Vayama
reviews and complaints

I recently had a terrible experience with Vayama.com. I purchased a ticket to travel with Turkish Airlines from IST to IKA on July 24th, 2016 and return on August 11th, 2016. However, on July 16th, 2016, the FAA issued a statement banning travel to and from Turkey until August 31st, making it impossible for me to use the ticket I had purchased from Vayama.com. Despite this, Vayama.com did not take any actions to respond to my travel during the FAA bans on Turkish Airlines. I requested a refund for an unused ticket and compensation for damages, but Vayama.com did not respond to my emails or phone calls.

I tried to contact Vayama.com customer service on July 17th and twice on July 18th, but I waited at least 45 minutes on the phone each time and couldn't reach anyone. I also emailed both Vayama.com and Turkish Airlines on July 17th and 18th, stating that I couldn't make it to IST to use my ticket and requested a refund for the flight from IST to IKA. However, Vayama.com did not respond to my emails.

On July 18th, United Airlines changed my ticket to go from LAX to IKA directly, but Vayama.com did not respond to my notifications. Turkish Airlines asked me to contact Vayama.com to get a partial refund for the outbound ticket, but I still did not receive any response from Vayama.com.

On July 22nd, I traveled from LAX to IKA through Germany. However, I did not use my outbound ticket purchased on Vayama.com on July 24th. I followed up with Vayama.com via email on July 29th, but I did not receive a satisfactory response until July 30th, when Vayama.com offered me a $24 refund, which I have not received yet.

On August 2nd, I received an email from Turkish Airlines stating that Vayama.com had canceled my return ticket (IKA to IST). I sent several emails to Vayama.com from August 3rd to 7th, explaining that the regular cancellation policy did not apply to me, and that Turkish Airlines' policy for affected people with coup activities applied to me. I also asked for a refund for the flight that I did not use on July 24th. However, I only received an email with some irrelevant information from Vayama.com.

On July 7th, I had to buy another ticket to travel from IKA to IST to replace the return flight that was canceled by Vayama.com. Overall, I am extremely disappointed with Vayama.com's lack of response and poor customer service. I would not recommend this company to anyone.

I would not recommend booking with Vayama. My experience with them was terrible. I booked a flight from LAX to Taipei for December 2015, but due to work schedules, I had to cancel the trip. When I called their customer service to cancel, the agent was more interested in putting me on hold than listening to me. They charged me a $400 cancellation fee, even though I cancelled 2.5 months in advance. When I asked about switching flights, I had to stop the agent from putting me on hold several times before she explained their policy. They also charged us $300 in agent fees.

We purchased trip insurance through AIG, but Vayama did not purchase it. When I called AIG, they had no record of our purchase. Vayama gave us a phone number to call AIG ourselves. When I cancelled the flight, they also added a $30/person fee that they did not explain earlier.

In total, we paid $130/person to cancel the flight, and China Airlines charged us $100/person. We also lost money on the trip insurance that Vayama did not purchase. We read the bad reviews before booking with Vayama, but we thought we would give them a chance because of their good fares. However, our experience with them was horrible from start to finish.

The agent I spoke to was rude and cut me off several times. They put me on hold without warning and even hung up on me twice. I asked for a confirmation email, and the agent said it would take a few minutes. When I asked if I should wait on hold, he said yes. I was very frustrated at this point and gave up.

Overall, I would not recommend booking with Vayama. Their customer service is terrible, and they charge high fees for cancellations and agent fees. They also did not purchase the trip insurance we paid for. Save yourself the trouble and book elsewhere.

I was looking for a couple of tickets from Vancouver to Paris for this summer and I found some really cheap ones on Kayak.com. I've used Kayak before and it's been okay, but this time it was a disaster. After I made the transaction, I got an email and a phone call saying that my card had been declined and that I needed to contact my bank and then contact them to rerun my card. I called my bank, Chase, and they said they stopped the transaction because they thought it was possibly fraudulent. They unblocked my account and said I was good to go.

I called Vayama, which is supposed to be in Woodside, CA, but when you call the number (***545), you actually reach India and ONLY India (I called MANY times). They said they would rerun my card and that I would receive a confirmation email in 3-4 hours. I waited 6 hours and nothing happened, so I called back. They said that I would receive a confirmation email the next day, but instead of an email, I got a phone call saying that my card had been declined. I asked if they had tried to run my card again, but the lady said no, just one attempt yesterday. She also said that the fare had gone up by $10, but she didn't explain why.

I asked to speak to a manager, but she said that there were no managers there on the weekend. She said they would rerun my card and that I would receive a confirmation email in 3-4 hours. I asked for a manager again and she gave me another number (***856), which was also in India. I called my bank to ask if they had attempted to charge my card again, but they said no.

I started to get scared and looked up reviews online about Vayama. I found a lot of negative reviews and I was worried that I was going to lose my money. I went to work on Monday morning worried and hoping that everything would be okay. By 3 p.m. on Monday, I still hadn't received any confirmation email or any charges on my bank account. I called Vayama again and got the first English-speaking person on the phone. I asked for a manager and he gave me the same number that I had called on Saturday.

The gentleman on the phone told me to wait 3-4 hours, but I was done. I asked him to cancel my tickets and I made him wait on the phone with me until I received the cancellation email. It was a typed email directly from the guy on the phone, which was sketchy. He said that I "shouldn't" see any changes on my bank account, but if I did, I should "call back". I called my bank and they said they couldn't block them from making charges and that the only thing I could do would be to cancel my debit card and get a new one, so I did.

Please be aware that if you have ANY issues with your tickets that you purchase on Kayak and Vayama is the company handling the ticketing, you will get ZERO help and you may never get your tickets. I have read NO positive reviews about this company and I BEG you not to use them. It was the most frustrating and helpless situation I've ever been in.

This is my first review ever, and I'm writing it because I don't want anyone to go through the troubles I had to with Vayama. I booked a ticket for my mom to fly to India, not expecting to have to change it. But things happen, and I had to change the ticket. I know changing tickets on airlines is tough, so I was respectful towards Vayama as a company. I told them to charge me whatever fees they need to, but I would like to change the ticket to a different date, and I will pay the difference.

They said they would do it for me, but it would cost close to $590 to change it. They submitted the request to their department in Bangalore, India, which takes 2-3 business days to get back to you. I put in a request for the dates I needed, which were available when I talked to the rep on the phone, but he couldn't book it for me since it had to go through their request department. So I waited 2 business days, and I got a response saying those tickets aren't available anymore. I called back and talked directly to a supervisor, Mike, for 2 hours. After a lot of running around in circles and him giving me a lot of false information, we were finally able to book a ticket for the specific dates I needed. Once Mike told me that these tickets were booked, I went ahead and booked flight reservations in India for my mom for the second leg of the journey.

My conversation with Mike was at 11 AM EST. I got a call from Vayama at 9:45 PM, and they left a VM saying those tickets were not available. The reason I got a call at 945 PM is probably because that's when their department in India probably starts their workday. So the next morning, I called to try to get things going again, and at this point, I just wanted a refund. They told me I would have to wait 2-3 days to see if I would get a refund or not. At this time, I asked to speak with the supervisor of the supervisor who told me that there was nothing she can do. At that time, I asked this new supervisor, Quetha, to speak with her supervisor, to which she responded "I can help you because this is what I get paid to do". Worst attitude I have ever heard.

I am writing this review at a point where this issue still has not been resolved, and I have come to accept that I have lost my $1600. At times I felt as if this website could have been a scam. They will prey on you if they can. They will last second make changes to your flight. Do NOT book with them. Do NOT trust them. Take my word and save yourself some serious serious trouble.

Their customer service is close to non-existent. You will be put on hold for hours, and in the end, the rep will apologize to you and tell you 'we only have 5 people working out Bangalore, India, and there is nothing we can do about it'. You will go in more circles than you can ever imagine. Different people will tell you different things. Do NOT trust them. Do not expect the dates you book to be the dates you get. They will change it on you.

I am tired of writing, but it felt good to get some frustration out. As a consumer who has seen excellent customer service and bad customer service, I am 100% sure this company by far has the WORST customer service you can ever imagine. Also, as someone who has just lost $1600 to this website, I am hoping you tell all your friends and family about this ordeal and to never book with Vayama. I will be starting a pretty solid social media campaign against the company in hopes of sparing people from having their money stolen by this website.

I booked 4 tickets for an international trip through Vayama, and each ticket cost around $1200. The flights were with mixed airlines, Air Canada for the first trip, and Lufthansa for the return trip. Unfortunately, we had to request an exchange for a future date due to unforeseen issues. Vayama gave us a credit option to use within 12 months, expiring in March 2014. However, we had to meet certain conditions, such as having the same origin and destination, the same airline for the first trip, paying $100 for Vayama, and a $250 fine for Air Canada, and paying any extra difference in the new ticket fare.

I contacted Vayama on December 2nd via phone to utilize 3 out of 4 tickets for an international round trip. The representative told me that the response would be via email. I provided a range of dates of travel and confirmed on Kayak search engine that tickets were available for requested dates, for comparable fares to what we paid and through the same airline. However, I received 4 emails from customer service, all of which mentioned that there were "no fares available." In each response, I extended the window of dates until I explicitly requested ANY round trip flight throughout the expiration date of the ticket. The response via email said, "Dear Ahmed, ***No fare available in any date *** Sincerely, Vayama Ticket Exchange Team."

I called customer services the next day and requested to know the reasons for the discrepancy. I was advised by the representative to call between 10 PM to 5 AM PST to talk to representatives in the Bangalore call center. After being hung up on 4 times, and a total of 1.5 hours of wait time, I was promised a resolution in 3-4 days and to hear back via email. Three days later, I called in again and was told that a reservation was being prepared for a specific flight to leave in 4 days. The representative said I would receive e-tickets and seating via email over the weekend, but that never happened.

We called customer service representatives 2 days before the intended flight, and they mentioned an additional fare price of around $500 per ticket. We compared that to published fares on Kayak and Air Canada's website and found 20 available bookings that were +/- $100 from what we paid originally. Upon seeing that, we rejected Vayama's offered booking and requested the customer service representative to book one of the "comparable" bookings to what is published online both on their own website (Kayak) and Air Canada's website.

We were spoken to rudely and made several requests to speak with a supervisor that was resisted for more than 40 minutes into the call. When I finally got through to the supervisor, we were promised that this would be fixed ASAP. This was the only person who acted upon what she promised, but even then came short of delivering any results.

On the last day before the intended flight, I called in 5 times to get a confirmation or an e-ticket issued. Customer service representatives responding said it's all stuck at the subordinate agent in LA handling the booking. The customer service representatives were helpless and could not do nor offer anything. 10 hours before the expected flight, I received a final call apologizing for their inability to issue a ticket on time, and that they will look for a booking in the next few days.

After more than 12 phone calls, about 15 hours wasted in wait times on the phone and speaking to various agents, 6 email exchanges, and $4800 wasted, we're left here with our business not taken care of. While it's understandable to see some incompetence here and there, our general feeling is that Vayama's system lacks a lot and doesn't empower their own employees to get things done right. A quick check for reviews and issues on BBB.org shows that this isn't just an obsolete case, rather a pattern that Vayama continues to follow in its business model.

My advice is not to book with them. And if you have committed this mistake and they screwed up, take it to BBB or even to a small claims court in California. Only then will they realize that improving their system and keeping their customers happy is more cost-effective and vital to their business.

I recently purchased an airplane ticket through Kayak and was redirected to Vayama's website. At first, everything seemed fine as I received my itinerary right away. However, after 5 days, I received a phone call from a Vayama representative informing me that my credit card had been cancelled and my ticket was not actually purchased. They offered to let me use another credit card, but at a much higher price. After arguing with them about why they didn't contact me right away and why the price had gone up, they finally agreed to repurchase my ticket for the same price.

On the day of my travel, my mother called me to inform me that my flights had been changed for my return trip. Nobody from Vayama had contacted me to let me know about the change. They had also changed my flight to a later time, which was not suitable for me. I called Vayama to ask them to change the flight, and they told me it was not a problem and let me choose which flight I wanted. However, it took them 2 full weeks to reissue the new itinerary, and I had to call them every day to remind them. It was frustrating, and I felt like a complete fool.

A few days later, my mother checked the system and saw that I had a reservation for two flights from the same city, one at 7:40 and one at 8:45. However, my ticket was only for the 8:45 flight, and I had requested the 7:40 flight. I contacted Vayama, and they initially tried to convince me that it was not their fault and that I had to fix the problem through the airlines. I contacted all three airlines, but they told me that they could not change it since the agent from Vayama made the reservation wrong.

I was frustrated beyond belief at this point. If I missed my connection flight, I would have to wait with my infant all day at the connecting airport. I called Vayama every day, and even though they promised to fix it, they kept stalling me and telling me to be patient. They were just waiting for the day of my flight to get rid of me. This mistake was Vayama's fault, but they did not want to change my ticket since they would be charged for it. They made a fool out of me every single day with their stalling tactics.

My whole trip was ruined from beginning to end because of Vayama. I was on the phone with them every night after my baby fell asleep, and the cost of those phone calls from Europe was astronomical. They did not change my ticket in the end, and I had the worst experience of my life with traveling. I travel all the time and have never encountered a company that is so unprofessional, slow, and completely inefficient. They make complete fools out of their customers, and I would never book anything with them ever again. Stay away from these idiots!

Listen up, folks. I've got a warning for you about Vayama. If you're thinking about booking a flight or hotel with them, make sure you're absolutely positive that you won't need to change anything. Let me explain why.

Normally, if you need to make changes to your flights before you fly the first segment, you call the travel agent you bought the ticket from. After you fly the first segment, you call the airline that ticketed the ticket. But Vayama buys tickets and hotel rooms in bulk, and then upcharges them significantly when they add them to an itinerary. This means that if you need to make any changes to your ticket, you can't go to the airline. Even if you've flown all the segments except the last one, your airline will send you back to Vayama. That's problem number one.

When you call Vayama's phone numbers, you'll hear an auto menu that tells you to go online to make changes to your ticket. But when you try to do that, the website won't let you. Instead, you have to call the 650 area code number. This is problem number two.

If you're lucky enough to get through to a live person, they'll tell you that you can only change the date of travel. If you want to change the route, airline, or time of day, you'll get hit with a huge fare difference. This is because you're exchanging a bulk ticket for an individual ticket. And if you do need to change something, you'll get hit with a change fee of $100 or more. This is problem number three.

But wait, there's more. Vayama collects the change fee for the airlines, and then charges you their own change fee on top of that. So you end up paying two change fees for one change. And this isn't just a $39 fee charged by American Express for a US-based representative. This is a full $100 for someone who's clearly not based in the USA. This is problem number four.

So, to sum up: if you're booking international flights and you're absolutely sure you won't need to change anything, Vayama is a decent travel search engine with lots of airline and route options. But if you're paying for flights and change fees yourself, and you even occasionally need to change your itinerary, DO NOT USE VAYAMA. Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches.

I just wanted to give a heads up about my recent experience with Vayama. My boyfriend, a friend, and I found a deal on a website for tickets to Thailand for three weeks through Vayama. We were thrilled to be able to afford the trip and booked our tickets back in June for about $850. Our departure date was set for November 9th.

I had been checking our flights regularly and at one point we tried to request to have our flights altered so we only had one stop on the way to Vancouver. Unfortunately, this proved to be impossible through the company. We were disappointed but decided to deal with the 14-hour layover we had in our schedule.

Then, the day before our trip, on November 8th, I checked our flights again. To my surprise, I noticed a change in the time of our flight to Bangkok. Upon further inspection, I realized the flight left TWO hours before we arrived in Shanghai! We had received "Schedule Change" emails before from Vayama over just a twenty-minute difference in a flight, but absolutely no contact was made to us regarding our initial flight being cancelled and a new flight now on a different day and inconveniently leaving before we arrived in Shanghai.

All three of us were on the phone with Vayama throughout the day and they were terrible. The customer service was the worst I have ever experienced. We begged them to rebook the flights so we could grab a connection elsewhere, we asked if we could buy a one-way ticket independently but were told if we were a no-show for one of the flights it would cancel the rest of the flights on our way back home. The two options they gave us were either wait 45 hours in the airport for the next flight out to Bangkok or receive a refund.

I was warned by a co-worker of maybe needing a transit visa so I phoned the China embassy in Vancouver to get more information. I was informed if we were to spend 24 hours or more in China, whether in the airport or in the country, we would require a transit visa and it would take at least 48 hours to process at a cost of $400. However, our flight was leaving in less than 24 hours when we encountered this mess and originally we had a 12-hour layover. I asked what would happen if we boarded the flight anyways without the visa and the woman told me that once we would board our flight to Bangkok, officials would notice we were in China past 24 hours without the visa and according to the law would have to be sent back on the first flight out to Vancouver.

We had NO other option from Vayama but to get a refund. We had already booked accommodations in Thailand and we'd be losing out on so much money if we didn't go. We luckily found a flight through a local travel agency that left at midnight that night. It'd be an extra $500 from what we originally paid but we figured we'd use most of the money from the refund we'd be getting from Vayama. BUT, we were told it would take 25-45 business days for the refund to be credited back to the original credit card. We were desperate, so we put three new tickets to Bangkok on a credit card and flew out that night.

Vayama was of no help during this entire ordeal. The three of us traveling phoned separately various times throughout the day hoping to get a different answer. We pleaded and begged to book us tickets through a different connecting city other than Shanghai and make up for this awful mistake on their part. What's horrifying to think is that we never would have seen this mistake if we didn't check our flights the day before. When we explained this to them it sounded like they couldn't care less and they offered no compensation or apologies whatsoever.

The cherry on top of all of this is we came home from our trip recently to find that only two of the three tickets were refunded on the credit card, so now we have a whole other ordeal ahead of us.

In conclusion, I would not recommend using Vayama. The experience was terrible and the customer service was the worst I have ever experienced. If we weren't lucky enough to have a credit card to put three new tickets on we would have had our whole vacation cancelled. Please be cautious when booking through this company.

I recently bought a ticket through Vayama's website and was charged twice for the same ticket. I received two confirmation codes and two separate Vayama charges on my credit card. I called Vayama's customer service and was told not to worry, that the extra charge would fall off my credit card. However, three days later, I still saw two tickets and two charges on my account, and this time, they had actually posted to my credit card, and the amount had been withdrawn twice. I emailed Vayama but didn't receive a response, so I called and spoke to an employee named Susan. I explained the situation, but she was extremely rude and unhelpful, blaming me for the double charge and refusing to transfer me to a supervisor.

I then called Lufthansa, the airline Vayama had booked me to travel with, and they said it was an easy fix. All Vayama had to do was call them, give them the duplicate ticket numbers, and the airline would credit me back for one. However, Vayama refused to call Lufthansa and lied about one of the charges falling off my credit card. They blamed me for the double booking and refused to take responsibility or try to fix the problem. I filed claims with the BBB, FTC, and ASTA, and disputed the double charge with my credit card. Still, there was no resolution, and what should have been a $482 flight turned into a $964 one-way ticket.

I recommend not supporting Vayama or its sister companies, including BudgetAir, CheapTickets, Flugladen, and Vliegwinkel. They all fall under the same corporate umbrella and probably have terrible customer service across the board. It's no surprise that Vayama has an average of 1 star out of 5 from 91 reviewers on BBB. This experience has been unacceptable, and I hope justice is done.

Vayama is the worst company I have ever dealt with. They are either the most incompetent business in the world or just plain scam artists. You can decide for yourself.

I have had the misfortune of booking several flights around Asia through Vayama (via Kayak). Every time, the same routine happens, and it seems like they are purposely trying to manipulate and defraud travelers. First, they offer what appears to be the lowest airfare. Then, they collect your details and ask you to agree to their Terms of Service, which includes a no-refund policy. Finally, they tell you to wait for confirmation, which is supposed to take 24 hours. After waiting, you will receive an email stating that your credit card has been declined. Vayama will then offer to resolve the issue by booking a more expensive ticket for the same time/date/flight.

Trying to contact customer service is a nightmare. After connecting with a Customer Service Agent, I have been put on indefinite hold for 20-30 minutes, until I finally decide to hang up and call in again. It's clear that the people working the call center would rather not deal with all the righteous anger being generated by this scam business model. Every issue has to be elevated to some "higher department," including issues related to payment processing.

To "re-process" a supposedly declined credit card means going through the payment department, which again means a 24-hour wait. In today's digital age, no one makes you wait 24 hours to process a credit card payment.

I believe this process is all part of the scam - to wear down customers who cannot afford to wait, whose vacation or business travels plans are being threatened, so that when a more expensive "solution" is offered, it's taken immediately. It's a well-known negotiating tactic used in situations where the other party has a deadline and/or cannot afford to wait. It seems to me Vayama's entire business model is built around this concept.

During my most recent experience, the insanity was taken to all new levels. Having learned from previous experiences, I preemptively called Vayama customer support to verbally confirm credit card details and provide a second credit card number in the event the first one didn't work. Guess what? They told me, before either card had been processed (or any attempt to process them was made!), that the card had been declined! How can a card be declined that hasn't even been put through the system!?

Both of these cards worked perfectly for other transactions that day and that week - and I called both banks to alert their processing departments to the incoming transactions. Both banks confirmed that the cards were fine and that they would be on the lookout for possible ticket purchases. At the time of these calls, and AFTER Vayama claimed the cards had been declined, neither bank had any record of attempted transactions or either card being declined.

Later that night, I received an email entitled, "Vayama Ticket Confirmation/Receipt" and an SMS from one of my banks detailing the charges made to my credit card in connection with this ticket. Success?

You'd think the story ends happily there. You don't know Vayama.

Seven days later? I get an email entitled "Booking Cancelled" telling me (again) that my credit card has been "declined" and that the booking has been canceled. This, on a ticket, for which I have email and SMS proof of purchase! It's now SEVEN DAYS since the "confirmation" email and SMS from my bank saying my card has been charged.

BEWARE this scam. When Vayama tells you your credit card has been "declined," check with your bank and the airlines through which the tickets have supposedly been purchased. If they have no record of the transaction then you're being set up. What comes next is additional waiting, during which time you'll be informed your tickets are no longer available at the previously listed price - and then an option to buy more expensive ticket.

"Declined" as defined by Vayama simply means the price you agreed on is about to increase. The best part? Remember the Terms of Service agreed to during the original booking? If you try to cancel your tickets at any point, Vayama will KEEP their "booking fee." You're screwed either way - in other words, they win either way.

Search online for "Vayama scam" and you'll find others repeating this same story.

Heed the warning. Avoid this awful company at all costs. Even when you think you'll save a couple hundred dollars using them, think again - the wasted time and emotion isn't worth it. Take it from someone who has learned this lesson multiple times in the worst way.

Booking number VUS-[protected]

I've been on an e-mail thread back and forth with Vayama since March 13th 2020

I booked a flight through Vayama on Lufthansa for March 20, 2020, and immediately attempted to cancel the trip due to COVID. I started an e-mail thread with Vayama on March 13th 2020 discussing my refund request and was instructed to contact Lufthansa which I was unable to do due to the substantial volume of refund requests they were not taking calls or providing any direct customer service.

As of today June 27 2023 I've spoken with Lufthansa and they instructed me that it is Vayama's responsibility to get in contact with their refunds department and issue the refund.

That this matter hasn't been resolved in almost 3 years with multiple inquiries and now a formal FTC complaint demonstrates the massive lack of customer care.

I recently used Vayama to book a flight to Paris for a girls' vacation, with a layover in DC to pick up one of our girlfriends along the way. The outbound flight went smoothly, but I received an email about four months out saying that our flight home from DC to Phoenix was delayed by an hour. I didn't think much of it at the time, but about a month later, I received a second email saying that the same flight was now delayed by exactly 24 hours!

Naturally, I called Vayama's customer service to sort this out. Unfortunately, they were completely useless. So I called United directly, as it was a Brussels Flight operated by United, and United found me a flight on the same day as my original flight, just a few hours later. They told me they would reserve my seat, but the original agency would need to call them to book me on the flight and reissue the ticket.

I called Vayama back and gave them the information for the new flight I needed them to rebook for me. However, they tried to rebook my flight from Paris to Chicago to Phoenix, which was not even close to what we had discussed. When I explained my request to them again, they said they would issue an inquiry to the airline. Their first excuse was that they couldn't rebook on United since Brussels was the airline, but I explained that the United lady said it was possible since United operates the flight and agreed to it free of charge. Their second excuse was that they could not find the flight I sought out and would have to wait until the inquiry was completed in "24 hours or a few days or some time."

When I subsequently asked if the inquiry included the specific United flight I was requesting, the Vayama customer service gentleman continued to repeat himself that I would need to wait for the inquiry to be completed. I asked to speak to a manager twice to ensure that the inquiry included the flight I was requesting so there would be no further delays. However, twice I was told there was no supervising manager available to speak to, and rather abruptly, "no you cannot y'all to my boss."

Next thing I know, the customer service agent muted the phone, and he is not responding to me for approximately 2.5 minutes, even though I keep asking "hello?" This prompted me to hang up the phone. It was a completely useless experience. Next time, I'm booking directly through United for a few extra bucks.

I had a really bad experience with Vayama and I would not recommend booking with them. My friend had booked two tickets for an upcoming trip through them, but they accidentally misspelled my name by two letters. We thought it wouldn't be a big deal since the trip was still two months away, but it turned out to be a huge headache.

I emailed Vayama to explain the situation and they told me they would reach out to the airline to see if they could fix it. They said it was subject to airline approval and that I would get a reply in 3-5 business days. After a week with no reply, I decided to call Vayama. I spent over an hour on the phone with them, but they told me they couldn't correct my name on the ticket and that we would have to purchase a whole new ticket for over $2000. The original ticket was only $1300, so I was really frustrated.

At first, they told me we could be refunded for the original ticket, but then they said it was non-refundable and our only option was to buy a new ticket. I asked to speak to a manager, but they told me there were no managers available. I asked to speak to their name change department, but they said I couldn't talk to them. I was getting really frustrated and asked to speak to someone else, but they just laughed at me and told me I couldn't talk to anyone else.

Finally, they advised me to call the airline directly, so I did. I called Finnair, which was the operating airline, and explained the situation. They told me it was a small issue and that it would only cost $25 to change my name. However, since we booked through Vayama, they had control over the tickets and had to make the change on their end. When I called Vayama back and told them this, they just laughed at me again and told me the only option was to buy another ticket for $2000.

I was really frustrated at this point, so I called Finnair back and explained the situation again. They were able to separate our bookings and correct my name with a $25 charge. Our bookings and seats were no longer together, but at least our flights were the same.

Overall, it was a huge mess over a small mistake that could have happened to anyone. I feel like Vayama was just trying to get more money out of us and was unwilling to help. My advice for next time is to never book through a third-party site and always book directly through the airline to avoid a lot of time and frustration. I will never book with Vayama again.

So, I bought a ticket online yesterday through Vayama via Kayak and it turned out to be a terrible experience. I had to cancel my credit card and report AeroMexico for fraud. Unfortunately, it's not just AeroMexico who took my money without giving me a flight, but Vayama, which is a ticketing agency for Kayak. I didn't know about them or how terrible they are to customers until after I suffered a similar fate.

Basically, I was quoted a price via Kayak online for a R/T ticket. I used my credit card and purchased through Vayama, and AeroMexico sent me a ticket confirmation. Then today, I received an email from Vayama saying that my ticket reservation on AeroMexico had expiry (they don't even know how to spell!) and if I wanted to fly on that same reservation, it would now cost me double. I rejected this offer immediately sensing fraud. Then I called AeroMexico again only to find out that they still have my reservation # but I'm no longer booked on a flight. And that $ that was charged to my credit card by AeroMexico was already given to Vayama. And the only way to retrieve the $ would be to contact them directly. Unfortunately, based on an overwhelming number of consumer reports, it's next to impossible to get one's money back, and trying to connect with them is also next to impossible. I tried but could reach no one. Fearing more charges to come and because of the already fraudulent charge on my account (charged $ but no airline ticket), I promptly canceled my credit card and have alerted my bank to this fraud. Both AeroMexico and Vayama are now implicated.

I feel very sorry to have to go through this and feel also sorry for the thousands of other customers who have to endure this type of terrible business practice. If anything, by writing this, perhaps your company can become more aware of and vigilant around dealing with Vayama. IF it were at all possible to cut ties with them and not issue any tickets to them, that would be the best outcome for not just someone like me but for many others. It is so slippery, the way this company pops up on your internet browser. I had no idea and I have purchased many airline tickets before and never had a problem. But then again, I never purchased on Vayama and only now, because of this incident, will not only never do so again but warn everyone I know to stay alert and clear of them.

From a sad and sorry potential customer. #vayamasucks

It's unbelievable how Vayama has been around for so long, with their new website being up for 5 years, but they've been scamming people for 14 years! They claim to be located in the United States or Holland, but in reality, they're based in India. It takes them forever to respond to inquiries, and they have a lot of people working for them who are trained to cheat customers through their call center and social media accounts. If you've been scammed by them, don't expect to get your money back or your flight tickets because they're international scammers.

I only found out about this recently because my sister doesn't speak English and called their call center. All of their representatives speak with an Indian accent, which makes it difficult for non-native speakers to understand them. They'll tell you to send an email, but they'll never respond. They'll keep saying that your request is in process, but it's just a way to buy time and avoid giving you a refund or your tickets.

I lost $1000 to them, and I'm not the only one. If you've been scammed by Vayama, report them on their social media accounts. I've already done that on Facebook and Instagram, and I'm planning to send an email to IATA because they're using their logo without permission. My sister trusted them because she didn't check their references online, but now we know better.

The only thing left to do is to report them to the police for committing a computer crime. Maybe we can get the bank to help us, but I doubt it. They're scammers from India, and they've been doing this for years. Don't fall for their tricks and avoid booking your flights through Vayama.

I had a really bad experience with Vayama when I booked five tickets for an overseas trip eight months in advance. Unfortunately, my brother, who was supposed to take care of my 95-year-old mother, passed away, and I had to become her caregiver. I contacted Vayama two months before the flight, hoping to get a refund or at least a rescheduling, but they told me that the ticket was non-refundable. I asked if there was any exception to the airline policy, given my family emergency, and they asked me to provide a death certificate and proof of relationship to my brother, which I did.

They told me it would take about four weeks for the airline, All Nippon Airline, to comply, and I waited patiently. However, after five weeks, I contacted Vayama again, and they said they had submitted the request but had not received any response from the airline. I called ANA Airline, but they told me they couldn't help me because Vayama was supposed to contact them. They said there was a separate customer service for travel agencies that Vayama could call, but they couldn't provide me with the phone number.

I called Vayama's customer service several times, but each time I got a different answer. They told me they were working on it, waiting for the airline's decision, would contact me within 5-7 days by email, or that the airline had made a decision and would send the response via email. However, when I called again on December 15, 2018, they told me they had made a mistake and were still waiting for the response from the airline. The flight was on December 26, and I still had no response from the airline.

I felt frustrated and stressed, especially since I was still grieving the death of my brother. I assumed that Vayama was not contacting the airline because it would affect their commission. The ticket cost more than $900, and I felt like Vayama's customer service was terrible. They couldn't convince me with brilliance, so they tried to convince me with bull$#*!. I will never buy tickets from this travel agency again, and I will tell all my Facebook friends and Instagram followers to stay away from Vayama.

I wish Vayama had more mercy on their customers. My message to their customer service is to put themselves in the customer's position and understand the frustration they cause. They added more stress to me, and I hope they have a conscience. They cannot take all their profits to their grave.

I recently tried using vayama.com to book a flight and let me tell you, it was a complete nightmare. I thought I was being smart by trying to save $5 by booking through them instead of priceline.com, but boy was I wrong. I should have just gone with the better-known names like Orbitz or Expedia.

First of all, their customer service department is completely incompetent. I had a problem with my booking and when I called to try and resolve it, the person on the other end sounded like they had no idea what they were doing. They were rude and disrespectful, which made the situation even worse.

Here's what happened: I booked a ticket on May 21, 2010, but I never received a confirmation email. I checked my online account and saw that the charge was pending, so I assumed everything was fine. However, about a week later, the pending charge disappeared and I still hadn't received a confirmation. I called customer service and the woman who answered the phone was completely uninterested in helping me. She told me there was no record of my purchase and to try again on the website. So, I went back on the site and booked the ticket again.

Fast forward to June 7, and I received two confirmation emails for the same flight. I called customer service again and the person who answered the phone sounded like they had just woken up. They were completely confused and unhelpful. I explained the situation to them and asked about my purchases, but they told me there was only one charge.

The very next day, June 8, I received an alert from my bank saying that there were two charges of about $1400 each, which caused my account to go over the limit. I called vayama again, but this time the customer service representative was even worse. They kept cutting me off and raising their voice at me. I spent over an hour on the phone with them trying to get them to help me, but they didn't do much.

Finally, I was transferred to a manager who was a bit calmer, but still didn't do much to help me. They told me to call the airline for a full refund, but even the airline's customer service wasn't helpful. I still haven't received a confirmation that I will get my full refund, so I had to file a claim with my bank.

Overall, I would not recommend using vayama.com. Their customer service is terrible and they don't seem to care about their customers. Save yourself the headache and go with a more reputable site.

Vayama is not a good travel agency, especially during the Covid-19 outbreak. I tried to change my sister's flight, which I booked through Vayama, to the same one I just rebooked with Air Canada. However, the Vayama customer service representative said that they could not rebook the flight because there is no flight serviced by Air Canada from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City. I asked if the Vayama customer service representative would be able to find an Air Canada flight from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh around the travel dates I laid out, but the representative said no there are not.

I was very disappointed with Vayama's customer service. They did not support their customers during the Covid-19 outbreak. I believe this may be my last time utilizing their service. It just bewilders me that in accordance to their goodwill policy that Air Canada is able to re-accommodate, while Vayama cannot honor such policy laid out by the airline through unforeseen circumstances.

I hope whoever may be reading this reconsiders the next time they book through Vayama to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

I just got back from a vacation and let me tell you, my experience with vayama.com was the worst. I booked my ticket on their website back in Feb-2017 for a trip from Houston to Sofia and back on Lufthansa Airlines. But then, I decided to change my destination to Zagreb in Croatia just four days after booking. I spoke to one of vayama's online consultants and paid $425 for the change fee and the difference in fare to the new destination. I received a confirmed email itinerary from vayama for Houston-Zagreb-Houston.

However, when I reached the airport in Houston on 26th May 2017, I was told that the re-ticketing to Zagreb had not been completed. Even though I had a booking number, booking confirmation, and confirmed itinerary, I was not allowed to fly to Zagreb because vayama had not completed the reticketing process. I called vayama from the airport and was put on hold for over 2 hours with no information or guidance. I spoke to 3-4 representatives who were not helpful at all and would simply hang up after a long hold. I had to board the plane to Frankfurt without any connections, and even my checked luggage was only sent to Frankfurt Airport.

My dealings with vayama on the phone got worse when I reached Frankfurt. I was calling internationally and was on the phone for almost 4 hours, even though my layover was only 3 hours. I spoke to at least 5 people, but they would keep hanging up each time. Even the airline at Frankfurt airport (Lufthansa hub) could not help me. They said that they were not able to make any changes to my ticketing and this was something only a travel-agent can do. Their solution was to purchase new tickets, which would have cost me $2000+. This was not an option for me.

The team at vayama was unprofessional and unethical. They would put me on long periods of hold and then hang up. During one of the calls, the consultant said San Francisco instead of Sofia - that's how poor their service was. Even the officer at Lufthansa Airlines tried calling them and got hung up. It was frustrating and distressing.

Finally, the airline issued me new tickets for a fee of $300. The supervisor there saw how distressed I was and took it upon herself to help me. She put me on a later flight (6 hours wait) so I could resume my holiday.

Overall, it was a very bad experience. I would advise everyone to stay away from vayama and avoid this unethical company altogether.

I found Vayama through Kayak and decided to book a flight with them. However, my experience with Vayama was not a pleasant one. I arrived at the airport two hours and ten minutes before my flight, but my itinerary stated that I was flying with Air Canada on flight number AC 4079. I went to the Air Canada counter and waited for almost an hour, only to be told by a US Airways representative that all Air Canada flights were going through United. I was confused because nowhere on my itinerary did it mention United Airlines. I later found out that Air Canada is operated by different airlines, which I didn't know before.

I called Vayama for assistance, but the supervisor I spoke to was unhelpful and told me to call the airlines instead. The airlines suggested that we have a conference call with Vayama, but the Vayama representative refused to participate. After multiple calls, Vayama finally offered me a ticket for a different day, but I would have to pay a no-show fee and an additional fee, and the new ticket would cost me $1500, which was $500 more than what I paid for the original flight.

I called a different customer representative from Vayama's website, but they hung up on me after I sent them a copy of the confirmation email Vayama had sent me. I called back and was transferred to a supervisor who was unprofessional and made inappropriate comments about my ethnicity. I was offended by his profiling and felt that it was unacceptable for someone in a supervisor position to behave in such a manner.

Overall, my experience with Vayama was terrible, and I regret not reading reviews before booking my flight with them. The supervisor's behavior was unprofessional, and I believe that Vayama needs to improve their customer service and communication with their customers. Additionally, I think it would be helpful if Vayama provided more information about subsidiary airlines on their website to avoid confusion for customers like me who are not familiar with the term.

I recently booked a flight through cheaptickets.hk, which I later found out is a subsidiary of Vayama. Unfortunately, my experience with their customer service was less than satisfactory. It seems that they outsource their customer service to India, and the representatives there have little knowledge about airlines and their terms and conditions. They spoke to me like a robot, repeating the same things over and over again without trying to help me with my concerns.

I needed to change my flight itinerary to arrive in Hong Kong a week earlier, but they kept telling me that my tickets were non-refundable. I understood that the cost of the ticket was non-refundable, but I demanded that the tax on the ticket be refunded to me since I was not using the services. My husband works in the accounting department, so he knows his things. However, the Indian representative kept repeating, "Ma'am, your tickets are not refundable," even though I explained to him that the tax was a separate issue.

We asked to speak to his manager, but he put us on hold without letting us know. Ten seconds later, he said, "My manager said it's not refundable." We asked him to let us talk to his manager, but he said that we needed to hang up and call back with the same number to talk to her. We knew that this was a lie because what kind of office phone doesn't have the function to transfer the call? We asked him to give the phone to his manager, but he refused.

The representative kept telling me to call back in the next 24 hours while they looked up the information for me. I requested that they send me a confirmation email saying that they would assign someone to work on my case, but we kept going back and forth for five minutes. Suddenly, the representative hung up on me in the middle of our discussion.

I felt mistreated as a customer and not very welcoming when it came to my schedule. They were supposed to be my travel agent, helping me feel at ease with the flights I booked with them. However, they neglected their duty and made me feel like I was asking for a favor while paying a hefty price.

I will never book through Vayama or its subsidiaries again because I know that I will never get the assistance that I need. It is better to go through a traditional travel agent that you trust and can speak to face-to-face.

Vayama will not issue a refund in any form but wire transfer but when we send the bank information there is always an issue. They owe me almost $2000 (USD) and honestly I would like interest compiled. Original flight reservation was VUS-[protected] booked in April 2020 for travel in December 2020. All flights were cancelled. Vayama needs to send a check or other form of payment.

My flight was cancelled by the airline due to COVID back in 2020. I was told at the time that I would receive a refund but had to be patient due to the airline having to release the funds back to the agent (Vayama).

Fast forward over 2.5 years of patience...

In November 2022 I was finally informed the funds had been received by Vayama and hey were ready to process the refund. They asked for A LOT of bank information, which I duly provided. They contacted me weeks later to say the transfer had been unsuccessful. I then provided them with alternative details. Radio silence.

4 weeks later I contacted them for an update. The refund, they said, has been processed on 18th January. This was never received in my account.

For the past 8 weeks I have gone back and forth with them and my bank. Vayama can not provide me with the necessary MT103 reference number which my bank needs to trace the transfer. This is something that all transfers must have. Therefore my bank can not do anything further for me.

Vayama continue to fob me off with lack of ownership saying it's not their issue, they sent the payment. Yet, seem to believe it may miraculously land in my account 8 weeks after being sent. Which is not only complete rubbish but infuriating.

Meanwhile my $252 is still not in my account and we are now approaching the 3 year mark. Vayama are single handedly the worst agent I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

I booked on 8th August flights from Hurghada to Skopje, Air Cairo, on 10th August,flights num.BIE37257143815222817407,BIE 372571438152228174406,

at 3:35.

I wrote to the company we will have assitance dog accompanies, we came to airport, first control of laguages stop us the check 15 min , after, we found on check in body, another 15 min we were waiting for crew from air Cairo, He declined check in, because of the dog And Is close, I would like change the flights, only I dont want refund.

It's been years since the pandemic started and I still have not received my refund. I had forgotten because I had been going back and forth with their Customer Service Team and they said they would get back to me. They never got back to me so now I am filing a complaint. Feel free to ask me more information because I have many email threads regarding this information.

Here is some information to identified my refund:

Amount: $713.73

Airline reference: JV7BKJ

Airline: Latam

Departing

Monday, April 27, 2020

FROM: Los Angeles

TO: Lima

Returning

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

FROM: Lima

TO: Los Angeles

I had booked a flight on Vayama.com going to the Philippines in January of 2020. Due to the coronavirus, they canceled my ticket. It took nearly a year for me to get my money back from the flight, which was $1400. I am currently owed $293.74 that was charged by Vayama for seats, travel insurance and extras. I have been emailing Vayama, because in 09/2020 they closed down filed bankruptcy. I have sent them certified mail, emails, chat, and keep telling me that my refund is "pending." I believe nearly 2 years I should have some resolution to all of this. I understand that the pandemic hit the travel industry but that money also needs to return to the consumer for not being utilized. I filed a complaint on the BBB on 2/1/22 and of course Vayama representatives always replied with that they were working on it. 2 years working on it? Then they said that the airline needed to refund the money, when they are the ones who charged me for it. I have all documents, certified mail receipts, emails, screenshots of calls.

I had booked a flight from ireland to cochin in june for 3 passengers and due to some emergency I had to change tickets for two passengers to april. And to my fate the customer care agent I have his name but not feeling its good to reveal the name hence I am not doing it. This particular customer care agent he changed all three tickets to april even after me repeatedly saying about changing tickets for two passengers only. Since that day I have faced lots of problems with vayama. Still not resolved. After lot of conversation the agent finally changed one passenger to june as it was earlier and as we wanted but he was asking for refund to do so, I said I will not pay the refund as it was not my fault. Secondly, my husband who was supposed to travel in june. Now the same travel is now showing in the site. I am sitting and chatting with them since three days now and still nothing done

Same as everyone else...they keep saying that it was refunded and to check our statement. When asked for a transaction # for the refund, agent then says for me to screenshot the email STATING that VAYAMA refunded the CC was enough proof. I emailed again asking for a transaction # that was given the time of refund...no response.

Please Vayama rep who decides to respond to this complaint...please do not respond to this UNLESS YOU HAVE MY TRANSACTION # FOR MY REFUND!

Stop, clicking the "resolved" button when you have done nothing to resolve anyones complaint on here. You are thieves and stole money from people without any services rendered.

Today, I purchased a flight ticket from Cairo to Dubai, and an hour later, I searched for the same ticket again, and I was surprised that the price was cheaper than the price of the ticket that was purchased an hour earlier. I sent a request to the company to transfer these differences, but I could not reach them This is the first time dealing with this company. I am very upset about dealing with them, and I will not deal with them again.

I purchased a ticket worth of 2800 to this agency vayama and since pandemic begins cannot contact them through phone and giving me a hard time to refund my money..it’s been 2 year!

Have a heart! It’s not my fault this virus was around until today so pls…I don’t know what to do