Clarissa W.

Had an extremely bad experience. Bought 2 round-trip tickets to Barcelona through Cheaptickets. I booked tickets that included hand luggage and a personal item so I wouldn't need to check in any baggage.

I thought everything was sorted until 22 hours before the flight when online check-in opened, and I found out that the hand luggage, which I had paid for with my ticket, was not included at all!

It was half past midnight, so I immediately contacted them the next morning. First, I tried the online chat, but I got stuck with the chatbot. Then I attempted to contact them via WhatsApp in Dutch, but the conversation was extremely unhelpful; the only thing the representative kept saying was that it was not Cheaptickets' fault and that the airline was responsible for baggage. (That's all well and good, but Cheaptickets happily sold me tickets with hand luggage! That's what they advertised. After all, I'm buying a plane ticket from Cheaptickets, not from Vueling). The conversation abruptly ended because the Cheaptickets colleague thought it was perfectly fine to disappear in the middle of our conversation and not say anything more.

Third attempt: calling them. I could only speak in English, which was not a problem as I speak English well. A friendly man assured me, not once, not twice, but more than three times that I not only had a personal item but also a hand luggage suitcase per ticket! Great! I asked him to tell me where he found this information so I could verify it because my boarding pass clearly stated that I only had a personal item, no hand luggage. He repeatedly insisted that I definitely had hand luggage and that if I had to pay extra at the airport, I could get this additional payment refunded by sending the receipt to Cheaptickets. He also said he would send me an email with a screenshot showing that I was entitled to hand luggage and the confirmation from Cheaptickets that I had this right.
Email in the inbox, ready for vacation, let the party begin.

Mistake. Because once I arrived at the gate, I had to pay €60 euros for 1 hand luggage suitcase, and it had to be checked in as well, causing significant delays after landing as we had to wait for our luggage.

I immediately forwarded the receipt and the story to Cheaptickets, and they initially sent me an email saying, "We apologize for this experience; we will look into it." Then I heard nothing for several days, and when I asked for an update, I received the familiar response, "There's nothing we can do about it; it's the airline's responsibility."

So now I'm in Barcelona, Cheaptickets sold me a product different from what was advertised, treated me incorrectly and extremely rudely, and I have to pay an extra €60 per flight to bring my luggage with me. On the return journey, it might be even more money! Completely unacceptable.

The way they can deceive people so blatantly and handle it without any shame is truly bizarre and unacceptable. I will never buy a ticket from Cheaptickets again! You never know what could go wrong, and when something does go wrong, you get conflicting answers and end up in a terrible situation! Unbelievable!