“Standard story, took 11 months to get my refund. I'm still in disbelief at the quality of their customer service.
The approach that finally worked to get my refund - one morning I sent the same email every five minutes to every email address I could find for companies under the Travix umbrella (Budget Air UK Cheap Tickets NL, Cheap Tickets DE etc.). Each time I changed the email title very slightly e.g. Refund Enquiry 1, Refund Enquiry 2 etc. This approach must have caused havoc to their inboxes because within half an hour (approx 20 emails) I received my official PDF cancellation invoice. And two days later the amount was in my account.
I'm never using this company again in the future.
Good luck!
Tom
P.s they also have an additional customer service number they don't tell you about. First you want an O. Then you want that number two. After that the O again. Next a big old 8. Now another O. For our next number we're a one. What's that a 6! After that numero 2. Then you're after double 3. Lastly a peachy 5. - sorry I've had to put it like that, website being annoying and removing the post otherwise.”
“To start off with I have used Budget Air for my numerous trips to Thailand over the last 5 years and never had a problem - I even gave them 5 Star Rating. Now Covid-19 - booked a flight with Cathay Pacific through Budget Air - thought that it would not be problem as Cathay Pacific wrote back to me saying that my flight could be changed as many times as I want to at no extra cost or full refund BUT because the booking was made with Budget Air all correspondence had to be delt with Budget Air. I have emailed Budget Air numerous times and have received replys stating that they are waiting for refund from Airline ( Did not specify Cathay Pacific ) which could take several weeks or months. Now reading other people's post's and their experiences I worry I will not get a change of flight or refund. Budget Air are BREAKING THE LAW and I will take them to Court on my behalf and others to get them to refund all of us . I have taken the UK Govt to The High Court ( The Old Bailey ) on a Human Rights Issue on won my case so taking on Budget Air will be far easier.
The Law is made to Protect Us and Budget Air are breaking that Law.
I will keep you posted on my progression.”
“Requested a refund due to a flight being cancelled and 4 weeks on I am still waiting no response
I have started debit card dispute trying to recover this but also I will report them to the authority.
Delay is fine but no response is absolutely not reasonable”
“*BE AWARE!!! FRAUD!!!! DO NOT USE*
Was looking for a deal online and came across budgetair
Got in contact and spoke to a guy called Billal
Acted like such a nice guy out there to help giving the best deals. Answers query’s straight away. UNTILL……
Now the real story starts
He asked me to pay half the outstanding payment to put the booking through, done that. He sent me a booking confirmation and everything and the requirement was to pay the remaining by the morning, which is the day of the flight.
Now they say if it’s too good to be true then it’s most likely not real.
Flight day is here and the remaining balance has been paid.
Arrived at the airport went to go check in and got told there’s no booking and the confirmation number/email does not exist!!!!
Had no choice but to turn around and go home!!!!!
Got played by a fraudster!!!
Remember how I mentioned how Bilal was answering questions and calls straight away, now trying to get a hold of him is the most difficult thing to do!!! I text him on WhatsApp as that’s the only way to get in contact, as he does not answer any calls stating what happened. He WhatsApp back saying the refund team will get back to me.
There’s been no refund, no calls, NOTHING!!!
STAY AWAY FROM THIS FRAUDULENT COMPANY AND KEEP REPORTING!!!!
There’s really low scums out there in this world!!!”
“The only feed back I get from them on my flight refund is "Status Pending", Over 2 years I have been waiting for my refund and nothing from them, not even an email to say its still being looked at. They are one big joke, Online chat is not help at all. Pure Robbery.
HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND !!!!”
“Avoid these Clowns at all costs,as soon as you pay communication grinds to snail pace and they never answer calls and do not have physical office in London,I could go on and on but do not make same mistake by booking through this Circus as you will receive generic email responses rather than actual solutions”
“
“They refuse to refund flights they confirmed were cancelled. Emirates airline has refunded them but they are saying that never received the money so their excuse first was that they are waiting for the airline to refund and now they are saying that the airline should refund me.
Do not give them your money. They have no intention of proceeding with flights and will not refund you.
Their customer service is limited to email via their website which returns errors to stop you from submitting.
They are just thieves.”
“Just now
SCAM SCAM SCAM
Refused to give me any form of refund or voucher after the covid 19 pandemic then chnaged my flight times on another flight gave me no update what so ever and bo option to do anything about it. Customer service is shocking and the website is corrupt!”
“Absolute thieves, non-existent customer service, misleading and false information on multiple occasions.
The worst travel agent I have ever dealt with. I have had open and helpful lines of communication with the airline for my flights (Philippine Airlines) who have shared screenshots of their systems to show absolute transparency that my money is with BudgetAir. I've been waiting on a refund for airline cancelled flights for over 3 months and have had 1 email from BudgetAir.
They also charge extra for 'refund protect' and 'service package premium' which I was a fool to buy - do not bother, it offers absolutely nothing... they just steal your money.
I will now only ever go direct to the airline for my bookings and never waste my own money with a travel agent.”
“So final update from the story started below. After 4 days of procrastination from budgetair.co.uk their final response is........your flight change remains the same. So in effect all the talk about helping find a solution to the absurd time change (leaving at 09:00 and arriving at 21:40) has rendered no change, as I expected.
Also because it has taken 4 days, all the decent prices for the 11:45 to 20:55 outward service are finished. Yesterday morning I saw flights for this service at £550. Now they are £700.
As the title says, Absolutely Abysmal.
Safe to say that I've learnt a painful lesson about using these types of companies to buy airline tickets. When there are no changes, everything goes well. But if the airline changes the schedule, DON'T EXPECT ANY HELP.
NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE THIS COMPANY.
I'm in the middle of a flight issue with this organisation and so far I'm not happy with what I've seen.
Booked an air France flight with them that was meant to get me to my destination at 17:45 after a 9am Heathrow departure.
Received an email this morning telling me the chosen flight has been cancelled and I'm now on the same departure but arriving 21:40.
Spent over an hour on the phone to Budget Air, only to be told "we'll review other options and get back to you within 4 days".
Four days? I know that KLM (same family as air France) have an 11:45 departure that arrives at the same destination at 20:55. Not ideal but better that a 10 hour 40 minute travel day.
I'm not confident that I'll get the result I want.
Either way, I'll never use Budget Air again.”
“Booked a flight through Budget Air which was later cancelled by the airline. Was informed by Emirates Airline three weeks ago that I would need to claim refund via booking agent, fine.
I have made easily over 10-15 calls to Budget Air since each lasting more than 30 minutes on hold without answer. I have also sent five emails without response. It is unacceptable service and I will continue to chase this up as report this terrible service to all review platforms warning others until I get my refund. Do not book with Budget Air.”
“Bunch of crooks, they sell you tickets online which are not available, when you contact them because you haven't received your tickets, they tell you the Airline did not have any tickets. They debit your Account first, then you have to contact them instead of them contacting you. After you contact them ,one hour later they will send you email about non availability of flights. Ruined my Christmas holidays. Bunch of idiots and crook do not book with this Company. I do not know why the relevant authorities do not take any action on this Company despite of all adverse reviews.”
“Horrible experience, which is still unfolding... By unfolding I mean, I have hit a brick wall while trying to get a refund which is owed to me. Do not deal with this company at all... Seriously wondering if they are fraudulent company. Constant promises the payment of refund has been paid...”
“Fraudulent company. They should be closed down. Bilal confirmed flights and sent details. Got to the airport and got told there was no booking. Called him again and he took 2 seperate payments. Now a few days on money has been withdrawn again. There is no way to contact these bunch of low lifes! Avoid!”
“This is Fraud. These people are scamming money. They take your account details and charge any other price not discussed.
Ashraf Malik and Bilal are very fake and they have taken money from our 2 accounts.
Please please go somewhere else. These lot are fraud.”
“Warning: availability of flights isn't real-time on their website! Even after going through check-out.
I found a fare on their website. Went all the way through check-out, and my credit card was charged. I then get a message that the booking is "pending" and that the tickets will be confirmed within 24 hours.
No-where in the buying process or check-out process does it say that the purchase is still subject to a 24 hour wait for tickets to be issued.
They take full payment during check-out.
A few hours later, I get an email that the ticket is not available. And that the payment will only be refunded in 5-10 days.
Imagine if you were desperate to buy a ticket. Now you have your money tied up for the next 5-10 days, that you can't use to try to buy your flight ticket again on another website!”
“Beware of the 'Travel service fee'!! Eventhough I ticked no to the service fee they hid it at the final paymet stage.
Beware of 'Travel service/insurance' hidden fee!!”
“I've booked flights through BudgetAir. The airline postponed one flight by a few hours and cancelled the other, meaning many hours at one airport and waiting overnight at another. I called the airline to cancel and ask for a refund. They said I had to do it through BudgetAir, which has no helpline. I contacted the live chat, and the person at the other end said she couldn't help, but someone else would be in touch. I am still waiting.”
“This company is a con. We booked a holiday for four of us to go to Australia for Christmas. They have just cancelled 90 days before we are due to go. Also, they said it will be 8-10 weeks before we get a refund. Tickets are now double the price. How are we going to book another trip to Australia? Also, My partner has just been told he has terminal cancer and so I want to have this one last holiday with him before he starts getting sick. This company is a big con. Just keeping our money in their accounts for 6 months and breaking our hearts.”
