AB
Aashna B

1 reviews | Active since Jan 2014

13 Mar 2020, 07:26

Pathetic service from a selfish travel agency called Flight Centre

I had booked flights with Flight Centre for my sister and I to travel to India on 7th April 2020 and returning on 13th April 2020 on Ethiopian Airlines. As of 13th March 2020, India has suspended all visas due to the spread of Covid 19 and therefore we will not be allowed in the country. I called the Ethiopian Airlines global call centre on 13th March 2020 at approximately 9:15 am and spoke to a consultant named Hiwoc. I explained the situation to her and she firmly agreed that I will be able to recieve a full refund for my purchased tickets due to this being no fault of mine so I should contact their Johannesburg branch to arrange the refund. I called the Ethiopian Airlines Johannesburg branch yesterday and they indicated that I needed to claim the refund from the travel agent which I used to purchase the tickets (i.e. Flight Centre). I emailed the Flight Centre online team yesterday to explain my situation but was just given a copy and paste of generic text without no consideration towards my situation. As a group of travel agents, surely you should be able to spend more time on your customers and surely you should be advocating your clients situations in their best interests. I am having to cancel my flights due to no fault of my own but rather due to visas not being granted by the country I needed to travel to – and that too as an attempt to prevent further spread of a Global Pandemic. If an entire country can make this decision in the interest of its citizens and the world at large and Ethiopian Airlines can understand this and offer a full refund – what does this tell me and others about Flight Centre? From the service I have received, I can only see that Flight Centre does not care about the travellers they service and it seems that all you care about is holding onto their money despite the current circumstances which shows further disregard for your customers and also disrespect. I am utterly disgusted with the response I received. Considering this – I will never be considering Flight Centre as a travel agent again and will also recommend to my social circle that they also never use them again. I require a full refund for the tickets I purchased and it is best that Flight Centre provide me with this soonest. My Flight Centre booking reference is TRMQR5 Airline Booking Reference(s) ET (Ethiopian Airlines): DQRGXB

0
Replies (1)
Flight Centre South Africa
Flight Centre South Africa's reply13 Mar 2020, 09:58
Official
Dear Aashna B

We understand that you are frustrated by your experience, especially in light of what is happening around the world at the moment. One of our Customer Experience team will be in touch this morning to gather more information and get to the bottom of this for you. 

-K.T