SATA
Reviews and Complaints

We were set to board a flight back home on 8/29. At the airport, we learned a COVID test taken within 72 hours of departure was needed. Our ticket had no mention of this. Since it was Sunday, no testing facilities were open. Despite being vaccinated and having rapid tests, the airline deemed it insufficient. We were forced to repurchase tickets for the next day, incurring change fees and higher rates, costing us $1200. This lack of communication seems fraudulent, as it appears to be a tactic to charge customers more. Additionally, the stress and delay posed a risk to my pregnancy and caused me to miss a critical appointment.

In February, I booked a trip for my family, 12 tickets in total, to fly on July 4. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Global Health Advisory to avoid all international travel, it was in our best interest to cancel our travel plans. Additionally, two of my sons are Police Officers, considered essential workers, and were not allowed to travel at that time. While the airline refunded the tickets, they charged a $250 penalty per ticket, totaling $3,000 for 12 tickets. We have struggled to contact management over this issue and are seeking a refund of the change fee, as my sons are essential workers (with letters from their Chiefs of Police) and the advisory against international travel persists. We know other airlines have provided full refunds for travel disrupted by the pandemic, and we believe we are entitled to the same without a cancellation penalty.

I bought 2 round trip tickets on SATA airlines for travel departing on April 28. The flights were cancelled in March by the airline due to Covid-19 restrictions. I reached out to SATA for a refund but was offered only vouchers, which had to be used by December . This was not feasible for me. Since my booking was through a third-party agency, I sought their assistance for a refund. The agency has contacted SATA twice in two months for a waiver to process my refund, but SATA has not replied to their requests or my numerous emails, except to direct me to their website for a voucher, which I am not interested in. I am seeking a refund for the ticket price.

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

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

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

SATA cancelled all flights for me and my husband, scheduled to depart on 22 March . The following flights were cancelled: 22 March, 23 March, 30 March, and 1 April . Both SATA and the booking agent insist that our only option for the air portion of our trip is to rebook by 30 June , despite current travel restrictions, or to accept a restrictive SATA voucher. As high-risk individuals for COVID-19, we cannot predict safe travel dates. The booking agent has agreed to refund the land portion of our trip, but SATA has not offered a refund for the airfare. We have requested a direct refund from SATA, citing US Department of Transportation rules and EU Commission regulations. Recently, the booking agent stated their intention to issue a voucher without our consent. We have informed SATA of our preference for a refund before their imposed deadline. We seek your assistance in this matter. Thank you.

I was set to fly internationally with my family on April 18th and return on April 26th. A family member had plans to return on May 12. I arranged all tickets through a travel agency. About a month before, the airline canceled our flights due to Covid-19, offering only a reschedule within a year or a voucher expiring on December 31st. Despite numerous calls and emails to the airline and the agency, I've made no headway on a refund. The agency's efforts mirrored mine, with no different outcome. I've cited the US Department of Transportation's Enforcement Notice on refunds during the Covid-19 crisis in my communications, to no avail. As a frontline nurse, there's uncertainty about when I can travel again, and I feel entitled to a full refund since I didn't cancel the flights. We're eager to reschedule at a time that suits us, not under the airline's restrictive terms. I'm seeking help to resolve this and obtain a full refund. Thank you for your support in these challenging times, and please stay safe.

After hours of trying to reach Sata International via email and phone regarding unapproved changes and the eventual cancellation of a reservation for three passengers, I faced issues. The flights were from one destination to another on June 9th, returning on July 1st. Despite my ignored emails, they informed me to accept a voucher or reschedule by December 31. The DOT states we're entitled to a refund regardless of cancellation reasons or ticket types. I've requested Sata to comply with this law, but they insist on their two options within a set timeframe, threatening a loss of $2850.26 or deciding for me. Additionally, I booked a separate trip for my husband, costing $851.47, as he needed an earlier return. The airline's options are not suitable for us, and with current EU restrictions on US travelers, our future travel is uncertain. The airline's changes and cancellation should result in a full refund, as per United States DOT Regulations and the contract of carriage. A full refund is warranted if they can't re-accommodate within six hours of the original flight.

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

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