Goway Travel

Questionable Action by GoWay Toronto in flights cancelled by the Airline

We contacted GoWay in October for a trip to Malaysia and Singapore on March 09.
Received the quote XXXXXX of US$18,232.84.
First payment made in November for the land deposit and air tickets.
We received The Booking Status Summary with errors of passenger names, birth dates and addresses despite our correct information was sent both in email and fax. It took two more versions before the information in the Booking Status Summary are correctly corrected (meaning there were still errors in the subsequent versions !)
Final payment on January 06.
After we received the Fully-PAID BOOKING STATUS SUMMARY in January from GoWay, we could not log in the airline website using the Airline Locator given in the BOOKING STATUS SUMMARY for selecting seats, upgrades, and check in. Contacted GoWay on January 19 of the problem and was told that it should be working and it is the airline problem, not GoWay's problem. We NEVER HAVE that problems with ALL the airlines that we have used, either booked on our own or booked by the travel agencies. The airline told us to contact GoWay with we want to upgrade our seats. GoWay never responded to our request (phone and email) on seat upgrades. (Very strange to me at that time because GoWay would make more with our seat upgrade of more than US$4,000.00)

On February 07, (beyond the 30 days window of the Travel date of March 09, we contacted Goway about the option of rescheduling (NOT CANCELLING) the trip because we saw the coming problem with COVID-19.
GoWay did not respond until we were in the 30 days window with the statement: (quoted)"With that being said, full cancellation fees unfortunately do apply, even if you want to move to another date. The fee right now is 100% for all arrangements. "(quoted)
We DID NOT ask for CANCELLATION. We want to reschedule the trip to a future date once the COVID-19 is over. GoWay did not respond until we were in the under-30-day period !
On March 09, we did not take the trip and we DID NOT CANCEL THE TRIP. We want to keep the air tickets OPEN.
On March 22 the airlines CANCELLED our return flights to comply to the new travel ban order from the government. The Airline offers the voucher for future use for passengers of those specific cancelled flight. The airline told us to contact GoWay because GoWay booked the flights.

We contacted GoWay asking GoWay to contact the airline, ON OUR BEHALF, about the offer made for passengers of those cancelled flights.

GoWay responded that, requoted below:
"When you chose to not go on your trip, the airline was flying as normal and there were NO travel advisories for Singapore and Malaysia. Normal airline fare rules applied.
When choosing to not fly, that is your choice and again, all fare rules apply accordingly.
I am not able to get you a credit or monies for the flights not taken as this was your choice not to travel - there is nothing to refund or credit."

That response is a very twisted response:
We never ask for any refunds from GoWay. We asked GoWay to do their contractual responsibility of an Agent representing their client to contact the airline.
On March 22, the airline CANCELLED the flights and they offer options for passengers to those specific flights. Our not taking the departure flights on March 09 is irrelevant to the tickets for the flights on March 22.

I started searching on the web and saw this review website.
Will search for all customers who have the same problems with GoWay.

No one is perfect, errors are made sometimes, BUT I want to customer of GoWay to be aware of these pitfalls::
1. NOT RESPONDING until the NON-CANCELLATION time window goes to effect.
2. RESPONDING with confusing message, non relevant to the issue raised.

Using their purchased mileages to pay for our air tickets? NO UPGRADES, NO ONLINE UPGRADE, SEAT SELECTION ?

On February 10, I encountered a billing issue with Goway Travel. My credit card was charged approximately $50,000 by Goway Travel ('Goway'). Bijal K. of Goway assisted me with arranging flights, accommodation, and tours across several Asian countries. I planned two separate trips, but Bijal merged them into a single itinerary and charged them as one, which was a significant error. I struggled to have Bijal split the itinerary when I needed to cancel one trip in March . Goway did not provide an invoice, and despite my request on February 8, Bijal only provided a vague invoice with charges totaling $42,524.68 without clear explanations. I am contesting these charges. Bijal has consistently ignored my requests for a detailed invoice, even after I showed her an itemized invoice provided by another team member, Katherine S., for the Australian part of my trip, amounting to $7,129.39. Bijal's lack of cooperation and poor customer service are evident as she has not followed basic accounting practices. As of May 13, I still have not received a detailed invoice. Additionally, neither Bijal nor Katherine informed me about travel insurance options, leaving me uncovered for cancellations or interruptions. This oversight became problematic when I had to cut my trip short in Bali due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Goway has not offered a refund or credit for the unused portions of my trip to Australia & Fiji, despite Katherine not attempting to cancel the associated hotels and tours between January 28 and February 11. Goway's stance that the Australia & Fiji trip was entirely non-refundable resulted in a loss of over $7,000, which could have been mitigated. Goway's disregard for customer well-being in favor of profit is disappointing. I believe other travel agencies can provide the reliable, honest, and satisfactory service that Goway has failed to deliver, including discussing and offering travel insurance. My experience with Goway Travel has been utterly regrettable.