BOOKING REF.: ZA***7

The reason for my complaint is that I booked plane tickets with Travelstart but didn’t receive the service that I expected from a travel agent. The tickets for my wife and I were from Johannesburg to Porto in Portugal. The leg to Portugal was via Madrid but the return leg was via Gatwick. At the Porto airport, on the return leg, my wife was not allowed to board the flight because she didn’t have a transit visa. Why book via Gatwick when this airport does not provide in-transit facilities for international connecting flights? Should I be aware of Gatwick's unusual requirements as an occasional flyer? This resulted in having to rebook the flight via Madrid at a cost of R13398.00. I also can’t understand why Travelstart quoted R9635.00 on 5 January and R13398.00 on 7 January. It took 4 emails from me to Travelstart before a lady named Kim Stevens acknowledged receipt and undertook to forward my email to management. A gentleman named Sunil phoned me from India? Shortly afterwards I received an email from Udaya with the email address “Travelstart ***”, is this how you communicate with your customers? The application for a refund was repudiated, the main reason being “Travelstart only makes online plane bookings and you need to check with your local Embassy regarding visa entry’s”. Does one need a travel agent just to make bookings online? What is another bad review on top of 2724, water off a duck’s back!!