I have lost over AUD$2200 booking flights with BudgetAir. Please check Facebook and Twitter for reviews before you do business with them.
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Welcome to the Community @Raybies
That is a shocker. Would you provide some details on your situation and whether it was related to COVID cancellations?
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Did you know at the time of using their booking service that the company is based and operates in the Netherlands?
The product review website gives this company possibly the worst customer comments I have ever seen.
You are not the only one taken by this booking company.
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It looks like a onselling site or a potentially a sham/scam website. Some tell tale flags are no contact details other than a using a chatbot or online form on their website. The T&Cs are also enlightening as they indicate that they are in reality budgetair.com and have registered country domains in 40 or so countries (including using the .au domain) to make it look like they are a local provider.
Many of these onselling type travel websites can be a cause for concern as they onsell the cheapest tickets possible which are often non-refundable and non-changeable under any circumstances (even if the airline cancels the flight)âŠunlike booking through a local travel agent or direct with airlines/travel providers.
The other concern is of one looks at TrustPilot:
The good reviews are those â This company sent a review invitation outside of Trustpilotâs systems. Reviews collected this way are automatically labeled invited.â This might mean the reviews have been manipulated to gain better scores.
If you booked recently using credit card, contact your credit card provider and instigate a chargeback. Your credit card provider will have time limits to when a chargeback is possible. If the flight was non-refundable, you may struggle to get a chargeback.
The alternative is to contact the airline directly to check you have a ticket and to see if they will refund direct to you.
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Well how surprised am I that a dodgy airline booking site would embrace another dodgy review site. Trustpilot is well known to be full of fake reviews.
But hey, these companies are almost neighbors. One is in Netherlands, and the other in Denmark.
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My problem iwas with BudgetAir Australia
I first booked 2 return tickets to Seoul South Korea from Melbourne for approximately $1850 in February 2022. We were to depart 7th June 2022 and return 24th June 2022.
I deliberately paid more for âFlexible Ticketsâ as I was not sure what COVID restrictions would be in place. Their website also said to check with the airline and make sure they will allow changes.
I checked Singapore Airlines website and yes they were allowing changes due to covid up until the 30th of July.
In April we found out that South Korea had dropped their quarantine requirements for entry so I contacted BudgetAir Australia to change my flights. I tried the Sydney phone numbers but they just rang out unanswered. I sent an email to info@BudgetAir.com.au and the reply was to go to the website and change the dates via the Chatbot on there. I tried this for several days and times of the day. The reply I got was that I couldnât change the flights but I could cancel my flights and not get a refund. The website said the Chatbot was manned 24/7 in several languages. This was not true as the replies I got were automated. After about 2 weeks I was able to get through to people on the Chatbot a couple of times and I was told that they would make the change and it would come through in 12 hours. When this didnât happen they told me they would upgrade my problem to their specialist team and they would be in touch in 12 hours. I got the same answer from the email. During this time I kept trying the phone numbers. Finally I got an answer from a person. I said I wanted to change my flights and he said he would do it and the cost would be AUD$1050. I agreed to this and he sent me a email invoice for the money and I paid immediately.
So you would think everything was ok but no. Firstly I noticed that they actually took $1081 from my credit card. I now saw on their website under my account that there was a new tab showing the new flight dates. When I checked the tickets I noticed that the departure dates had not changed, they still showed the old departure dates. The old departure date tab was still there with the old departure date.
I immediately contacted BudgetAir Australia via email and the chatbot. I was told to wait 12 hours and they would make the change. They also said they would escalate my problem to their specialist team. At this time both Sydney phone numbers had been disconnected. I contacted Singapore Airlines to confirm if the change had been made and they told me no change had been made and any changes had to be made by BudgetAir as they had paid for the ticket. After about 2 weeks of trying to get the change done I contacted my bank to try and get my money back. I provided paperwork and emails. The bank got the $1081 back from BudgetAirâs bank.
So I still had the old departure date tickets which were no good for me now as we were travelling to South Korea for a wedding and the date had changed due to the reduction of the COVID restrictions. I could not contact anyone to cancel the departure flights only. The Chatbot couldnât handle that option, the only option was to cancel all tickets and lose my money. So I decided to book new departure date flights directly with an airline and just use the return flights I had already paid for through BudgetAir, even though it was $2200 for the flights as the departure date was much closer. So through no fault of mine I was paying an extra $2200 on top of the $1850 I originally paid to BudgetAir for the return flights.
To add insult to injury when we arrived at Seoul Airport for our BudgetAir return flight we were told that the return flights had been cancelled as we had not used the BudgetAir departure flights.
This company is really bad at customer service. I joined a Facebook page called BudgetAir Refunds Horror Stories and found that there are people all over the world that are having problems with BudgetAir. There are people who are still waiting for refunds from 2020. The Facebook page has over 2000 members. There are also 2 other Facebook pages, BudgetAir Refunds UK and BudgetAir Refunds Campaign.
If you look at BudgetAir which is based in over 30 countries it is owned by Travix International in Netherlands. They also own other booking companies which also operate in several countries. Please stay away from all these companies. If you do a search on twitter on any of these companies you will see the havoc they are causing.
Skyscanner,
BudgetAir
BudgetAir Australia
BudgetAir Belgium
BudgetAir Canada
BudgetAir Denmark
BudgetAir France
BudgetAir India
BudgetAir Indonesia
BudgetAir Italy
BudgetAir Japan
BudgetAir Korea
BudgetAir Latvia
BudgetAir Malaysia
BudgetAir Netherlands
BudgetAir New Zealand
BudgetAir Philippines
BudgetAir Poland
BudgetAir Portugal
BudgetAir Saudi Arabia
BudgetAir South Africa
BudgetAir Spain
BudgetAir Sweden
BudgetAir Arab Emirates
BudgetAir Taiwan
BudgetAir Turkey
BudgetAir United Kingdom
BudgetAir United States
BudgetAir Vietnam
Vayama Argentina
Vayama Chile
Vayama Colombia
Vayama Ireland
Vayama Mexico
Vayama Panama
Vayama USA
Flugladen
Flugladen Austria
Flugladen Deutschland
Vliegwinkel.nl
CheapTickets
CheapTickets.nl
CheapTickets.be
CheapTickets. de
CheapTickets.ch
CheapTickets.sg
CheapTickets.co.th
CheapTickets.hk
Travix is now owned by Trip.com which is listed on NASDAQ and HKSE
The problem is there is no one in Australia to help. Consumer Affairs Victoria could not help, ACCC said they dont deal with individual complaints. VCAT only handle complaints regarding business in Victoria.
So because of the nature of their business these companies continue to rip people off all over the world.
What advice could you give me to hold them accountable to the customers whose money they are taking. If you do a twitter search of any of these names you will get a list of people trying to get a response from them to change flights or get refunds. I have plenty of horror stories to tell
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Ray B
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Perhaps an action in the affected personâs State/Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunals may be an answer. While Fair Trading/Consumer Affairs are fairly toothless, they are required steps in being able to seek redress through CATs. Once Fair Trading has failed to provide a suitable outcome then CATs are able to deal with a complaint. Formal complaints to the business need to have been made as part of this process and become part of the evidence assessed by the CAT.
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One will need to check if the Tribunals/Office of Fair Trading have jurisdiction for companies not registered or have operations in Australia (BudgetAir isnât a registered business by ASIC, donât have a ABN or registered office in Australia).
It is likely that Tribunals/Office of Fair Trading wonât have any jurisdiction for overseas companies based overseas and without a presence in Australia. It is likely that they will recommend that action be taken through the relevant agency in the Netherlands.
It might be worth contacting:
https://www.acm.nl/en/about-acm/our-organization/the-netherlands-authority-for-consumers-and-markets
to see if they have any advice or could be of assistance.
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I thought that the High Court has made it clear that any business that has business conducted with consumers in Australia eg Valve Corporation are able to be held accountable. What benefit might be achieved may vary, but if they conduct business here even if not registered here, they are responsible under ACL.
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The T&C state the site (.com.au) operates under the laws of Australia. Those same T&C appear to go to great lengths to deflect all problems onto the providers. Could get interesting without a local presence.
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Accountability and jurisdiction are two different things. BudgetAir is responsible/accountable for its business practices carried out in Australia. Extending Australian Law into another sovereign nation exceeds the powers or jurisdiction of those laws. A court can make decisions about business practices in Australia, but its effect may be limited unless it causes significant reputation damageâŠwhich in such case may result in a business accepting the outcome to retain the Australian market.
To get resolution, one needs to persue the business through the relevant jurisdictionâŠwhich will be the Netherlands. An individual trying the same in Australia is unlikely to succeed. Even if say a tribunal hears the claim, is BudgetAir likely to send a company representative to the tribunal⊠unlikely as the cost would be significantly greater than the value of the claim. If the tribunal made a decision in favour of the consumer, would BudgetAir accept the outcome and follow the direction⊠unlikely as there isnât any consequences.
It is worth noting Australian laws through the Constitution apply to those in Australia, not everyone anywhere in the world.
They also call themselves BudgetAir Australia. All part if the businesses charade to build trust with/confidence in the consumer⊠increasing the likelihood of a sale.
It is worth noting many well presented scam/sham websites have similar text about complying with Australian Laws etc. I donât think their claims can be taken seriously.
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I contacted Consumer Affairs Victoria and spoke to the one person several times but was told they were limited in what they could do with International companies. VCAT only deal with matters in Victoria and the ACCC donât deal with individual complaints.
So up that creek in a barbed wire canoe.
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That is the risk you take when dealing with off-shore companies.
There is no practical recourse available in Australia to deal with problems if the business is not here.
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Have you tried contacting The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and MarketsâŠlink in previous post.
For most consumers, they wonât know this is the case especially when everything on the website makes it look Australian. Only when spending time digging deeper does the information come to surface.
It would be great if business transparency could be legislated, but, it wonât change the status quo unless overseas businesses comply. Will they, possibly not as it isnât in their interests to do so.
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My experience:
WARNING â DO NOT USE BUDGETAIR!
Made reservations for a multi-leg Asian trip. One of the airlines changed their flight schedule that resulted in a 22-hour layover. This did not work with my schedule.
According to BudgetAirâs written policy:
âUnfortunately, sometimes airlines will need to make adjustments to accommodate changes to aircraft and routes. We have no control or influence over this. If this is something that happened to your flight(s), you should have received an e-mail from us informing you of the change(s).
When a major change to your schedule is made, the airline needs your confirmation on how you would like to proceed. Your options are:
Accept the change(s) and proceed with your rescheduled flight
Change the flight to another option
Cancel the flight
The e-mail you received from us contains all the information you need to confirm your choice.â
I received an email notifying me that a change was made in the flight schedule. When I âclickedâ on the email, to my utter surprise, I was not given the above options, but instead, I received an instant confirmation that I accepted the flight changes! I immediately sent an email to BudgetAir that I was not given the options as outlined in their policy and the flight change was unacceptable. I received a reply instructing me to use their âLive Agentâ chat.
I contacted BudgetAir via their âLive Agentâ chat and explained the situation. They said that since the flight changes were âconfirmedâ, there was nothing they could do. So, I asked for a telephone number I could call, and I was informed that their âtelephones were not workingâ. I next asked if a supervisor could review my case. The âLive Agentâ refused my request. I made several additional requests via the âLive Agentâ chat to have my case reviewed since I was not given the options outlined above. Customer Service refused to review my case.
In the end, I was informed that the airlines that changed their schedule did not have another flight that worked for me and my only option was to cancel the entire trip.
Upon cancelling the trip, BudgetAir hit me with several âhiddenâ charges and I ended up paying 31% of the original purchase price to cancel the trip. Beware!
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Would the original changes and eventual loss be something travel insurance would Cover? Iâm aware there are rules around how connecting flights are assessed, especially when different airlines.
BudgetAir are clearly not an airline or carrier. They are just a booking agent. Is that absolutely clear when one uses their site?
Not since we had paper tickets have we used an agent to book personal air travel. Is there genuinely a fare saving if not booking direct with each carrier?
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Wandering OT, point to point itineraries such as MEL-ICN-MEL are usually best and cheapest direct from the airline but buying from an aggregator (not a booking agent although they can appear to be one and the same) can save money although introducing risk for long haul itineraries as well as refunds. All the consumer need do is compare fares (and their respective routes) from the airlines servicing the route, usually fairly straight forward.
OTOH an experienced agent knows the âtricks of the tradeâ when there are multiple airlines and multiple classes of travel on the same ticket. A local recommended agent couldnât work out a round-the-world in a practical sense and quoted an economy fare that was significantly more than a specialist RTW agents premium economy fare. We have since used the specialist agent (in SA) multiple times with no worries.
The last trip included segments on QF->LH->LH->LH->LH->QF on an LH ticket, some premium economy and some coach. All segments being on the single ticket simplifies changes as well as âfixing upâ weather or maintenance delays. One could buy the ticket directly from one airline but would have to piece the segments together for pricing and when multiple carriers are involved it can be complex or impossible for a consumer to work out. If there are multiple pax on almost but not exactly the same itinerary âconnectingâ the disparate tickets in the system is another gotcha for a consumer. Few airline web sites are amenable to booking more than their airline or within their global âgroupâ.
If booking direct on separate tickets with each airline the QF and LH segments would have been disparate and if there was a delay on the initial QF or the last LH segment that missed a connection we would have been classed as no shows. Not everyone is travel savvy to understand the potential pitfalls and perils of that, or assuring the baggage allowances have been considered, eg PE gets 2, economy 1 so the economy legs need to have a prepaid bag included (if one will take 2) to avoid airport surprises.
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Interesting comments about the insurance. I do have insurance for this trip.
Yes, to any one that has any common sense, Budgetair is not a carrier.
This is a complicated trip and it is not only cheaper but having one âentityâ handle the processing does make it easier.
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BEWARE is correct. Their Customer Service is run by a outside company called âFreshWorksâ and it is impossible to get past them to BudgetAir or to get a satisfactory answer from them. Try going to Travix International based in the Netherlands who own BudgetAir via Twitter or LinkedIn. (Travix International is owned by Trip. com Group) Travix also run several other booking agencies, all of them have numerous complaints on Twitter. The International Customer Protection Organisation is useless and no help
(ICPEN: Protecting consumers worldwide
](Protecting consumers worldwide | ICPEN) . They are represented in Australia by the ACCC and do not deal with individuals complaints. They probably have wonderful conferences in various countries. So no agency that can deal with these Airline Booking Agencies and their practises.
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