business logo of Kayak

Kayak

How would you rate Kayak?
grey star
grey star
grey star
grey star
grey star
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Joe P.
Unfollow Joe P.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Booked a hotel in Pacific Grove, CA for 2 nights in May of 2014. This was booked in mid January 2014 and they charged my credit card immediately. A week later I found out that I could not go on this trip so I called the number that they gave me to cancel, and yes they canceled the hotel stay, but to date they have not refunded my money. I think Kayak believes this is now their money, thinking there is nothing I can do.
After reading reviews of Kayak here and at other places I am resigned to the fact that the money is gone, that I am just one more victim of fraud, deceit, and just plain theft.

I did find this on the internet

Chairman of the board of Kayak
Terrell B. Jones
930 Tahoe Blvd Suite 802-390 Incline Village, NV 89*******357
*******@essentialideas.com
*******@tbjones.com

CEO Steve Hafner
They guard his email and contact info pretty well but I found an email address through his Dartmouth Alumni
*******@kayak.com

I will give this a shot, then of course contact the BBB and any other agency that may help.

For now, I will just have to be satisfied to tell as many unsuspecting people as is possible that NOBODY SHOULD DO BUSINESS WITH KAYAK-THEY ARE A BUNCH OF CROOKS.

Date of experience: February 6, 2014
Philippines
41 reviews
35 helpful votes
Follow Brianne W.
Unfollow Brianne W.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Never miss
January 27, 2016

Been traveling for months and kayak always had the best to offer, most especially the hotels. Cool!

Date of experience: January 27, 2016
Texas
5 reviews
34 helpful votes
Follow R D.
Unfollow R D.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I was a big fan of Kayak, but I want to warn everyone about a recent experience that has changed my mind. Our family lost $1000 in savings because of a Kayak alert failure.

I set up a daily alert for specific outbound and return dates. The alerts only last for 10 days at a time (highly inconvenient if you plan trips any reasonable time in advance, such as searching for a flight a month or more ahead of time - e.g. Xmas, three months in our case). I had it running (with resets) for about six weeks and saw only minor fluctuations in price. However, with my most recently reset alert, it failed to come after the seventh day (the email on the seventh one said it will expire in "three more messages" = 3 more days). It resumed again on the 10th day (last day of that cycle).

When I went to reset the alert, I did a check on Kayak's "chart" to see past price fluctuations and noticed that there was a $300+ dip very recently. After reviewing all my alerts, it became obvious that it occurred during the time frame of the missing alerts (represents over a $1000 missed savings for our family). Also, that alert on the 10th day and all subsequent email alerts from the reset now have a new format (i. E. look and feel).

Like most people, I'm pretty busy these days so did not specifically notice that the emails were missing as they hit my general email along with hundreds of others on a daily basis. I usually just give them a quick look as they come in. What's the point of having an alert if I cannot rely on it, but instead need to specially monitor if it will come and then do a manual search myself if it doesn't? It seems likely, if not evident that Kayak were sloppy and screwed up in its transition to the new format, but fat chance getting them to admit so, nor, if they do, getting any meaningful consideration for it, given their terms of service. (I have contacted them and they are "looking into it" - my paraphrase).

So now I am signed up with five other services (not just one any more)... you can bet that my next booking will be on those ones - I may still use Kayak just to search a route and validate prices, but that's about it.

I give it two stars because it is a good site to validate prices, and because I have saved money in the past with alerts, but I highly recommend you have alerts set up with multiple services because of a lack of reliability with Kayak (and my fear that other services may be just as unreliable).

Date of experience: November 1, 2012
Japan
1 review
13 helpful votes
Follow Justin G.
Unfollow Justin G.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Hands down the WORST customer support I have seen with CROOKED POLICIES.
I've called this company 6 times previously and have been promised a call back 3 times. I received NONE of those call backs. I called back AGAIN today only to be told I had to call back later because the office they needed to contact (which I had already talked to and was told it would be recorded in my file) was closed. I have been told this previously and did as said, then I didn't receive a call back from the 'supervisor.' I was promised credit (not a refund, I FULLY understood that) after I cancelled a ticket in December.

I was told if I called back within one year I would receive credit towards a new ticket. I obliged. I asked for proof of this and a cancellation notice by email or post and was told "they don't do that." He told me to 'rest assured' that it had been marked in my file and I only needed my confirmation and ticket numbers when I called back. I even asked for a name and a number of the person I was talking to and was only given a first name and NO number because it was COMPANY POLICY.

Each time I call back they give me the same questions, and then eventually they tell me it was marked in the file. They have a terribly crooked system. I have the time, dates, and names of every person I've talked to in the ENTIRE company and every time I call back they treat me and act as if I had never contact them before.

They say the INFORMATION IS ON FILE, yet will give you NO PROOF of this. Do not deal with this company. I have been dealing with the issue for weeks now. I would be willing to pay 50% more for my ticket and use a different site than this one. You will get no peace of mind doing business with this company.

Date of experience: September 9, 2013
Mar M.
GB
4 reviews
5 helpful votes
Follow Mar M.
Unfollow Mar M.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Good experience
August 29, 2016

I booked flights to several countries and found good prices and all went through very well,

Date of experience: August 29, 2016
Georgia
1 review
16 helpful votes
Follow Abby K.
Unfollow Abby K.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

DO NOT BOOK YOUR FLIGHT THROUGH KAYAK.COM! The worst customer service I have received in a very long time and I have worked in customer service for the last 10 years. I found a great deal on their site a week ago and quickly booked it. Fast forward a week and I check my credit card account, only to see that I had not been charged for the flight. I quickly call Kayak.com customer service and they tell me the booking was cancelled because of an error (hmmm is this sounding familiar? What is with Kayak and all the "errors"?). What the error is, who knows, because the same exact flight is still available on the Kayak website. The woman I spoke with told me they sent me an e-mail telling me this BUT THEY DID NOT! I checked every inbox I have, including my spam and promotions folder, as well as my deleted folder. So I check their site for the same flight and lo and behold, IT IS $150 MORE EXPENSIVE. Does the customer service rep care? Not in the least, and tells me there is nothing she can do. I start to ask for her name and she HANGS UP ON ME while I am mid sentence. This irritates me beyond belief so I go on the Kayak.com site to send a complaint, only to be e-mailed back with basically the same response, that there is nothing to do and "it is my decision if I don't want to use them again." I will NEVER use Kayak.com again and I will tell everyone I know that they should not use it again. There is no excuse for such terrible customer service and horrible policies. PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM! Use their site to find the best deal, then go to Priceline or the airline site which are always the same price. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. I wish I could give negative stars.

Date of experience: December 17, 2013
California
4 reviews
3 helpful votes
Follow david s.
Unfollow david s.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Only way to go whenever I need to do a research for my flight.

Date of experience: December 5, 2012
Texas
1 review
2 helpful votes
Follow Tom S.
Unfollow Tom S.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Nope
March 16, 2016

Not going to use it because of all the Spotify ads. Going with expedia

Date of experience: March 16, 2016
Pennsylvania
3 reviews
12 helpful votes
Follow Marsha J.
Unfollow Marsha J.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

USED TO LOVE IT
March 2, 2018

THEY TEND TO FAVOR DELTA I PREFER TO GO DIRECTLY TO SOUTHWEST BECAUSE KAYAK DOESNT SHOW THIER "I WANNA GET AWAY" PRICES

Date of experience: March 1, 2018
Hawaii
3 reviews
0 helpful votes
Follow gordon w.
Unfollow gordon w.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Able to compare for lowest prices for airline tickets!

Date of experience: March 3, 2012
Illinois
11 reviews
51 helpful votes
Follow Michael R.
Unfollow Michael R.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Kayak is great, I have saved serious money a few times versus using other sites.

Date of experience: February 22, 2013
Illinois
6 reviews
7 helpful votes
Follow Steve G.
Unfollow Steve G.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

I always use Kayak for my flight plans and car rentals

Date of experience: February 14, 2015
Australia
3 reviews
8 helpful votes
Follow Tatiana M.
Unfollow Tatiana M.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Sight hard
April 27, 2020

Sight hard to confirm flights where is the shopping cart.,, Very confusing...

Date of experience: April 27, 2020
Florida
5 reviews
21 helpful votes
Follow Mai N.
Unfollow Mai N.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Good website to compare prices and saves money too!

Date of experience: February 2, 2015
Florida
4 reviews
16 helpful votes
Follow Daniel P.
Unfollow Daniel P.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Best rates not always up to date, will hound your inbox with ads.

Date of experience: August 12, 2016
Michigan
26 reviews
11 helpful votes
Follow Ronny D.
Unfollow Ronny D.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Great success
September 22, 2016

Kayak is one comparison site that I have had great success comparing flight info

Date of experience: September 22, 2016
India
5 reviews
8 helpful votes
Follow robhin h.
Unfollow robhin h.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

They show only few website
September 24, 2015

We can get better price if they show some other website too to compare airfare.

Date of experience: September 24, 2015
Massachusetts
25 reviews
37 helpful votes
Follow Andrew S.
Unfollow Andrew S.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Kayak has become my go-to site to find airline prices. Very quick and efficient!

Date of experience: April 29, 2016
New York
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow LINNETTE L.
Unfollow LINNETTE L.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Deception with Kayak
September 9, 2022

Compré unos 5 pasajes de san Juan Madrid, dónde me ofrecían las primeras maletas incluida. Cuando me llega la confirmación de los pasajes, resulta que las maletas no están incluidas, y tengo un sobre-giro de $750. Hablar con alguien es imposible, no tienen ni ningún ser humano.

Date of experience: September 9, 2022
California
1 review
0 helpful votes
Follow Cynthia T.
Unfollow Cynthia T.
Send Message
Share Review
Report Review

Despues de mas de 14 horas de vuelo llego a mi destino y fui Al hotel reservado por kayak y para mi sorpresa no solo no estaba disponible tambien habia sido cancelado, hable a kayak y me dijeron despues de un largo tiempo en el telefono que me iban a mandar otro hotel voucher, se trataba no de un hotel era algo como un Refugio o algo asi donde se comparten Los baños muy diferente a lo que me habian prometido Yo soy una persona descapacitada por lo tanto fue una situacion terrible y angustiante, ahora cuando llamo a kayak me ponen en espera y no contestan al esplicar la razon de mi llamada... Tengan cuidado.

Date of experience: May 16, 2022

Overview

Kayak has a rating of 1.6 stars from 322 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Kayak most frequently mention customer service, credit card and search engine. Kayak ranks 200th among Travel Search Engine sites.

service
57
value
49
shipping
17
returns
26
quality
43
This company does not typically respond to reviews