ExploreTrip

For some reason, I received an email saying that my credit card was declined and they weren't able to book my flight. I called to the credit card decline team right away, but they hung up my call after I was on hold for an hour. Because the email said NOT TO BOOK ANOTHER RESERVATION, I cannot even purchase another ticket and I'm currently sitting on hold for over an hour. They are not even responding to my email.
Honestly at this point, I don't know what I should do.
I made a call to the customer service, but all they say is to contact the credit card team and they cannot even cancel my booking because apparently my ticket is "ON HOLD" while their email says "Please be advised that fares are not guaranteed until ticketed".
This is the worst experience I've had with making a flight reservation, and I'm NEVER booking with this company again.

We've just book flight to Barcelona from San Francisco. Agent Logan Art showed very professional, responsible attitude.He was very patient. Thank you Logan very much. Greg and Polina Kligerman

I purchased unaccompanied minor (UMR) service for my son (17 years old) for his trip on American Airline. I talked an Explore Trip agent and bought the UMR service paying additional $300. When he checked in at the airport, he didn't need it because the UMR service is applicable for the minors, 14 years old or younger. The AA staff asked me to call Explore Trip to get refunded. I called the Explore Trip twice. For the first time, they said they couldn't refund because the trip took place already and they already paid the service fee to AA, asking me to call AA. I called AA again, finding that on my son's record, there was not UMR service arranged. I called Explore Trip again to tell the whole story and the agent forwarded my phone to a different line. Unfortunately, no one answered the phone. The agent asked me to write an email about my son's case and I will be contacted in 48 hours. However, it has been already four days since I emailed them. No response at all. Very irresponsible and unprofessional services. I don't know whether or when I can get refunded. Never use this agent again.

Don't give these crooks or flyfar any of your money. Been sent to them through skyscanner before. I booked a ticket and got an email saying a receipt and e-ticket would be issued within 24hours. Waited 24 hours and nothing. Also had no charge on my debit card, so I went ahead and tried again through the airline (which was actually cheaper... surprise). About a week later, the charge went through, and when I noticed I immediately called the company. After being on hold for nearly 4 hours, I was hung up on... twice... while talking to a combative agent, who told me my ticket was non-refundable. Then they didn't send it to me anyway. I filed a claim with VISA to have the charge reversed. Customer service called and told me I owed them for the ticket. They said they'd talked to my bank about the situation and the bank had referred them to me. When I talked to my credit union they said they hadn't received a call from the vendor and that visa had reversed the charge because of the strange way the company deals with credit card transactions. When called by the company they threatened to send my info to collections and I told them I was going to speak with my lawyer. Consulting with my lawyer I was told they were employing intimidation tactics and to ignore them. Haven't heard back from the company and have never been approached by a collection agency.

I purchased tickets from LAX to BKK, and in trying to select specific seats, I contacted the Explore Trip, which kept answering god knows what question since they didn't appear to read my email request. I then contacted the airlines directly, and they said we didn't actually have tickets, even though my credit card was charged. I contacted Explore Trip, and they just kept telling me I had tickets and if there was a problem to call the airlines in CHINA! I explained that might be expensive on my cell phone, and I had to beg to get them to call the airlines in China for me. Finally they said they would, and after being on hold for 20 minutes, they simply let me hear one minute of talk from the airline's automated system and then the phone hung up. So I called again, and repeatedly they said I had a ticket, so I kept arguing and arguing, saying Explore's system might say I have a ticket but the airline's doesn't, and I don't want to end up at the airport without tickets. Finally, the consumer service rep did a deep dive and found out the tickets were void, that they had to reissue new ones for some reason that didn't make sense that they blamed on my credit card company. So now we apparently have tickets, finally. I asked if I could just cancel the tickets because I didn't want to do business with Explore Trip, and they said no way. I mean, there's unprofessional, which these guys are, but then there's just blame incompetent. I've flown to maybe 60 different countries, and this is the worst ticketing company I've ever used.

Be aware of booking with this company. In may 2020 after my father passed away, I booked a ticket through Exploretrip to attend his funeral. At the checkin counter the airline representative told me that there was no flight for that route. I immediately called Exploretrip and they told me that they buy tickets in bulk many months/years in advance and that flight was cancelled months even before I bought the ticket. Basically they sold me a ticket for a flight that was never going to happen. After many complains with the supervisor they agreed to a partial refund. Well, to make a story short, after one year and countless phone calls and emails with Christopher at the billing department and Elijah at escalation department they told me the same lie, "the refund has been processed, check with your credit card company". I have never received my refund for a lemon ticket that they sold me. My credit card company could not open a dispute because I wrongly agreed to settle for a partial refund with them, hence they told me I should deal directly with the vendor. The representatives at Exploretrip have played this game with me for almost one year now where they claim they refunded the money and when I asked to show me a proof of the money been transferred from their bank to my credit card they disappeared. We even had a three-way phone call with them and my credit card company representative and Christoper kept telling the credit card representative that it's their problem if the money was not received and they couldn't do anything else. How ludicrous. This company is a scam, be aware.

Do not book with Explore Trip. This is barely a step above an outright scam. They issue you fake/temporary ticket numbers that get "exchanged" with the airline - the trick is, that exchange often means your flight details are completely changed (different **earlier** departure times, flight numbers, reservation #'s, etc.) and they don't inform you about these differences. If you call their customer support line, the customer support staff is not able to even look up the new details for you - they send you to the airline's customer support, who are completely confused because you have, essentially, a fake ticket/record locator.

In a single trip booked via Explore Trip, I missed a flight on the way out (because it had been rebooked to a different flight #, 2 hours earlier, without telling me) and now I am up at 3 am with Alaska & Virgin America customer support trying to sort out my return flight tomorrow because - get this - NO TICKET EXISTS NOW.

Do not book with these people. Sidenote: based on my experience and several other reviews here, it would seem that this company is also buying good reviews for themselves (see all of the 5 star reviews here, which seem to name a specific person - first name only). Be warned.

This is one of the worst flying experience I ever had! I booked through skyscanner and went for the cheapest option. I got what I paid for!
My flight was from Boston to San Francisco and it was cancelled due to bad weather. I called virgin america and was told I have to talk to the third party. I called Explore Trip and had the worst customer service ever. I'm assuming their support is in India since the English was pretty bad.
First they claimed my flight was not cancelled, took me about 5 minuted to convinced them i'm at the airport right now and it is cancelled. Then they claimed they will send me a ticket for a flight the next day. And when I asked about an earlier flight and start getting mad they hanged up!
I had to call again, this time he was nicer and said there are no earlier flights (although virgins website showed a flight 2 hours before the one they rebooked). I got the itinerary and made all the arrangements.
Of vourse I got no hotel, food or even taxi reimbursement. Nothing!
The next day I come to the desk since I couldn't check in online just to find out that although they sent me an itinerary, they never actually switched the flight!
The guy at the desk told me I have to go and talk to them again!
Luckily he saw how miserable I was and he said it's not the first time it happens with them, especially since Alaska bought Virgin America, and he helped me out.

Dealing with ExploreTrip was a nightmare, from now on I don't care if they are the cheapest website. You definitely get what you pay for.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from them!

I had unfortunately booked my flight before reading all the reviews! I had went to cancel my flight, so I called them and they said there would be a $500 penalty. I was about to take this offer because I realized it was my fault for cancelling; however, I remembered I bought the insurance that they offered! So I told them about the insurance and they directed me to AIG and when I called the Insurance company, they said they didn't get a claim under my name. So I just thought that I messed up and didn't buy it! But after calling Explore trip back, I realized that it wasn't me! It was them! When I called back, they didn't answer! The second time, they hung up on me! The third time they put me on hold for about 30 minutes. The fourth time they hung up again. I laughed about it for a second, looked them up online and saw all of these other negative reviews, laughed about it even more! I ended up calling chase and saying they were a fraudulent company! Luckily my flight was a month away and nothing bad happened like some of the other people that posted, but boy do I empathize with them!

They are the worst company ever, they have terrible customer service, they never have managers to talk to and the refund process it's horrible. They are a SCAM I have been waiting for a YEAR to get my refund for a ticket I purchased to Brazil before Covid and because of COVID 19 THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT ISSUED A COVID 19 DECREE WHERE THEY BANNED NON- BRAZILIANS CITIZENS (FOREIGNERS) FROM ENTERING THE COUNTRY BY AIR, LAND OR SEA, THE SAME TIME THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT BANNED BRAZILIAN CITIZENS TO ENTER THE US. They cancel my ticket and I could not travel even if I wanted to. I opened a complaint with the department of transportation because EXPLORETRIP was telling me the airline was not "Approving the refund". However, the airline sent me an email saying they approved it and that EXPLORETRIP NEVER CONTACTED THEM TO REQUEST IT. They are thieves and scammers.

I booked 4 passenger tickets from Miami to Kabul for a convenient price. They sent me a confirmation number book with no e-tickets. When I call for the E-tickets, the agents say that my ticket was never booked and they canceled my tickets although I received a confirmation number. Since it was the weekend, I expected them to send the tickets within 24 hours. Since my flight was within 2 days of the time I booked, I called the next day for my E-tickets, they tell me that they have not booked my tickets. I spent so much money on a rental car, hotel, covid test, and place to stay in Kabul, and I missed all of them. HORRIBLE!
NEVER BOOK WITH THEM!
THEY OFFERED TO BOOK A TICKET FOR DOUBLE THE PRICE I BOOKED ORIGINALLY SAYING THAT MY CARD WAS NOT CHARGED!

The service personel is very accommodating and very patient answering my inquiry I highly recommend exploretrip to my friend... and I'm looking forward to you guys on my next travel.

I booked a ticket. They were acting nice(faking it) they told me that i will get E-ticket in 45mins-maximum 4hours which is very rare. But then i waited 12 hours they didn't send me email. I called the agent said oh sorry they said everything seems normal you should've received your e-ticket. He said i will inform the ticketing the department, they will take care of it asap.( expect your e-ticket in on hour) i didn't get any email. After 4 hours i called they said the price went up, i was mad then i agreed to new price. I told them please send me e-tick asap. They said definitely you'll get it. I waited 5 hours still no emails i called they said the price went up everytime i was calling the will giving me new and new prices and i called 4 times (45 minutes plus call duration) and the agent would say everything seems normal with your reservation and they would put me on hold and they would come with newer prices :(( ( so finally they said you should be happy that we answer your call. Finally they gave me a ridiculous price and said if you don't agree with this price in one hour we will have to cancel your reservation! They are very unprofessional customer service because they told me the agent who helped you is not here so we can't help you. I was like who cares about the agent! I'm not dating her. So DONT BOOK A TICKET WITH THEM!

My flight was cancelled. I was told by the airline I had to call explore trip because I booked with them. I was on the phone 30 minutes with a condescending guy who was not helpful at all. He said my flight wasn't cancelled and I was all set to fly out the next day. The airline, however, told me it was cancelled (and it was). So after a great deal of frustration and time he said he would call them and call me back in 10-15 minutes. He didn't. Instead he sent me an email with my SAME flight info. So I called again. I asked both men to talk to a supervisor boss or manager. They ignored it and finally said they don't have any. The next guy also had me on the phone for almost 30 minutes. He was also not helpful. He kept putting me randomly on hold probably hoping I would hang up. Finally, he discovered that my flight WAS cancelled. 31 minutes into my second call. I said oh good so now you guys have figured out what I knew two hours ago. He refused to reschedule me and hung up. Oh, I should mention this was my first flight of a two week honeymoon from the US to itsly. On a teacher salary using this site was all we could afford and we weren't aware of all the problems people have. Thats our mistake, don't let it be yours. We were supposed to fly out tomorrow. Please please do not book on this site. I have never had such a terrible experience.

Complete BS and waste of time and money. Booked a flight, the sent me confirmation. A MONTH later I checked, and still on e-ticket. Called the actual airline, and was told it was attempted to book, but was canceled because of non payment. I never got any type of notification that I didnt have my flights. Called Explore trip. Got the "i guarantee you i will get you flight"... and "I do not know why the refund didnt happen" They wanted me to book an entire new set, before I got refund. I refused. They called me the next day and said they could use the "refund" as credit... so I paid more for new flights. They were booked through some random travel agency in California. I got ticket confirmation from the Airline about 4 hours later... Explore trip called me the next day and said "the 2nd booking didnt go through". - which was BS because I got confirmation from the actual airline- but "it didnt go through because they cant book it that way, have to fix the original booking"... so they CANCELLED the 2nd booking. Promised me a call and solution in 24 hours. Its 48 hours now, I have called and been told 24 hours more hours, and it has to be done that way because refunds take up to 60 days. Have already put a Fraud claim into the credit card. Bot both charges and currently on hold for 12 minutes waiting for supervisor.