1 reviews | Active since Jul 2011
Complete Waste of Time? Lets see the response
I sympathize with TravelStart, of course the pandemic has hit the travel industry hard but in the same breath they are not making it easy for their impacted customers.
It is impossible to get anyone on the phone to discuss changes. My flights that were booked, no longer exist, so instead of a trip with minimal layover times no more than 2 hours, the new flights they have given me includes a 17 hour layover in Nairobi. Have you been to Nairobi airport? No thanks.
So now what, the cancellation quote, costs near as makes no difference, the same as what I originally paid for these flights in the first place. How does that make sense? Essentially, TravelStart is saying I have to travel on flights I did not book, at times I did not book, on dates I did not book, at my inconvenience, or else I lose my money. How on Earth does that make any sense??
"Its out of our control" "Please contact the airline directly" Great suggestion, gladly. From now on, I will never use another intermediary like TravelStart because this is what is to be expected: No customer service, no response, even their WhatsApp chat is non-responsive, and there are never any agents available on their online chat either. I have left countless 'request a call back' requests, nothing. Lets see what the response is like here?
Thanks for voicing your concerns and I do apologise for any inconvenience and frustration caused for your flight schedule change.
We try our best to make travel simple and ensure that our customers are satisfied.
With our industry there are various factors that may affect flight time changes, which the airlines & travel agent have no control over. This could be weather related, international airspace agreements, statistical data or technical issues, Covid etc
Airlines therefore cannot guarantee their timetables and this is the reason the IATA Conditions of Contract was drafted - which basically stipulates that airlines guarantee to transport clients from A - B but do not guarantee their time tables. Each airline also has their own Terms of Conditions and procedures where schedule changes and delays are concerned.
Please be assured it is not the intention of the airline to inconvenience their passengers. However I do understand the frustration this might have caused.
As discussed telephonically our Schedule Changes team have reached out to the airline to see what other options are available. If you travel the same dates you would need to over night in Nairobi. If you are flexible and are able to depart on the 19th March the airline is able to offer a better layover time.
Our team are still waiting on a reply from Kenya Airways. All their passengers are important to them however they are working on a first travel basis. As soon as our team receive a response they will be in contact via email regarding your options.
I will contact you again shortly should you have any further queries.
Kind Regards,
Marcelle
Thanks for voicing your concerns and I do apologise for any inconvenience and frustration caused for your flight schedule change.
We try our best to make travel simple and ensure that our customers are satisfied.
With our industry there are various factors that may affect flight time changes, which the airlines & travel agent have no control over. This could be weather related, international airspace agreements, statistical data or technical issues, Covid etc
Airlines therefore cannot guarantee their timetables and this is the reason the IATA Conditions of Contract was drafted - which basically stipulates that airlines guarantee to transport clients from A - B but do not guarantee their time tables. Each airline also has their own Terms of Conditions and procedures where schedule changes and delays are concerned.
Please be assured it is not the intention of the airline to inconvenience their passengers. However I do understand the frustration this might have caused.
As discussed telephonically our Schedule Changes team have reached out to the airline to see what other options are available. If you travel the same dates you would need to over night in Nairobi. If you are flexible and are able to depart on the 19th March the airline is able to offer a better layover time.
Our team are still waiting on a reply from Kenya Airways. All their passengers are important to them however they are working on a first travel basis. As soon as our team receive a response they will be in contact via email regarding your options.
I will contact you again shortly should you have any further queries.
Kind Regards,
Marcelle