CheapOair review: bait and switch! 25

They confirmed my reservation and then when we went to the airport, the reservation was there but no ticket number so the airlines couldn't issue us tickets. I'm used to confirmations securing the tickets.

I also had big problems with Travelation. They sent a letter headlined "TICKET CONFIRMATION" which turned out not to be a confirmation at all. They blamed the problem on me and it cost me a lot of money! I spoke to them at length and they were rude, condescending, and dishonest.

Love you people who complain without knowing the facts. There is no bait and switch, you have no idea what you are talking about. Availability of flights is controlled by the airlines and although over 98.5% of the time the flights shown on ANY travel site is correct, there is that 1.5-2% of the time where the airline did not update its inventory fast enough and what looks available may not be, VERY COMMON DURING PEAK TRAVEL SEASONS. EVERY TRAVEL SITE HAS THIS ISSUE, IT IS AN ACROSS THE BOARD PROBLEM ON EVERY SITE.

Before jumping to conclusions and starting to slander immediately any travel site, educate yourself on how sites really work. Most of the traveling public has no idea how these companies run and to see instant vitriol/slander like this is uncalled for and just plain incorrect!

lastly, when you called these sites, were you rude, obnoxious and condescending yourself? Do you think it's easy dealing with 100's of people daily hearing their whining all day long? Granted it's their job, but it is a very difficult job. no matter how hard any company tries, there will always be malcontents.

1st off... this is a common issue with airline inventory and not usually the fault of any of the online sites. BUT in regards to these sites They are by far NOT the cheapest! They mislead people by showing you a lower fare in the results and it is not until the end that you see the final total. I have compared them to www.Allcheapfares.com and www.justairfare.com which are consolidator run sites and if you only compare the result.. THEY APPEAR cheaper.. when in fact they are not!

I tried to book a flight on Travelation and it kept on not going through. It continued saying, "The airlines are unable to confirm your flight." SO I tried and tried 4-5x. Finally, since my employer was paying $2050 toward a summer flight home, got a totally different itinerary with some stops in between. I tried to book from the Middle East to Bangkok, to Honolulu and home. The ticket went through for $2500 and I got a conf. #. I was ecstatic that it all worked out and booked a flt from Bangkok to Phuket and back, and a room in Honolulu. Then I got an email from Travelation telling me the airlines were unable to guarantee the flights and nothing was booked and nothing was charged to my credit card (after getting a confirmation #!) SO I called the 619 area code number and talked to a stern woman who repeated, "The airlines are responsible for updating fares. We are not responsible." She looked at fares for my exact same $2500 ticket that was posted online and the ACTUAL FARE was over $5000! Forget it! So I told her thanks, but no thanks. NOw I am stuck with a domestic flt in Thailand and a hotel room in Hawaii! I will never book through them again but went back to Travelocity and did a simple trip home. IT was total "bait and switch."
I think it should be called Travelicious b/c it is about as useful as those lame dating websites!

Travelation.com / smartfares.com/ airgorilla.com / cheapoair.com / justasia.com / jetsetdeals.com...all handled by the same company Travel Support Center Inc. in San Diego, California. I know, I worked in that call center for the past 10+ months. One thing that Frank Modesto is right is that those poor call center agents take the blame for a very poorly mismanaged company. The websites are useless. There are high call volumes as no one is getting what they see online and so they call and wait on hold only to be told the fare is much higher or unavailable. And even worse...what they do is the following: within 24 hrs of a customer buying a ticket in the website they will reprice the ticket and if the fare is lower they will rerun the ticket at the lower price and recharge the difference as an "airfare balance". Not even calling the card holder to see if they can run the credit card again.

They also have a problem with page expiring. A customer will think the page expired after inputing their credit card information. So they try again and again when in reality they are all getting reserved and their credit card is being charged every time. This is a big problem they cant or wont fix. They will void for a fee but either way those funds are frozen by your credit card for 7-10 business days.

There are an endless slew of bad practices at this company. I have never ever worked at such a fraudulant place. I finally spoke out and was laid off due to low call volume. Huh...makes ya think right?

Sorry on my last comment, second paragraph. On those page expiry reservations they will void for FREE but those funds are held for 7-10 business days. Very inconvenient especially if you used your debit card. It should not be happening period. I would ask myself, "I wonder if expedia has the same problem". I dont think so.

Also, for those of you with those airfare balance charges and dont agree your card being charged without your autorization. Call your credit card and dispute the charges. Dont sign any memorandums. The credit card companies will soon realize this company has a serious problem and call them on it. Sooner or later they will learn to leave people's credit cards alone!

Nothing like a so-called disgruntled employee who works for 10 months for "fraudsters" supposedly yet this person stays working with them all that time? Then, all of a sudden, the company is bad? if they were so bad, why stay 10 months? why not blow the whistle 6 months ago and start blogging holy hell then? you got laid off and you're mad, stop crapping over people, please, we can see right through to you. I would be leary of any alleged ex employee bad-mouthing who they worked for for almost a year. Blogs sometimes are nothing more than people being vindictive and want "revenge." If you are going to blog, use it for legitimate reasons, not for your own personal agenda. these people obviously paid for your salary for all that time. Can't be all that bad.

i agree cheapoair and travel one in partner ship with travelong is the biggest fraud company ever .

lemme tell you onething guys, , dnt ever book reservations with cheapoair, they are fraud and charge people without giving a thought on how we earn money, i request all americans and canadians cooperate and put your comments against this fraud website . Thier office is located in newyork 213 west 35 th street and flamingo street las vegas.Owned by an indian the operational activities takes place from gurgaon india so that no one catch the ripp offers .Guys do something or atleast bring it to the notice federal government

I went to but three airline tickets from Travelation- we had an emergency and had to leave the following day. I received a confirmation number and was told they would send me a reservation number from the airlines within 24 hrs- the departure time was 4:20pm i didn't receive anything until 2 hrs prior to the departure time stating the airlines was "unable to confirm my reservation" thankfully I knew this wouldn't work so I ended up buying the tickets straight off the airlines website and within 2 mins I received an email giving me the confirmation/reservation number. Never will I ever use Travelation nor will I ever recommend it to anyone- I don't know how these people are still in business. DONT USE THEM! I suggest Expedia or buying tickets off the airlines website its allot safer.

I made a reservation thru Travelation and when I entered the credit card info there was a clear statement on their website page that non-US Credit Cards were not acceptable. Having seen that I thought the reservation would not go thru but, in fact, it did. Because I did not want problems with my Credit Card, I contacted Travelation to cancel the reservation and they replied thru an exchange of multiple emails that the cancellation was not possible. Travelation violated their own regulations and now I find myself in a position where they told me I had to cancel the reservation with the airline. I am now thinking that I should contact a lawyer to determine my legal position to force Travelation to cancel this reservation. Any comments would be appreciated.

Hello,
My name is Emanuela and I purchase airline tickets through travelation and I recieved my confirmation within 5 min on a Sunday evening on 02/26/2012. Of course I didnt get the tickets yet, because there are no funds in my credit card. But I dont think as of yet, there are no problems with them. If I do have any problems getting my airline tickets, I will repost and see what happens

I went online to book tickets to PUERTO RICO and I read that it said you can change your tickets within 24 hrs, I realzied I had the wrong dates, went back to the site, tried calling and of course NO answering machine. By the time I finally go someone it was over the 24 hr period, I called the airline at this point they wanted 150 to change a date on the ticket that was within the week that i was travelling, and the I would have to pay a total of 1, 616. additional on a $248 dollar ticket. This is ludicris and I will never go back to travelation again. Then you wonder why people tend to stay home or drive or take a train to where they have to go. Also, The first person i did get did not speak english his engish was so poor I could not understand him. There was no help there! I have all the emails from them and that did no good either. I was told OH ITI S ALL THE AIRLINES FAULT. you think they see that their email was sent after the 24 hour period the confirmation Email/. This is a scam so you can not adjust your flight /. NEVER USE THIS SITE>

Worst Company Ever

I don't know how anybody could call this website/affiliate of LBF travel a good company. Read the reviews. I first hand experienced the worst customer service of my life with this company. They claim to book a flight, then book a wrong flight. Then they claim to book another flight, and book one on a completely different day. Then they claim to reimburse you over and over again, but never give you your money back. This company is a BIG SCAM and I would avoid it at all costs. Use fly.com, travelzoo, travelocity, anything but travelation and cheapfares. They are both part of LBF Travel and are obviously scammers.

Scammer,
I booked a flight yesterday and received a confirmation letter with the flight code. I went to MyReservation and checked, so my status is still pending. Last night this F*****rs charged me USD150 and when I checked my reservation, guess what>>>CANCELLED!
My card was charged saying I authorized a purchase at ARC (w/c according to the bank is in San Diego).
SCAMMERS! This will come back to your families A**H****S!

TRAVELATION === SCAM

WHY (my true story):

1. I went to theirs website and saw price for my flight (few bucks less than $1000).

2. I entered all data and after clicking purchase on the next page I was told that I must send them scans of my credit card and passport to buy the tickets. (Looks like a scam already, isn't it?).

3. Then I called them to ask what is this for. An indian accent woman answered that they needed it to process my card...

4. ! Also she told me that the price of flight is no longer the same - now IT WAS $200 HIGHER than it was when I was clicking "Purchase" on the form.

5. At this point I realized that this is SCAM. And asked to cancel my order. She agreed but told me that I will be charged with $150 for cancelling it.

6. I insisted on my position and had to talk with 3 more people at their company (EVERYONE THERE HAS INDIAN ACCENT AND IS RUDE TO CLIENTS). But it gave me no results and all of them suggested me to cancel order and pay these $150.

RESULT:
I spent totally of 5 hours on using website and talking to ### on the phone. $150 was charged for no service and spending my own time.

NEXT DAY:
I went to local office of airplane company and bought the SAME TICKET for only $20 more expensive than on theirs website.

THIS PROVES THAT:
1. THEY DECEIVE CUSTOMERS BY INFLATING PRICES.
2. The are stupid indian (or alike) ###.

Same thing happened to me. They will rob you in broad daylight. they're good at it! That's what they do for living!

Bodia had the exact same experience as I, just that I cancelled the credit card before they were able to charge for their useless "services". Avoid Travelation at all costs, don't try them out, don't think our cases are just a fluke, you'll regret it, you really will. It's best to learn from other people's mistakes, trust me :-)

TRAVELATION is not BBB accredited and with good reason. I lost $230 to a bait and switch. I reported them to the Calif Attorney General and hope others who have been scammed do the same. Google TRAVELATION scam for other sad stories. Stick with more reputable travel agencies and avoid TRAVELATION if you value your money.

I bought a ticket from them due to my mother was dying overseas. Then, Mom passed a way. I called them back again trying to cancel my ticket and send the documentation of my mom's disease. They said that they will contact lufthansa and cancel(which they never did). And now they want to charge me $300 cancellation fee and $175 dollars that i was asked to pay separately from my original ticket(I was not even told that the $175 will be for them). So, they just want to steel your money.
BE CAREFUL.
Lufthansa also told me to fax that documentation because it's not in their system. In other word, justairticket.com did not even bothered to send it. So, i'm still going back and forth on the phone with both.
Lufthansa told me that their system was down, and justairticket.com told me to call after half an hour.
Note: late that evening when I got a call from my credit card telling me that someone was trying to fraud my credit card(never happened to me before). And guess what, just fraud happened after one hour of calling justairticket.com

I attempted to purchase a 1-day round trip series from Detroit to La Guardia on June 9 through Travelation. Price was ~$10 cheaper than going direct through Spirit. After I selected my flights and entered payment info, the confirmation email told me that my itinerary was to leave June 8, and return July 8. Since I hadn't intended to spend a month in New York, I called to cancel. The first time they hung up on me. The second time I mentioned that I got disconnected, provided my phone number for a call back just in case. Then they hung up on me. The third time I told them about the first two hang ups and finally got confirmation that the reservation had been cancelled. I have not, however, received the email confirmation of that cancellation 1 hr after the transaction - the rep said it would take 15 minutes.

I've put a hold on my credit so they can't charge me. I'm considering canceling the number. Their worry-free guarantee is a cruel joke.http://www.complaintsboard.com/thumb.php?src=compl_12_203_250_162-aWJlbGlldmV5b3UuanBn&wmax=65&hmax=65&quality=100

On 10/2/14, I tried to book a flight on their website, but when I was about to pay, it was no longer available, so I chatted with someone online. At the end she gave me a link to book the flight at a higher price, but still was cheaper then other deals I've found. Immediately I received an email saying that I should get a confirmation email within 24 hours, which I didn't receive, so I called them and asked, they then sent the confirmation email to me, and it even has a link to see my flight details, all seemed set. On 10/7/14, I checked my credit card, but found no related transaction, so I called them again. I was told the price went up, so I need to spend $150 more to book the same flight! While on the phone with them I was also checking online to see if I can find other deals. (The round trip flights I booked with them have 1 stop each way, and I found something better: non-stop flights for only $50 more.)They insisted that I either need to pay more or change my travel dates. No longer want to deal with them, I asked to cancel my booking, and they said if I do that the airline would charge me cancellation fee. Of course I refused to pay any fee, and told them that I found another flight that's way better, they said they were willing to book that same flight at the matching price. BUT, they also wanted to charge me $15 service fee. I thought it was so ridiculous, why should I pay for their mistake? So I insisted that they cancel my flights, and that person said to me with a rude attitude "Ok ma'am you go ahead and do that!" And immediately he hung up on me!So the lesson is never to trust this company! If I hadn't checked my credit card transaction, I would probably show up at the airline counter and found out that I can't get on the flight because my booking was never existent! Later I went and searched other user reviews, and there were plenty of people who had this happened on them!And as for the cancellation fee, that was totally a lie. Since I never paid and my booking was never confirmed, there was no ticket issued at all. After certain number of days, the airline would simply cancel that booking, to open up the spots to other travelers. I really thank God that I found this out early and was able to book another flight, otherwise not only my travel plans will be ruined, I would loose a job that means a lot to me.

no need for bad language please. this guy called indian stupid...it was him who ended up paying 150 dollars rather than to dispute the charge with his credit card company. travelation.com is a bad company, I have had a similar difficulty with them. dispute the charges with credit card company, and keep all the communication via email. NEVER BOOK IT ONLINE AS THE PRICES ARE NOT GUARANTEED TILL THE TICKETS ARE NOT ISSUED. be it expedia/travelation/Travelocity/cheaopair or any other agency.

IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE STRANDED LIKE I DID, DO NOT USE TRAVELATION. THEY WILL SHOW YOU GREAT PRICE WITH UN-REALISTIC ITINERARY. THEY HAVE LOOP HOLES SO THAT THEY CAN CHARGE THE CANCELLATION FEE AND GET COMMISSION FROM THE AIRLINE. IF THIS IS NOT THEIR INTENTION, NO TRAVEL AGENT IS THAT EAGER TO REFUND. IF YOU THINK IT IS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT IS NOT TRUE.

I was skeptical about the website. Against all judgments, I wanted that cheap ticket price with the itinerary. So, I did my homework.I decided to take precautions. I called the customer service if there is still tickets left for my flight. She was very nice and even said that she would wait while I book to make sure there will be tickets booked. After I got my tickets number, I called the airline to make sure my flight was confirmed. Everything was as it should be, until I got to the check in counter.

It was a two stop itinerary, going to China with Japan Airline. Nobody told me that the itinerary I booked was going through a domestic terminal and I will need a visa. The airline would not let me board. The check in attendant was very kind and helpful. She tried everything she can. Meanwhile, she advised me to call Travelation to see how they can help me too. When I called and told them my problem, the woman did not try to help. This was her exact word: " You will have to figure out on your own. We will have to refund it." She mumbled something about having to pay service fee of $65 per passenger and put me on hold. She went ahead and refunded my trip without asking if I wanted to cancel. I said I do not want to get it refunded, and I want the problem solved by switching plane. She won't listen and when I say...no no stop...she said, "it's already done."

So, I was stuck at the airport with no ticket. I couldn't go back home since it was 2 hours away. I still need to find a flight to get in time for the meeting. When the check-in attendant was sympathetic and tried to find a direct flight from Japan to China without taking domestic transit, Travelation refused to undo the cancellation. They did not apologize. They accused me of asking them to cancel the trip. Anybody can guess that I do not want to cancel the trip with the meeting pending.

Without booked ticket, I was asked to pay at the counter 3000 USD per passenger which would cost me 12000 USD since there were 3 of us. What I did was booked another ticket right at the airport with Expedia ( always truthful and convenient) from LA to Shanghai. Since I was at SFO, I had to overnight at the airport, took a domestic flight to LA, had to switch all our luggage (Shanghai was a connecting city. My end destination was Myanmar.), paid for extra luggage and paid for cancellation fees from TRAVELATION.