Flexi ticket ****-misleading information

Item: Travelstart
Rating: 1
Author: Alvina W

We bought a so called "deal" for a one-way flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg in January 2019 for travel in June 2019, but we added and paid an additional amount to upgrade the ticket to a flexi travel date ticket. Now that we need to change the date due to unforeseen circumstances, Travelstart says we should pay an additional R500 to change the date, due to the airline ticket price change. This is complete BS!!! What then is the point of buying a flexible ticket??? Then we may as well have just bought a normal ticket and not paid extra. Now also when we want to cancel this ticket, we have been told that we will pay 100% as there is no refunds with this airline. This is really misleading your clients and definitely a violation of client rights. This is false advertising. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM TRAVELSTART AGAIN!!!! i actually refuse to pay this additional charge, it is so unfair. This will mean that I will end up paying more for a one-way than for a return ticket. How ridiculous!!!!!

Helpful (0)

Replies (3)

Travelstart's replyOfficial

01 Apr 2019, 12:00

Dear Alvina W

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback.

Could you kindly send a private message with your booking reference and contact details and a customer relations team member will be in contact during the course of the day, to discuss your query.

In future, for any feedback, you may email us to ***

Regards, The Travelstart Team

Travelstart's reply01 Apr 2019, 12:00

Official

Travelstart's replyOfficial

01 Apr 2019, 13:25

Dear Alvina W

Thank you for providing the reference number.

I have checked the booking and the amount quoted for the change does not include airline change fee or Travelstart's admin fee.
The amount quoted is only for the difference in the airline fare/ taxes. Please also note, the fare quoted is subject to availability.

Please refer to the terms and conditions of the Flexi Product:
https://www.travelstart.co.za/lp/products-services/flexible-travel-dates

Terms and conditions

If the price of your rebooked ticket is higher, you will be required to pay the difference in airfare and taxes.
For international travel, you will only receive one date change. All changes must be done PRIOR to original departure date on the ticket.
For domestic travel, you will receive one for your outbound flight and one for your inbound flight. Changes must be done PRIOR to the departure of outbound or inbound travel.
You can change your travel to any date within the validity of your ticket (can vary between 1 – 6 months). The validity of your ticket is determined by the airline’s policy.
This product only covers date changes and may not be used for traveller name changes, rerouting, stopovers and class upgrades.
Changes to origin/destination airports and airlines are not permitted.
Date changes must be requested at least 24 hours PRIOR to departure.
If you are departing in more than 48 hours, date changes will be processed during normal office hours from Monday to Friday 08:30-17:00 and Saturdays 09:00-13:00.
If you are departing in less than 48 hours, emergency requests will be processed 7 days a week, from 07:00 to 01:00.
The new date requested must be more than 24 hours from the time your request is submitted.
Flights must be used in the order they were originally booked.
Please note that this is a Travelstart product and can only be used by contacting us, as detailed above.

Please let us know if you are flexible with your dates and we can check for alternative dates, which might be cheaper than what you were quoted.

I hope this explanation has been helpful.
Kind regards, Melony at Travelstart

Travelstart's reply01 Apr 2019, 13:25

Official

If the price of your rebooked ticket is higher, you will be required to pay the difference in airfare and taxes.
For international travel, you will only receive one date change. All changes must be done PRIOR to original departure date on the ticket.
For domestic travel, you will receive one for your outbound flight and one for your inbound flight. Changes must be done PRIOR to the departure of outbound or inbound travel.
You can change your travel to any date within the validity of your ticket (can vary between 1 – 6 months). The validity of your ticket is determined by the airline’s policy.
This product only covers date changes and may not be used for traveller name changes, rerouting, stopovers and class upgrades.
Changes to origin/destination airports and airlines are not permitted.
Date changes must be requested at least 24 hours PRIOR to departure.
If you are departing in more than 48 hours, date changes will be processed during normal office hours from Monday to Friday 08:30-17:00 and Saturdays 09:00-13:00.
If you are departing in less than 48 hours, emergency requests will be processed 7 days a week, from 07:00 to 01:00.
The new date requested must be more than 24 hours from the time your request is submitted.
Flights must be used in the order they were originally booked.
Please note that this is a Travelstart product and can only be used by contacting us, as detailed above.

Travelstart's replyOfficial

01 Apr 2019, 17:36

Hi Alvina

We have tried calling you numerous times today, to assist with your change query, unfortunately to no avail.

Please provide contact details where we can reach you, in order to assist with the quote for a change.

Kind regards, Melony at Travelstart

Travelstart's reply01 Apr 2019, 17:36

Official