Opodo left me with a 7 year old and a baby with no flights in airport for nearly 24hrs.

My original booking was,

Outbound - Edinburgh to Fuzhou via Shanghai & London

Return - Fuzhou to Edinburgh Via Shanghai & Amsterdam

The return flight was cancelled according to Opodo by the airline and I awaited a confirmed alternative. This was in the first week after I travelled. I got no such response and when I chased this several times Opodo stated they had contacted me via telephone. This was not the case.

Opodo confirmed the alternative flight on the 5th August from Fuzhou to London Via Shanghai was the only one available and they were waiting on the airline (China Eastern) confirming this. I pointed out my final destination was Edinburgh but Opodo stated there was no flight to Edinburgh and only London. I asked to check for Glasgow and again none available. I then asked opodo to check for a 3-week period for any flight to Edinburgh to be told none were available? This is ridiculous in a three-week period I find it hard to believe as I checked Opodo website and there were flights available to which I pointed out to Opodo.

I waited for confirmation on the proposed change and i got none except an email stating Opodo tried to contact me which again was not the case. When i contacted Opodo they stated the airline (China Eastern) came back with an alternative on the 6th August but again to London. I again stated my final destination was Edinburgh and to be told no flight was available. I also queried when I asked about alternatives to the 5th August to be told non were available and suddenly one is available on the 6th August albeit still to the wrong final destination. I then had no choice but to book flights from London to Edinburgh and pay for these.

I then travelled on the 6th August via Amsterdam and Opodo had only allowed for 2 hours between flight's and I had to recheck my bagage also. This was clearly not possible as my flight was to land at 18:30 and my flight to London was at 20:30. My flight from Shanghai was delayed and therefore I missed the London flight anyway. I contacted Opodo and they stated contact the airline (China Eastern). I contacted the airline (China Eastern) and they stated contact Opodo. I might add that the airlines local offices were closed and the 24-hour line was in Shanghai and did not have international calling as i was not in my home country. I had to get someone else telephone to call them. I was then abandoned in Amsterdam overnight with a 1-year-old and a 7-year-old child. I had nowhere to sleep and no food, water etc. Opodo then stated we have sent a request to the airline and can take 72 hours!

Opodo wanted me to wait 72 hours in an airport with no assistance from Opodo or the airline with two children and nowhere to sleep. Opodo could only answer sorry for any inconvenience. That is really unacceptable. I waited until the next morning and contacted Opodo again and they stated they would call me back in 1 hour. I was still waiting for that call!

I had no choice but to arrange my own alternative flights from Amsterdam to London at considerable cost.

Opodo should be ashamed that they abandoned a woman with a 1-year-old and a 7-year-old in Amsterdam with nowhere to sleep, Food, Water etc and to be asked to wait 72 hours for a response from the airline. The response from Opodo was I am sorry, but not much else is unsatisfactory.

The responses from Opodo were un acceptable and that I had to keep contacting Opodo numerous times as they kept saying they tried to contact me were clearly false.

OK so I paid extra for a flexible flight and had to reschedule the flight. I found a new flight for the 30th of July which was significantly cheaper (almost half) of what I paid and selected it in order to book it. I've done this process many times in the past with multiple companies and it was always done automatically. In this case however I got an email according to which my request was currently in the "Processing" stage and "Please keep an eye on your phone and emails, as we may need to contact you." I thought that was a bit weird because of my past experience with other normal non-scammer companies, but maybe it was just for some extreme exceptions and not a common practice. Anyway after a while I got a phone call from Opodo call centre, informing me that the price increased and I had to pay extra! Of course at that point I was almost certain that I was dealing with a deeply unethical and immoral company but gave them the benefit of the doubt. I told the guy who called me that I was really flexible and available to travel at any of the 60 days following the initial travelling day, so all I wanted was to tell me one day with a flight fare less than or equal to the amount I already paid, so that I wouldn't pay extra and I would book that day. He told me that he would have to check day by day and he wasn't going to do that! Anyway, after getting off the phone I found a new flight for the 13th of August which was even cheaper than the previous one, way less than half of what I paid initially, to be exact €19.22 (the price is still the same btw as I am writing this!) and again attempted to book it. Again same procedure, email at the "Processing" stage saying "Please keep an eye on your phone and emails, as we may need to contact you." Indeed after a while I get a phone call from Opodo and surprise surprise…the price again increased and I had to pay extra! I think the extra amount depends on the amount you initially paid…I assume in general it is around 30-35%, that's what they asked from me and if I try to think as a thief I guess that's the sweet spot for a successful blackmail. It is like they are holding your money and blackmail you to give them some more otherwise you lose it all!

Overall my experience with these scammers was horrible! The flexible option is of course a joke and if you try to exercise it, be prepared to pay ransom for your money! In my case they were so shameless that the ransom they asked was greater than the actual price of the new ticket (that I would pay if I simply booked a new flight). My friendly advice – stay away from this company! Take care.

First of all their India based CS is one of the most appalling CS ever (but surely inexpensive for them), it took me 6 months to be issued the invoices, requested times and over.
I also to asked to be confirmed that the order of our booking names was correct, I was told it was and that there would be no issues, and, of course, they were not and we had troubles.
But the biggest issue is that they sell the possibility to book a seat, I used that possibility, I had to amend my return flight and requested the same seat, it was confirmed twice by their service, the last time less than 24h prior to boarding and guess what, the seat I paid for was not the one given to me.

I paid for that seat due to a chronic pain that I suffer from following a car accident, and in that very seat I can sort of deal with the issue as I can position myself with a little spare room as it is where the tail hull cause the seat arrangement to move from 3 to 2, but in another seat it becomes impossible, it was a long haul flight almost 15h inbound and 14h outbound, I picked the days accordingly to the availability of that very seat, had I known that my return flight did not secure that seat I would have changed to a date that did.
My biggest issue is that they lied, they did not give a second thought, I asked for a confirmed and they wrote it down, only after the return flight and the pain and the tiredness was I given a number of BS excuses in the shape of
1 - The seat has never been confirmed on the first place
2 - You did not request the seat upon making your flight change
3 - Airlines may not give you what you asked for
4 - Booking system may not allow for such a change
But not a single time, we are sorry for lying to you
I was open to a lot of thing, not asking for a full refund (since the inbound flight was ok), I just expected a gesture, a credit note, a discount of some sort that would have acknowledge not only their total lack of professionalism (lying is kinda big especially when you have screenshots proves of it) and a consideration of the ordeal that was the return flight.

The price was not even a fantastic bargain, but it enabled me to book for my other family member more easily as we made a 7pax family trip

I work for a leader in the food tours, we have 65 worldwide cities, we used to recommend Opodo to our clients, well they did not make a single effort into even remotely trying to solve the issue...now they lost us

Avoid this company like the plague.
I booked return direct flights for 2 from Newcastle to Antalya.
3 days later the airline changed the flight to indirect with stops at Birmingham causing additional 3 hours on flights.
I contacted opodo and stated I was not happy with this and would like to cancel.
They told me I had to get in touch with the airline to cancel myself but if the airline said I could have a full refund they would give me a full refund of £449.72.
I contacted the airline the following day who agreed to cancel and full refund and sent me an email to that effect.
I then contacted opodo again and sent them the email from the airline.
Opodo said they would refund my full costs but it could take up to 30days.
3 days later I received an email from opodo saying they had received the refund from the airline and would issue me a refund of £377.
I called them again to be told that was all they were prepared to refund me but to fill out a complaint form to have them resolve it.
I filled out the form and emailed it to them yesterday and received a reply this afternoon stating they would not be refunding their charges only the airlines, I have attached their reply below and will be seeking advice from trading standards.
I have never dealt with a more unscrupulous company ever.

Dear Customer,

First of all, we would like to thank you for contacting Opodo and apologize for the delay in our reply.

Your Opodo booking number: *******4651

We are sorry to hear that you had an unsatisfactory experience with us and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Regarding a refund of the service fee of your booking, we would like to remind you that, according to our general terms and conditions, the service fee is a non-refundable part of the payment.

The service fees are charged for the mediation services provided by Opodo, which are deemed to have been fulfilled upon confirmation of the booking.

As a result, we are unable to issue a refund of the fees. We hope you understand that the fees are non-refundable.

For further questions we are happy to help you.

We are at your disposal for any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you again for contacting Opodo

Kind regards
Hossam. A
Opodo customer care

Don't book with these guys. The purpose of an intermediary is to improve the customer experience. Opdo has made my experience several times worse. And the "Prime" moniker? Prime mug!
I had a flight cancelled last Friday. After receiving a text and email from Lufthansa notifying me of the cancellation 3 hours before I was due to leave, I immediately called Opodo. Opodo explained that their system stated that the flight hadn't been cancelled and offered to book me on to the flight. THey were unable to (because it had been cancelled) and suggested I call the airline. After continuously getting an engaged tone with the UK's Lufhansa office, I called the head office in Germany - I was 75th in the queue. I then called the Irish office, who confirmed that the flight had been cancelled. After 2 separate calls Lufthansa (in Ireland) was able to check me out of the flight and offered me an alternative leaving 2 days later. I explained that this represented nealy 50% of the holiday and wasn't acceptable. Lufhansa referred me back to opodo - who once again tolds me that the flight wasn't cancelled. I invited Opodo to book me (and my wife and 4 children on to the flight). They couldn't because - guess what - it was cancelled! I asked them to provide me with a refund and they said that they would investigate and get back to me by email. I got an email 24 hours later explaining that I was ineligible for a refund because the flight went ahead as scheduled. Triple checking, I logged on to the Lufthansa website to confirm, once again that the flight had been cancelled.
I have spent the last week trying to get a refund. Opdo is still insisting that the flight went ahead as schedukled despite providing a screenshot from the Lufthansa website with a big cancelled banner against the flight - together with the email that Lufthansa sent.
The thing is that Lufthansa were awful. But Opdo has made the experience considerably more stressful. I will never book with Opodo again!

Opodo service is really bad, once you need something to be solved.

I got 'kicked out' of the queue twice when queuing to chat to an operator online, I made the same query twice and my chat was deactivated twice. The same thing happened to me weeks ago with Opodo online chat.
Since the online chat bot couldn't solve my problem and when transferred to a human assistant, regardless of how long I wait, I never get a response, I tried to sort my issue online or via the app. When I couldn't, I wanted to make a phone call which was really difficult as well, since very hard to find a valid contact for Opodo, had to go through all of my emails as there is no contact available on the website.

Ironically, the phone call automated message states I can manage my bookings on the website. On website, the only options when I click on manage my bookings are:
• Booking documentation
• Invoice
• Passenger details
• Additional Services (nothing to do with booking changes, rather hotels, transfers, etc.)

When I try it via the app, the only options are:
• Resend the confirmation email
• Request an invoice

So clearly there is no option for me to request any changes at all regarding the booking itself (only to change my own passenger details or ask for confirmation documents).

I then tried the phone service – I could only find a valid contact for Opodo after going through all of my emails, as there is no contact available on the website or the app.

1st Phone conversation:
In order to use my Flexible Product (i. E. being able to change my trip without extra fees until 24h preceding the original booking, which I paid extra for) I would have to decide on new date which I have no idea when it would be, since that will depend on restrictions changing in countries, and not my own choice. When I explain this, the operator told me I have up to 60 days to fly again which is "plenty of days"… But since it's not up to me but up to Covid-19 restrictions changing, I do not know if I will be able to fly again within 60 days…?

2nd Phone conversation:
I called again, since I couldn't solve this online, and asked to be passed on to the team that changes the bookings. I explained the situation again and this operator at least tried to check if I could get an open ticket – i. E., being able to use the value I've already paid, but with no certain date of travel. After a while he got back to me stating that Opodo can't give me an open ticket according to airline policy (TAP). This sounds very suspicious (not putting in question the operator, which were clearly saying what they were told, and they were extremely helpful), or best case scenario terrible company policy towards costumers. The reason I say this is because my other travel agent (that thankfully I got instead of Opodo, for my new returning trip after easyjet cancelled one of my flights), allows me to re-use the amount of my trip (booked with TAP also) within a whole year!

Besides all this, in both calls, they've asked me about both of my flights (naturally, I had booked a trip to destination and a return trip). I explained I have received a message from Opodo themselves informing that the return trip has been cancelled by easyjet and that the message said "as your travel agent, Opodo is requesting a refund on your behalf". But upon this phone conversation the operator told me Opodo hasn't even made a refund request yet. They did it on this call - again, the operator was very helpful, I am extremely displeased about the company itself specificaly. The operator then informed me that even if I decided on a date to travel within 60 days, because one of my trips (the return one) was cancelled by the airline this made me ineligible to use the Flexible Product – which, again, I had paid extra for.

Do not recommend Opodo. Zero Stars.

With immediate effect, this company must be closed down.

Opodo has NO intention to pay anybody's refund whatsoever.

OPODO HAS BEEN STRATEGISING AND LYING TO US ALL, AND GIVING US THE RUN AROUND. We are all wasting our time.

IT IS TIME TO TAKE ACTION - YOU WILL NOT BE GETTING YOUR MONEY BACK FROM OPODO, AS REQUIRED UNDER THE LAW, AND YOUR CONTRACT.

LET'S GET OPODO SHUT DOWN AND OUT OF BUSINESS AND BANKRUPT. THEIR DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDERS DO NOT DESERVE ANY MORE TICKET SALES.

OPODO HAVE STOLEN OUR MONEY. THIS IS THEFT AND FRAUD AND THEY ARE BREACHING CONSUMER RIGHT'S LAW.

AMONGST OTHER THINGS, THEY PALM ACTIONS OFF ON TO INTERNAL DEPARTMENTS WHICH DO NOT EXIST AND WHICH YOU CANNOT CONTACT YOURSELF.

THEY CREATE HURDLES TO MAKE IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK.

Does anybody know of any UK law firms that will act on our behalf and take them to court?

Does anybody know of any travel regulators who will do something?

Background:

-Opodo have been refusing to refund me for cancelled flights due to Covid-19.
-Initially promised in March 2020 a refund within 90 days.
-After no monies received in 90 days, and then a further 25 days in which I was asked to wait, and then some, it transpired Opodo had never even initiated any refund with the airline in the first place.
-After further failed promises and delays, airline apparently issued a travel voucher which was never requested. A cash refund was requested from Opodo from the outset.
-Airline now saying there is nothing they need to do for this to be turned into a cash refund and it is an Opodo problem to refund me.
-Opodo claiming it is an airline problem and that the airline needs to refund Opodo.
-Airline refuses to discuss with me as passenger as their contractual relationship is with Opodo, not the passenger.
-Opodo will not liaise with airline.
-Opodo have misrepresented the situation many times, communicated knowingly false information, used delay tactics and have no intention to pay.
-An abundance of failed promises and delays, hurdles and excuses, making it impossible to get refund.
-My wife is a pregnant woman and this is causing her significant stress, ill health and anxiety.

AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID AVOID OPODO AT ALL COSTS.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY EVER AGAIN. ESPECIALLY IN THESE TUMULTUOUS TIMES.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME AND MONEY.

LET'S SEE THEM GO BANKRUPT FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.

Any positive reviews on this website cannot be true.

I booked 2 times with Opodo because they offered flights no-one else had available. Both times they then were not able to confirm the flights and tried to sell another connection with crazy layovers and at higher cost than other agencies.

I received an Email asking to call as soon as possible. After waiting for what seems an eternity the agent does not properly speak the language I wanted (German) and was not allowed to switch to Englisch (although clearly an Indian person, who I assume speaks English). There is no way to manage your booking online or send an email to Opodo - only calls.

After cancelling the flight I asked for a cancelation confirmation so I can safely book somehwere else. It was promised to be sent within (24!) hours - that was 48h before the flight. Of course I received no confirmation, instead I received further emails prompting me to check-in for the flight I did not want.

So I call again, again wait in line, again speak to an Indian agent (this time I request an English speaking Agent). They promise to send me the cancellation confirmation - it takes another 5h to be sent.

In the email it says, the refund will take 10 days - of course that did not happen. 21 days later I call again, wait in line again for 12 minutes! The agent tells me that there is refund for 1(not both) flights pending. I protest, that I cancelled both flights, so he puts in into the waiting line for another 10 mintues.

The refund still has not been transfered. I guess I will need to call again.

Two times almost the exact same situation - it seems like this is a strandard practice there. Selling flights, that they don't have. Collecting money without delivering service, delaying refunds all the while making customers call and wait in line (no email, no online tool) just to talk to unqualified service agents.

NEVER AGAIN OPODO

134 days later...
This is a joint review for both Emirates and Opodo. Both companies are in my opinion as bar as each other and don't care about their customers once they have their money.
Myself and my husband both key workers, myself and staff nurse for nhs and my husband a supermarket supervisor were in Australia in March when we received an email from Emirates to say our return flight was cancelled sorry for any inconvenience. This inconvenience being stuck on the other side of the world with not suggestion of them giving is any support to get back to the UK. No contact number given, no email address and not one email from opodo about this cancellation. Our flight was Emirates airline but booked through opodo. Which I will never do again.
We then spent the next week on the phone to Emirates and opodo. To get through to anyone took hours. Sometimes 6+ hours, listening to the most irritating songs for this long certainly did no good for our mental well being.
When we eventually got through to both companies we would the be told by emirates it had nothing to do with Emirates or be told by opodo it had nothing to do with them to contact Emirates instead. The frustration of this was awful. We couldn't get anyone anywhere to help us. We continued to get passed from pillar to post.
By this point the British government had made an announcement that airlines were to allow passengers to transfer to other operating airlines for little to no fee. Again another day waiting for Emirates to answer their phone. Explained this to Emirates and how qatar were currently the only airline operating for us to get home. Emirates uselessly stated that they would allow us to transfer to any airline but for POLITICAL reasons would not allow us to transfer onto a qatar airline flight. This is absolutely ridiculous. They care no amount at all for their customers safety and well being. We were desperate to get home safely. And with every phone call and day passing we got more and more frustrated, upset and scared. Both opodo and emirates have proven to be absolutely useless and their customer service skills are terrible. Once they have your money they could not care less.
We eventually managed to get a flight home which we had to pay full for.
So on the 2nd April we phoned opodo again to start the refund process. At this stage we were informed by opodo that Emirates have stated 90 days will be the wait for any sort of refund. So then began the wait for 90 days.
We are now at day 133. We have since contacted Emirates who say again it's upto opodo. We have also contacted opodo on a couple of occasions, one of which we were told within 3 days we would receive an update of our refund. I was reassured this would definitely happen. SHOCK. No update within 3 days. So another phone call. Yet no further forward as they say they can't do anything until they hear from Emirates.
So currently myself and my husband and £1500 out of pocket as we had to get our own flight home organised. If it had been upto opodo and emirates we would still be stuck in Australia with no accommodation, no money and no wages.
I would advise everyone to avoid both of these companies unless you want to be out of pocket and feel very unsafe on your holiday.
I dread to think how much longer we have to wait for any sort of contact or refund. But 90 days is now 133 days so let's see.
Absolutely useless terrible companies
EMIRATES and OPODO

Appaling customer service at Opodo and an absolute nightmare to deal with, if I could give less than one star I would. Our flight due on the 16th May has been cancelled due to Covid-19. We called Opodo to ask for a refund a week before. They sent us to talk to WizzAir and asked us to send them written proof that the company is cancelling the flight. We did that and I sent them (voa a recommended eDreams email contact) a screen grab of or the WizzAir's cancellation message and their recommandation to ask Opodo for the refund. I asked the Opodo agent if this was proof enough or if they need anything else, they said they need to check with the air line to confirm the cancellation, but they will log my refund request and get back to us. A week later there was no sign from them so we called again. Another Opodo agent said that only the outbound flight was loged for a refung not the inbound! Obviously, if we can't get to a destination we will not be returning from there either. This was all in the middle of a global pandemic and lockdown, all the agents just talked to me like they had no idea of what is happening. Eventually, we were told they will log our refund request for the return flight as well and get back to us in five days. Yet we have not heard from them, so we called again to ask for any sort of confirmation that our refund request in being processed. We talked to yet another Opodo agent, who told us the refund for outbound flight is being processed but the refund for the return flight is not loged. We explained the history of our other calls and conversations to the agent, to which he replied 'don't worry, your money is safe with us'... Obviously, this made me very worried indeed. Again I asked Opodo to send us some sort of email or confirmation of our refund request, again we were told they will be in touch in three days and again it has been two weeks with no sign from them. We never had any communication to reasure us that our refund request is being processed. The Opodo customer service number is a premium one and making all the calls to them has a cost of about £10/call. Evrey time we talk to an agent, they are unhelpful and seem to actively try and disuade us from requesting the refund by asking us to repeat the same message and information over and over and over again, without them taking any actions to solve the situation. This all looks like a SCAM, they took our money for a service that was never rendered. Needless to say I would never use or recommed them and our advice to anyone thinking of using them is: AVOID AVOID AVOID!