email I have sent reagrding the above booking number. I first called your company because on a recently purchased flight we had only been given 2.5 hrs to travel from LHR to Gatwick Airport to change planes.
I have made that trip previously, and I know that one cannot get from LHR to Gatwick in 2.5 hrs with enough time for security, customs/immigration and check-in. You have to travel back into London and from there on to Gatwick because no train line exists between both airports. So, firstly, you are costing me extra money, and quite a lot of it, in transportation between the two airports. Secondly, in order to transit between the airports I have had to obtain a VISA for the UK at an additional cost of $94 to me.
Thirdly, the time that I have spent on the telephone with your representatives and supervisors has cost me hours of my time, and each time I have been told again and again that the issue will be resolved. First within days, then fewer days, then I was told hours. Each time this issue has not been resolved. The last time I called I spoke with another supervisor, Mabel, who then got in touch with the original supervisor, Barby, and was told again that I would get a call back and I did not. That was May 4th.

I called again today and was told by Barby (ext 9011) that she would call me back. She didn't.
So, in order, here are the representatives in your company that I have spoken with:
April 7 - Ponty. He said the issue would be resolved in 7 days. On April 15th when I did not recieve a call back I called your company and was told 3 days. I then spoke to Coby on April 19th, he told me I would get a call back in 2-3 days. When I called back on April 29th I spoke with Vidhi, who finally put me through to a supervisor, Barby, who has yet to resolve this situation for me. On May 4th I spoke with Mabel (apparently a supervisor) and again today with Barby, who never called back.
Furthermore, I would like to know how your company is going to compensate me for the extra costs incurred in this process. The money for my visa application, the time on the telephone (I have a screen capture to your number where I was on hold for 20 minutes!) and the transporation fees.
I would also like to know, as I stated in my first email to you, how each ticket has $486 in fees on top of the price? You website explicitly says: ' Fares are round trip, Fares incl. all fuel surcharges, ad valorem tax and our service fees and gov't taxes.'
So what are these extra fees? Our original tickets were listed at $1667, I bought the travel insurance, but you charged us $972 EXTRA in FEES. This is ridiculous. This is by far the worst customer service I have ever encountered, and the most exorbitant prices. You website also says that you can save travelers up to 65% but I want to know how this is possible if you charge fees like that?
Throughout this process I have been talking with friends, family and colleagues about what has happened, and done some online research. I found this website full of complaints about cheapoair, www.complaintsboard.com and I filed my own. I will continue to follow this process and demand that I be compensated. I truly cannot believe that your company operates in this manner. If I had the choice, I would simply request a refund and buy my tickets elswhere, this has cost me enough in other ways already. PLUS I don't have any tickets yet, and they were purchased in MARCH. Ridiculous.
Yours,
Rita Steyn

Do not believe this guy.. They took my money of my visa without my authorization.. I made it clear with their representative not to take any money of my account unless they find tickets and they did it anyway. Of course my bank offered no assistance because they told me that I should not provide my visa to CheapOair in first place. My bank had nothing to do with it, once it comes to this issue. The bank does exchange charges no matter what, but CheapOair does not even agree that they are responsible for any extra bank charges when it comes to a full refund. The fact is that there were fake tickets and they withdraw my money of my visa without my authorization

Mr. Mergim does know the reason why the difference in the refund. He had his bank online doing a 3way call, it's due to the conversion rate. We refunded all the charges back but we are in the US and he is in Canada, the bank explained all this to him and that he should know of the conversion exchange. His own bank offered no assistance.

Have some complaints about CheopoAir, and I never even got a ticket!

I tried to book a flight to Pristina, and amazingly, they were offering flights for just $1350 after taxes, when everyone else was over $1600. The flight times and connections looked right, so I typed in my personal information and debit card number and pushed book. Instead of booking a flight, a message popped up saying that in rare instances, the flight requested is overbooked and no longer available, so I'd need to try again with another flight. Never mind that that same flight kept coming up as an available flight.

So I tried again with a different flight. Same result. Again. Same result. In total, I tried 10 different times. Eventually I called customer service and asked them. After 130 minutes with a very rude representative, he said he found a flight... the original one but $500 more, When I asked how he would be able to book it when it was oversold, he ignored the question and kept asking for my credit card number. Any way I gave out my credit card number and booked those flights. I was on hold for another 30 minutes with his horrible command of the english language. I would ask a question and be met with silence or an interruption to clarify something I said 3 sentences ago. I finally asked (politely) if I could speak to someone who understood english a little better. He hung up on me.

I phoned back and was on hold an additional 20 minutes. Someone who better understood english answered this time and I proceeded to book the flight. I expressed my concerns about "surprise costs and problems my friends have had with online bookings" to which he adamantly assured me that the booking would be made at this moment and everything, including price total, confirmed while I was on the phone with him. This process took an hour and at the end of it, the total was $500 more than what their website total read. I, tired of being on the phone, just bit my tongue and accepted it. Again there were no ticket issues.
Third time again same procedure, I have to change the dates and fights with $179 more and I still agreed (Stupid me). Still no tickets after 48 hrs

Forth time called and they told me to add more $$$$ because this flight is more expensive and I had it with them at that point.

Anyway my tickets were refunded but in total of $421.51 were kept because of unknown reason. Please Please Please stay away from www.cheapoaire.com . This company is a total fraud

Mergim, I do apologize that you are having a problem with CheapOair.com, please contact me so that I can assist you with your concern. Include your name, and your 7 digit booking number, and put in the subject line BLOG. We take these accusations of "fraud" very seriously and look into each one!

randrews@cheapoair.com

This company is a total fraud!stay away from them

This is a complaints board, as the web site clearly notes, not a forum for your pathetic spamming of your own pathetic company. If you don't even respect your product to advertise legitimately, how do you expect anyone else to start respecting you and your joke of a company?

This company is a total fraud. I will urge anyone who values their hard earned dollar to stay away from them.

They falsely advertise cheap prices, cancel your booking after charging your credit card and will reimburse you after 4 months.

I am also apologizing for the multiple postings on various threads. Just dont want anyone else to get screwed the same way i did.

Bill Thompson is absolutely correct. Stay away from this company. The worst thing is trying to get your money back after they cancel your booking because they were unable to obtain the ticket at the price being advertised on their site.
4 months! Who issues a refund in 4 months after screwing you over. And dont forget, they will lie saying you made multiple reservations which is why they ended up canceling your flight.

Do not believe this "Renee" or whatever her fraudulent name is. She/he/it is a fraud!

This company is a total fraud. I will urge anyone who values their hard earned dollar to stay away from them.

They falsely advertise cheap prices, cancel your booking after charging your credit card and will reimburse you after 4 months.

http://www.xomreviews.com/cheapoair.com#AddReview

Please check out this web link with other bad reviews (year 2010), others hopeing you too will be carefull.

Cheap-o-air = O So Bad!

Bait and switch flights, sell you non-stop flights when they don't exist.

Take your reservation at one price and charge you another. Customer service rep "Bob" swears the price went up from the time you hit enter to processing the reservation. You can hear the exact same script in the back ground noise at the call center.

Avoid Cheap-O-Air like the plague. Use a real service or contact the airlines directly!

Bill Thompson, Minneapolis MN

I purchased a ticket for a friend to fly from Dayton OH to Baltimore MD. I was clearly told the price was $180 plus (after Cheapo listed it at $140) and I committed to $180 plus on my credit card. The ticket was a combined ticket for USAir and AirTran. When I checked my banking site, I saw I was charged $180 plus for USAir and $98 for AirTran. I committed to Cheapo Air for $180 and there was no email, information provided, or any notice of the additional charge. This is clearly fraud.

They need to change their name to CheapOService. I bought a ticket that was issued as a paper ticket and paid for next day delivery and this is day 4 and it hasn't been delivered. I called and put on hold for 45minutes and they hung up afterwards. Their lack of service inexcusable and pathetic. I'll never book with them again.

I purchased three tickets for my husband child and I am he is in the US Military. His leave was revoked. So we had NO CHOICE but to change our tickets to when he returned.
Just to change ONE LEG of the flight we were charged 590.00! That changed our tickets from being 900 to 1500 dollars for one FREAKING LEG. I asked them if I could just simply NOT SHOW UP.. for my first flight because I could buy that leg cheaper than to cancel and pay their OUTRAGEOUS fees.. and they said they would terminate our entire trip for all three passengers.
Do me a favor.. GO ON THEIR WEBSITE and leave them feedback. I did.. I told them all of this and that I would NEVER EVER in my entire life EVER USE them again and I would deter my entire family and friends to never use them as well.

I am still angry...

cheap o air s*cks my dick... the service is so poor...they charged me 5, 000 for an international first class ticket and i never like NEVER received their ticket, i was talking to some guy in india who couldnt even understand my british accent..ugh i wish i wouldve never listened to that so called cheapoair ad... it s*cks.. guys these ar*eholes will take your money and wont refund anythinh

CHEAPOAIR.COM is definately a very poor company and I strongly urge ANYONE reading this to NOT use there "service".

On July 9th I went to CheapOair.com to purchase a ticket and was provided with a Reservation ID and a booking number. Now, I also went directly to the airline's website to verify the prices, and they were accurate, BUT Cheapoair was offering a $10 instant coupon so I figured I would purchase the ticket through them and not directly with the airline itself.

A few hours go by and I did not recieve my ticket so I called them. I was on hold for 15 minutes and then was "disconnected". I then called back and after another 30 minutes was told by a representative that they were "processing' it and I should have a ticket shortly. A few hours later I call back. I waited 30 minutes on hold and once the representative asked me "do you really need a morning flight"? At this point, I'm thinking something is obviously wrong. Apparently, they were unable to offer me the ticket that I had purchased and booked. I requested to speak to a manager and was transferred to SHAW. He would not provide a last name. He basically kept giving the run a round and tried to continuously blame the airlines. I told him that if I had NOT used the CheapOAir service and directly booked with the airline that I would have had a ticket so what reason do I have to use his service ever again if they can't provide what they advertise and promote? He did not have an answer. I made him give me a written confirmation that I would not be charged. I also requested the name of a superior. He declined to give me any names so that I could formally complain and told me to send a generic email to their feedback@cheapair.com. I gave him ample notice that I was going to post my story anywhere I could to warn other consumers that this website does not provide the services it charges to the customer!

Stay Away from Cheapo Error! - Let me tell you about a fun little situation I've been through with my flight booking to Russia this summer:

After hearing a few warnings about booking online with websites, I decided to call to speak to someone in person to book my flight to ensure that "extra costs" and surprises would not occur after the fact. I couldn't have picked a more crappy company to deal with and, to my shame, have learned a valuable lesson in doing my homework first.

I was on hold for 20 minutes before I reached someone who had a horrible command of the english language. I would ask a question and be met with silence or an interruption to clarify something I said 3 sentences ago. I finally asked (politely) if I could speak to someone who understood english a little better. He hung up on me. I phoned back and was on hold an additional 20 minutes. Someone who better understood english answered this time and I proceeded to book the flight I could see directly online. I expressed my concerns about "surprise costs and problems my friends have had with online bookings" to which he adamantly assured me that the booking would be made at this moment and everything, including price total, confirmed while I was on the phone with him. This process took an hour and at the end of it, the total was $100 more than what their website total read. I, tired of being on the phone, just bit my tongue and accepted it.

The next day I received an email with flight confirmation and total costs (same as what was quoted on the phone) so I thought I could relax. Over the next few days I started to see a series of charges and credits to my MC totaling 7 transactions over 3 days and costing me over $120 CAD more than was expected.

I called Cheapo Air and, after a lengthy time listening to their recorded plugs about how great they are, got someone who was not in billing. They transferred me where I held another 15 minutes. Finally I reached someone who told me to fax copies of my credit activity and flight info and they would get back to me within 24 hours. I did this and received nothing. I waited a few more days and sent it again with a note of extreme annoyance. Still nothing.

A week later, I phoned and, after a series of waiting and call transfers, spoke to a woman who said she would personally look into it and I would get a call back as to what the issue was. She provided me with her direct number but I later learned the extension is useless because the phone number doesn’t give you the option to enter it. At the start, I asked specifically for an explanation on what the charges were for and why there were 7 transactions instead of the standard 2, but all I got back was a phone message telling me, they looked into it and "there weren't any extra charges" (end of message). Pretty insulting to my intelligence since I can in fact perform simple math!

I phoned back (20-30 more minutes of holding) and asked for the woman I spoke to initially, since she was the only one who knew the whole story. She wasn't available so I had to explain it all over again to a new person who said they would get their supervisor to look into it and get back within 24 hours. I got the email for the supervisor and sent an immediate complaint over the ridiculousness of their inefficiency in handling charge issues. I received no response.

I phoned again (more waiting). This time I was told that they discovered that over the series of transactions, the extra charges came from currency conversion and they would look into whether they could refund the extra costs incurred. This satisfied me as far as them trying to fix what they cost me (though it doesn't exactly make up for all the trouble I've been through thus far. I had more than made up my mind at this point to never do business again with Cheapo Air because of the exhausting effort on my part just to get answers from them.

After a month since the start of this stupid little endeavor, I did not get a response back as to whether I would receive any compensation but instead received an email apologizing for the inconvenience and "please accept 25 dollars off future flights through Cheapo Air". I lost it, and sent them a lengthy letter on what I saw as more of an insult to offer such a thing than receive nothing at all since I made it quite clear I would never use their services again. I received a cheque for $60 dollars 3 weeks later.

To add even more potential trouble, my friends are now leaving a day early to Russia and have had no troubles re-scheduling their flights (different company) for $150 CAD, since an event we are to attend in Moscow was dated wrong. I have now had to phone Cheapo Air again to look into leaving 1 day early to make it there on time and have done a little pre-homework on their website. The same airlines leaving one day early cost roughly the same as my original flight, but after being on hold for 25 minutes and reaching yet another Englishly challenged person in India, I am told that this could cost up to $600 to change my flight. I was put on hold for 15 minutes while she looked into this further then got cut off. I need to go do some yoga before I attempt this again!

The moral of this long story - DO NOT BOOK WITH CHEAPO AIR! If things go smooth, then you save a few extra bucks and all is great but, if not, you will experience a company that sucks on so many levels you'll want to stab yourself in the eye with a pencil trying to get it sorted out. Cheapo Air gets this year's award for anti-excellency in customer service and overall [censored]baggery! Go somewhere else I implore you!

These people are horrible. I wish I had read this post before going to them. Where can we file a complaint with the agency they must report to in the airline industry?

After making the reservation and filling out the credit car information, the computer put my entire name as my last name. I called to fix "their" error only to be told that I would have to pay $50 to change the name on the ticket, even though it wasn't my fault.

Give me a break!

I too wish I had read this before purchasing tickets. I purchased round trip tickets for my husbands business trip. Thinking everything would be as I had booked we never bothered looking at the exact itinerary. Well upon the return flight home, apparently Cheap O Air booked a different day then I had requested, 5 days after when I booked! It cost $750 today to get him home! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, THEY ARE A FRAUD! I will be turning them in to the BBB and any other organization I can find as well.

Cheap O Air if you wish to make this wrong right before I loge further complaints my email is ananda924@hotmail.com

Oh God, how many more stories do we need to bring their SCAM and FRAUD BUSINESS DOWN?

CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!
CHEAPOAIR=FRAUD!

I wish I would have read these before I bought from CheapO. My story is much less then some others (lucky for me). Long story short after purchasing, THEN I found out about their "service" fee. On hold for over an hour. Their "service" is as noted above.
I did get them to refund some of the fee. FYI ALWAYS use a credit card to have them fight for you and ALWAYS check the direct airline price.
What I want to know is why the Attorney General hasn't looked into them.
Thanks for this site, because now I would not buy from them if the tickets were free.

Wish I had read these comments BEFORE I booked with Cheapo. Yes, I also experienced the one hour hold for customer service and it was difficult to understand the woman who sounds like the call is going to India. I was trying to change my flight from a one way to a round trip and pay the penalty for routing, but they said I couldn't do it. I ended up paying $700 in penalties to get a small refund back. I am hoping to see that refund...I was told it could take 6-7 weeks to show up on my credit card statement.
Buyer Beware.

I never purchased a ticket, and after reading the complaints, I am glad I didn't! I cam thisclose to buying a ticket to visit my mom in Oregon. The "original" price before "taxes and fees" was 313.00, great price right? I figured that it would be about 380.00 with taxes, etc...being generous here. I couldn't believe that when I was looking over the final numbers that they were charging me 115.00 and 34.00 for my infant son that would be sitting in my lap! On top of the 313.00! When I looked at their fees section, they are charging fees that should only be for international flights or flights to Hawaii and Alaska. I am flying from So. Cal to Oregon...maybe I am missing something here? I decided not to take my chances, especially since I can get the same ticket for 397.00 AFTER taxes and fees from the airline.

Cheap O air pull a similar stunt on me. On 11/3 I purchased 2 round trip tickets for $578 online with a debit card I use strictly for online purchases, linked to an account I keep limited funds in. When I received the confirmation the date for the return flight was wrong it was 11/24 instead of 11/26 (I still had my web page pulled up in a different window, so I knew I put in the correct date) . I called CheapOair, and was told the only tickets available for the date I was returning home were going to cost almost double what I had already paid! We went back & forth, I was telling the man I was speaking with I was looking at their web site and saw 8 pages of return flights for the date I was coming home within $50 of what I had paid. He said that was wrong, they were all sold out. Finally he agreed to a flight we could get on, on the date we needed it.

On 11/6 I attempted to make an online purchase with my debit card. Guess what I found out? CheapOair had replaced my original charge of $578 with a new charge of $828, and added charges of $50 and $48 and $1, bringing my total for those $578 tickets up to $927.

Repeated calls to CheapOair resulted in my being placed on hold for 67 minutes one time, 31 minutes another time, and never getting a live person a third time. Emails have gone unanswered except for the READ receipt coming back.

PLEASE let's get a Class Action Lawsuit going aganist these people!

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I am writing to let you know that I am completely dissatisfied with the service I received through Cheapoair. I purchased tickets on 11/4/08 leaving from Orlando to Ottawa. . I received a call four days later that they couldn't issue my tickets due to the price change. First off, I could barely understand the person that called me due to the language barrier so I had to hang up and call back. When I called back I was told that they contacted the airline and my tickets could not be issued. You should now allow people to enter their credit card information and give them a booking number if tickets cannot be issued. The gentleman I spoke with could not help me at all and said there was nothing he could do but possible get me other tickets for about $500 more. Working for a business myself we strive on maintaining good customer service, however, what I received from Cheapoair was beyond horrible. I was told that I needed to contact the airline. When I contacted them they informed me that their affiliation with Cheapoair was not very good and that they recommend that I don't purchase tickets through you. You simply take screen shots of their pricing and attempt to purchase the tickets while not keeping current with the pricing changes. This I feel is not good business practice. I ended up purchasing the exact same tickets through the airline directly for almost the exact same price with great service. When I called Cheapoair to let them know to be sure everything was cancelled they informed me they would charge me $24 each ticket which was non-refundable. This is a disgrace. You cannot provide me with the tickets but yet you can charge me a fee? This is fraud. The person I spoke to by the name of Andrew advised me there would be no charge and my flight would be cancelled after I had to argue wi th him for several minutes. I have also informed my credit card company that any charge of the sort is fraudulent and not to allow it to pass through. I am very dissapointed that such a popular website would provide such horrible service. I hope that you can improve in this area as I wouldn't want someone to experience what I had to experience today.

Jennifer