paullinnel000

After reading about all the negative reviews I was not in much impression to book with them but finally tried once which gave me a pleasant experience got confirmation immediately went to the airline website and found all my flight details there overall experience was good and can do business with them.

tom911

paullinnel000-

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Can you provide some details about the itinerary you booked? Where did you fly and what did you pay? How much of a savings was there? Have you already flown your itinerary? Can't seem to tell from your post.

tom911

Have you made any headway?

iadbru

First time poster here, no way affiliated with Exploretrip. But found this forum searching around. Maybe I can help others, maybe you can help me.

So here's my current situation.

Aug 7th
Booked a flight with Exploretrip, for september. DC to Brussels. 500 bucks on my debit card. (I know I know, big mistake, but I have no CC and was willing to take the chance for a 500 dollar ticket)

My account was charged the correct amount, minus the travelers insurance I selected.

E-ticket confirmation along with flight itinerary was emailed to me from Exploretrip. I checked the Airline Confirmation number directly on the Airline website. Everything looks good.

August 8th
Check my account and I noticed there was a charge reversal of the amount I paid for the ticket. Basically the money was deposited back into my account.

I call and email exploretrip minutes apart. The CS lady on the phone says it takes a few days for the charge to go through. She couldn't tell me anything about it already being charged and reversed. So I said okay, I'll wait and see.

August 9th
Exploretrip emails me back, with...
But I look at my bank statement and both the initial charge and reverse charge dissappear. Like I never purchased anything.

I'm highly confused at the point. Is my ticket really purchased? No charge on my account? Airline confirmation number still works. So I give it some time, nothing changes after a week so I email again.

August 15
They email me the same day with a similar response.
So I email my bank. Exactly the story of what I've posted above. And my bank emails me back with...
And this is where I'm at now. Sounds like Exploretrip or the Airline has my card info ready to be charged when I check in? But whats the point of waiting to charge me, and how does that even make sense. I don't want to be hit with a more expensive ticket the day of my departure. I'm not really sure whats going on.

tom911

iadbru-

Welcome to FlyerTalk

An airline confirmation number, often referred to as a PNR, is very different than an e-ticket number. I'd call the airline the ticket was booked with and verify it has, in fact, been ticketed and is still ticketed. Do you have a specific e-ticket number?

Afraid I can't help with debit cards at all. I refuse to have one and have no experience with them as it comes to airline ticketing.

james145

As I was new to flight bookings facing little difficulty in booking my tickets exploretrip support people helped me to book my tickets by phone they asked me card details, address, bank phone number everything and booked my reservation by phone. Initially I was little scared but everything went well.

tom911

james145-

Welcome to FlyerTalk

Can you share some information about your routing and what you paid? Have you already taken your trip?

Why would they want your bank phone number? I've never been asked that on an airline booking.

RaeLynn

I'm having the same issue iadbru is having, booked a flight, received all the info. Called the airline today and was told our flight is confirmed and ticketed. But Explore Trip canceled the charges on my credit card. Just wondering if anyone has been through this and what the outcome at the end was? Thank you!

P.s. just wanted to add I just joined because I just booked tickets last weekend and realized today my CC hadn't been charged.

Tricky21

Same story as the few people above. Booked a pair of tickets to Mazatlan for me and my wife. Went through explore trip as they were the ones that had popped up the cheapest.

Got the itinerary and ticket confirmation. Verified through suncountry. Was able to pick seats and every thing. A week after booking and the cc being charged, got an email that there was an issue with it and they were going to refund and recharge the card. So far, have not seen the refund come through and the card isn't big enough to handle the amount again.

Is there anyway that they could take back the refund after they give it to us, essentially costing us twice? Would there be a way for them to take away our tickets?

Thanks.

ken_ll

Exploretrip.com - Good experience.

Booked YYZ-AKL-YYZ for DD. Confirmation on UA was immediate. Price quoted was $1799.15 CAD, but there was a pending transaction on CC from UA for $2153.39 CAD. Called Exploretrip, phone answered within 2 rings. Lady checked and said that within 48 - 72 hours the pending transaction amount will change to the correct fare. if not they will refund the difference.

Today, I looked at my CC, the pending transaction has now posted correctly (and within the 72 hours) at $1,799.15 CAD and from SKYLINK TORONTO, not UA. On the D's MileagePlus account, the receipt still shows as $2153.39.

I should note that once I had confirmation I was able to book all seats except the AC connection from YYZ-SFO. I was able to get the preferred routing at the right price from Exploretrip. I would use them again.

I did find many other similar sites with low-ball pricing and even after entering CC information, the fares increased $500 -$700 dollars, a bait and switch and this was true with FlightHub and JustFly.

chopper602

This travel agency has proven incredibly unscrupulous and completely unethical. They fraudulently claim to be accredited by the following: American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), and the International Air Transport Association (IATAN). However, they are not listed in any of these organizations' directories.

Further, they overcharged for a fare, due to a delay on their part of the booking process, which resulted in several hundred dollars more being charged than the original quote. They then relentlessly refused to refund the overcharge, and then avoided issuing the refund over the course of 4 weeks, numerous email, over 20 phone calls, and 10+ hours on the phone being given the runaround to the point of exhaustion. It was finally issued after the threat of reporting their behavior to state regulatory agencies.

Given how awful and unscrupulous they are, I felt it was my responsibility as a consumer, to report this. DON"T USE THEM!!!

tom911

chopper602-

Welcome to FlyerTalk Had you seen this thread before you made your booking?

erik123

This is what you should still do. E.g. to the A.G. of your state.

daycard

I booked with them and have the airline's PNR, entered in Air Canada's website and the flight appears correctly there, I even chose seats and have an eTicket number. Everything seems alright.

But after reading all the reviews I'm very concerned. Can they log into my reservation an cancel it? I'm very anxious and scared that they will cancel my flight since I'm traveling in November...

mrxcoffee

Hi Guys,

Man I should have looked here first . I found exploretrip through Skyscanner. Anyways I just booked the ticket. I received the email saying I will get confirmation in 4 hours and here I am.

I will let everyone know how it pans out. After reading all the bad feedback I am just tempted to cancel the ticket and buy direct.


**UPDATE**

I looked on the UA website and I am ticketed and confirmed. Seems legit don't think there is any chance of them cancelling me at this point.