"This travel agency is disgusting. I called Exploretrip to cancel a flight that the airline was offering full refund on, and an Exploretrip agent lied to me that the airline is only offering full refund for flights flying prior to March 2020, but since my flight is for April 2020, the flight is not eligible for full refund, he only offered me 60% refund. However I just got off the phone with the airline and they said that they do not have such restriction at all, and it's full refund for this flight! Exploretrip, you are such a deceitful and self-serving piece of trash. I will give the worst review on as many sites as possible and make sure Exploretrip pay for their disgusting business practice."

"STAY AS FAR AWAY form these scammers as possible. Once you have paid them they will cancel your flight for unknown reasons and keep your money until you contact them. They will send you bogus fake e-tickets. If you do not make sure you receive one they will never send it and never tell you. If your ticket was canceled and in most cases it will be, they will make is extremely difficult for you to get a refund (if you even do, as I'm still waiting) and they will try to waste as much of your time as possible keeping you on hold. If you are upset the rep you are speaking to will personally say, "I will not give you a refund, because you are mad". What are we suppose to feel when you con us out of our money and kick us off our flights for no reason. Further more if you purchase more than one ticket they will tell you you only purchased one ticket and that they can not find the other one, "Like duh, you guys canceled my reservation". They do this to make it seem like you purchased one ticket for the price of two, so they can keep the rest of the money you paid them. They will do their best to swindle you out of your money for the second ticket.

This place is an absolute scam. Been flying for a while now and this was my first time using them (through Sky Scanner, super disappointing). Never had a problem before with other third party's until now. It's basically a waiting game scam. You buy tickets. They send you fake e-tickets. Once your flight is coming up and you try to print them out you realize they don't exist. You call them and they make up lies and try to swindle you that your reservation got canceled and they cannot find your tickets. They send you more fake e-tickets.

Stay far far far away from this shady business. Honestly I do not know how it even has positive reviews. I have seen so many people 's post run into the same occurrence as I have from this business. Do your self a favor. Go somewhere else."

"I booked a flight in July 2019 for a December flight. The day after I booked the flight, a man called from Explore Trip stating I HAD to pay for seat assignments for my party of 5 totaling $100. He gave me the assignments of row 8 seats A, B, C, D and E. However, when I got to the gate, the man at the gate said the airline assigns the seats and my party didn’t have the seats I paid $100 extra for. Instead, we were separately scattered throughout the plane. And after reading the reviews for Explore Trip, I am so upset I booked with them! Better believe I will be shouting from the rooftops to anyone who will listen to NEVER book a flight using Explore Trip!!!"

"They came in at a very resonable price but there customer support was non existent. My ticket was missing 1 letter from my last name and the airline said that the agency has the ability to fix this issue with ease. When we called them they told us they could not assist us in any way. Luckily eastern chinese airlines helped me but now I'm heading back home a a couple days and am concerned about it. Hopefully airline on this end will be as helpful as they were in LAX."

"Bought two alaska airline tickets thru exploretrip 22 days before traveling, the tickets they sold was on ''waiting seat' list which they had never mention. I had to wait at the gate till everyone on board then they assign the leftover seats at the last minute. So ricky, never again."

"I called the customer service number to check on the baggage fees for China Eastern Airlines because the link they provided did not work. When I did, a rep told me that checked baggage was free up to two bags, but that there was a service charge of $50 per person. I was traveling with another person so he told me that my fee would be $100. I thanked him and was about to hang up but the rep then told me that he could give me a discount if I booked it now to $75.

He told me he would send me an email and that I had to reply before I hung up. After the call, I found it suspicious so I called the airline to confirm and they told me there was no such fee. I called back and the rep told me that I had agreed to the charge and that he could not give me back my money. He said the email had clearly explained all the terms and conditions but the email only read that according to the phone conversation, I agree to the charge. I told him that I don't agree with the charge and that I was mislead but he said that he would not reverse the charge.

I called my credit card company and they said that there was a suspicious charge from United Airlines. I hadn't even booked with United Airlines! This company is clearly committing fraud and should not be trusted. I will NEVER use them again. CONSUMERS BEWARE.
"

"got to the airport and my ticket was not issued. 0 notice. "

"I purchased flight tickets from Exploretrip in April. Around mid June, I found out from my friend who ordered her ticket from a different company that one of our flights was cancelled. Her company had reached out to notify her about the cancellation immediately and gave her a refund right away.
I promptly contacted exploretrip to get more information. I asked if they were going to call to notify customers about the cancellation. The rep tells me that they had not notified me of the flight cancellation because the trip was still too far out. They were not planning to notify passengers until within a month before departure. I told him that's not right! I requested a refund since there was no alternate flight. I was told to wait 24-48 hours for them to contact the airline for approval of refund.
For the next six weeks , I called exploretrip six times to follow up the status of my refund. I needed their refund to purchase our new tickets. The ticket prices go up day by day, and now my entire trip planning was delayed due to Exploretrip's incompetence and refusal to work with me to find a solution.
I file a complaint to BBB in late July. The next day, I got an email (finally) from Exploretrip, asking me to acknowledge their email to proceed with the refund. So I did.
A day later, ExploreTrip tells me that I will receive the refund amount in 3-4 WEEKS.
By the time I receive my refund, it will be late August. My trip is September 1st. I need new plane tickets for my trip. The original tickets cost over $2500 and comparable tickets are getting more expensive every day, as I wait for my money to be credited back to my account. The first time I called ExploreTrip, they said that they normally don’t notify their customers about flight cancellations until a few weeks before the trip. This is utterly disrespectful to customers who expect open communication with the company that is providing services. I need to change plans and buy new tickets accordingly. ExploreTrip does not care about the inconvenience and stress they cause their customers.
Please do not use this company for your travel needs!!!!!!!


"

"SCAM: A day after purchasing my ticket, an agent Cooper called me saying I have to pay about 90 dollars for a sit assignment and it is not optional! He accused me of forgetting to get a seat assigned when I was booking! Since it was very strange and you can get a free unassigned seat in a flight, I did not trust him and asked to talk to a supervisor and he said they are not there (they are busy on second request)! I called the airline myself and they said that is not true and you can get a free seat when online checking opens. This is SCAM/Rubbery. I am going to collect the recording and make a lawsuit against them. "

"Horrible Service.

PNR # : QPNF4Q
Ref # : 19X03MEF8021

4 agents hung up on me already because I am requesting a change that is not showing up on their system. I am the most kind and respectful person, yet they kept me for 1 hour on hold each then hung up on me just like that.

They asked me to call Ukrainian Airlines as everything was completely booked. I called Ukrainian Airlines, only to find there is vacancy. I tried conferencing them, they hung up on me again to run away from any discussion.


Simply, just stay away. My money is wasted and now I have to rebook at triple the price.
"

"They will pretend like they offer free 24 hour cancellation which is the industry standard, but will charge you $75 for cancellation per ticket. Never use them"

"Absolutely ghastly, abysmal customer service. All customer service representative are Indians from an outsourced call center and are very rude + pushy. I called to book a trip (1 adult, economy, domestic flight within US) and Von (man I spoke with) made an initial offer that was more expensive than Flighthub, Expedia, etc. I said I would go with another company, so he dropped $80 off his price and we made a deal. Then, I read that this company asks customers to SCAN AND EMAIL copies of their IDs and credit cards to the company for "verification purposes"??! I called back and spoke with Von who assured me that I would not have to deal with that invasive policy--and that it's only there to protect against fraud when folks purchase $3,000+ vacation trips. Mine was only a ~$100 ticket. It took an additional 2 days for me to receive an e-ticket, after providing my name, billing address, billing phone number, credit card number, expiration, etc. When I called to ask why I hadn't received the e-ticket yet, it took an additional 6+ hours until they sent me the email. Now, I received an email today at 8am asking for--you guessed it--a "verification" of my ID and credit card, and moments ago (at 4:20pm) received another email saying "we regret to inform you that your reservation has been cancelled as the verification failed for the payment details provided. Please be advised that card listed will be refunded in 7-10 business days." My card had already been charged!! They are a very distrustful company, and I will never recommend others to go through with travel plans with this company. They will waste your time until the bitter end."

"Worst company i’ve had to deal with! Their « meet the price or beat it » is FALSE advertising, my flight was 346 USD on their website, but on the airline’s website it was 242USD! They say to contact them within 24hrs to ask for a refund, which I did (with ALL documentation necessary for a refund) but they conveniently only answer you a week later saying « you should have contacted us within 24hrs of your booking, now it’s too late », plus only refund if you « within the United States ».. AVOID AT ALL PRICE using this company! you’ll save time, money and headache! "

"I purchased a ticket online, it clearly said refundable, it gave me an option where purchasing insurance not only made it refundable but negated the cancellation fee. The selling point was that the insurance was less than the cancellation fee, so it was a smart purchase as a consumer. The ticket was not refunded by the ticketing company or insurance, basically I paid for insurance for nothing. Its 2019 and companies shouldn't be able to scam people so easily due to fine print that doesn't make any sense. tolerating companies to take advantage of consumers like this is ruining our society and causing direct problems. I have higher education and it was still hard for me to tell this company was scamming me. This is NOT OK and its years past the time that something should have been done to protect the average American citizen from being scammed and taken advantage of by big companies. I only wanted one ticket refunded minus fees or insurance policy cost"

"A FAMILY REUNION ALMOST RUINED, WITH GREAT ADDITIONAL EXPENSE, LOSS OF WORK TIME AND MAJOR INCONVENIENCE.

***Additional cost Approx $1600, 1 day of work lost and additional costs still pilling up***

I booked with Explore Trip a multi-city trip from Washington DC to London, stopping in Prague, and returning home to Washington. The family reunion was for my elderly mother's birthday. The family reunion in London was moved up a day and I needed to leave Prague early. I found another flight from Prague to London at my own expense because the original booking was non-changeable and non-cancelable. Everything went well, Prague was as amazing as per all reports. We left for London and made the reunion.

The night before my homeward flight was to leave for Washington DC on British Airways, I found it was canceled without notice, which was astounding because I took steps when booking to register my cell phone and email address both with BA and Explore Trip for any alerts, changes or cancellations. I called Explore Trip and the agent "Darwyn," said he'd help, and put me on hold multiple times over the 80+ minute call, sometimes for more than 25 minutes. He finally told me, that not showing for the late evening Prague to London leg of the booking meant that the airline could cancel the remaining trip from Lonon to Washington. I asked could he help fix this since I had paid for all legs of the journey. He said he could not call the airline! My travel service that I paid couldn't call the airline??? When I asked for a supervisor, he refused and offered an email address for escalation, explaining the escalation response would take 24-48 hours, long past tje time of my flight home.

Among the things he said in the call were; all supervisors are in meetings about how to improve service so they are unable to help you, and, I have heard of a lot worse situations than yours... and that, you have paid us, yes but we have provided service and you didn't show for one leg of the flight so the remaining flights (I paid for) have been canceled, so business is done. He suggested I call back around 2 hours later if I wanted to speak to a supervisor. This was around 1:00 AM London time, meaning I would have to stay up to 3:00 AM to make a call to reach a supervisor. I asked if they could simply call me back, "no" Darwyn said!

I called British Airways, they did tell me that they can cancel after one leg of a multi-leg flight itinerary was not used, even though it was paid for. But they also told me that Explore Trip could call them on their "Trade Line" to resolve the matter. I called Explore Trip back around 2 hours later, to be greeted by an agent "Grey." He immediately said he was aware of my case notes. So I asked him to call the BA trade line, and he told me he could not call the airline's trade line, only a supervisor could, but that there was no point. I asked for a supervisor, he said he could find me other flights but that it would cost me a lot more at this stage. I asked again for a supervisor, he said he would search for flights. He put me on hold for about 10 minutes and multiple other times totaling about 40 minutes. He came back and said, it's going to cost you way more than I thought... I asked for a supervisor, to which he said "OK, I'll put you on hold for 10-15 minutes." After 52minutes I hung up.

The comments and statements made by these agents were at times sarcastic and very blunt, but above all consistently reassuring me that above all they could not help get me the flights back for which I had already paid in full, even though BA told me there was room on the flight and Explore Trip could resolve the matter by calling them on the Trade Lines. There were many statements made by the agents which completely contradicted themselves and one another. While I cited some of their statements above, these were not the most offensive and sarcastic of statements made by them. At no time in the several hours of very expensive international calls on my cell phone was there a genuine attempt to actually help resolve the issue. They never offered to call me back, nor did they resolve the issue. They only seemed interested in selling me new tickets. I ended up having to stay in a London hotel one more day and had to book two more tickets to Washington for myself and my girlfriend, with a total cost of about $1600.

This matter remains unresolved and judging by other comments in this blog it will remain unresolved. I hope this at least helps others who may consider using this service. "