Booking.com is a scam
Booking.com is a scam! in this times of uncertainty with the war, They will still deduct money if you can cancel and no certainty when the refund will be process. This is insane I will never book anything with them again not even accommodation. You can't reach them, the phone numbers for South Africa is not the correct numbers! this is a mess! when I look at all the complaints they should be shut down!They still advertising for the Middle East why? if everyone is uncertain when the airspace will be opened in Qatar?
Gwena And
We are currently stuck in Oman due to…
We are currently stuck in Oman due to the war. We booked an Etihad flight through booking.com to Muscat which went Abu Dhabi. For our return leg was cancelled - Etihad said as we booked via an agent we need to go back to them. Booking.com said they couldn't help and they were prepared to offer us a refund. So we are now stuck in Oman.Booking.com tried to tell us our flight, which was due to leave a couple of days before we contacted booking.com was still valid!! These people haven't got a clue We've used booking.com for years but now after this experience I'm not sure we'd ever use them again.
Mick
Never ever book flights through booking.com
I would give no stars if I could. I had to cancel a trip to Vietnam in December due to health reasons. Booking.com keep telling me to be patient waiting for my refund. It is now 10 weeks alter and I can't claim on my travel insurance until I know how much the airline will refund me.I am an elderly person and I am very angry.Never never use Booking .com
valerie stephenson
Just book through airlines sites next time
Just book through airlines sites as they are the ones who can actually help you if you need to make a change or cancellation. Booking take no responsibility and leave you in the lurch.
Alice
I was sold an unachievable connection…
I was sold an unachievable connection to Australia with only 1.5 hours allowed to connect between 2 terminals on Malaysia which was impossible and Google says you need 3 - 4 hours minimum So of course I missed the connection and had to pay an extra $1358 to get back to Australia Booking .com was fast to get on to Gotogate and provide forms to fill in They of course refused to pay the extra money as they said I should have phoned them I then took the matter further and asked for the case to be escalated to a higher manager which they did After explaing to an agent who could hardly speak English over and over he finally agreed to refer to a more senior manager And surprise surprise they apologised for the impossible transfer and the stress it caused and have refunded my money in full I am very pleased with their promptness and the full refund
Coral Fokkens
work flight lost because booking canceled (after hours)
had to book a flight for the next morning for work reasons. Paid for the flight, then I got put into a "waiting confirmation screen". Meanwhile, the flight was directly available on the carrier website.After waiting about half an hour, I managed to reach support and I asked them to refund the ticket and cancel it, since I couldn't risk not getting one and neither could I buy it on the carrier website before getting this one canceled.Of course, the outcome was that booking canceled my reservation and by the time they did the flight was no longer available on the carrier website either.
Simone Baglivi
No solution and a lot of stress caused by booking.com
After a canceled flight an alternative flight was offered. The new tickets were never issued which I found out 2 days before. Customer Service does not provide any solution. The solution was finally realised by the airline itself. Never ever will I book again with booking.com. probably if nothing changes it will be fine, but with such trips always something can change.
Niels
Thanks for sorting name correction issue
Thanks to mr.Sayyed for sorting name correction. It took 4 days I was bit stressed but thankfully updated today. Thank you so much team.
patan moulali khan
Absolutely horrific experience with…
Absolutely horrific experience with booking.com flights. Was booking to update a cancelled flight and as has happened before if the flights are a few days out they revert to the next month. So booked and paid for extra leg room seats 20 kgs check in luggage. Was then sent the flight details and realised it was 14 March not February. So cost me an extra $700 to change the flights. On arrival at the airport … we didn’t have 20 kgs check in and didn’t have the extra leg. room so another $200. Lesson learned. We will NEVER book with 3rd party. Especially Trip and Booking.com that uses Gotogate. Insurance claim coming up for $1300 in extra flights due to being ripped off by Booking.com. Will also change to Agoda from now on for our hotel bookings.
Anne
I wish i had read the flight reviews…
I wish i had read the flight reviews for Booking .com .. Booked flights, took payment , then immediately cancelled ..Note saying ''Refund Sent,, it usually takes 2-3 working days to show in your account .. I think this is a scam for them to take our money ..We are awaiting for the refund ..horrendous
Alan Lea
no refund
I will never ever book a flight at booking. com again. My flight was late, so I missed my connecting flight. I had to book not only the connecting flight again, I also had to book a new return flight (because my connecting flight was a no-show, and so the Austrian airline canceled my return flight automatically). This trip cost me double the amount. Booking.com confirmed all my flights, even the return; they never answered my phone calls or letters. Booking.com is an absolute disaster.
S. Azzopardi
DO NOT USE THEM FOR INTERNATIONAL…
DO NOT USE THEM FOR INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS!!We flew last Christmas through them, and that was the worst most expensive mistake I made. I thought I was being smart by saving 5000AU$ by going with them for a trip to Europe and Africa, since they use a combination of good reputable airlines and cheap mediocre ones, one of the cheap ones delayed the flight by 14 hours!! Which let us to miss a connecting flight!! I was on the phone with booking. For many hours to no avail, I spoke with countless agents and they all gave me different informations and none of them could find us a replacement flight. I had to purchase one way ticket for a family of 4 worth 8000 AUD … Please do yourself a favour and stay far away from them.My resolution is you can’t afford buying tickets from the airlines then you can’t afford travelling that time period
Lynda Aitmohand
Booking.com flights is a scam
Booking.com flights is a scam. We booked a flexible ticket and were unable to make the date planned. So we tried to change the date (an option which we paid for if needed) and they tried to charge us full price for new tickets. We explained that the flexible ticket package included the price of the fare difference and we could see the price was the same as the orginal price paid. They said they would get back to us and never did. We recontacted them and they said they were unable to help due to an error and they would reach out in 24 hours. Of course they did not do this. So we contacted them again and asked to speak to a manager and they refused. They said they aren't allowed to speak to their own manager or the booking team (makes no sense). On customer support person stated that I had ages before the flight so I have to wait. At this point I had been trying to change my flight for 3 weeks and had 2 weeks prior to my holiday. My flights were never changed.
Emily Turnbull
Booking a flight on booking.com
I booked a flight on booking.com and due to an error in their system while booking, I ended up with a flight that was booked twice. I asked to cancel one of the flights and it became a pingpong game between booking.com and Wizzair. I finally got a confirmation that partial refund (only!) was possible, which booking.com now says Wizzair will reimburse as a voucher, so not back onto my bank account I paid the flight with. This is not legal according to European legalisation protecting consumers. I needed to contact agents on the booking.com chat, but they constantly tried to send me to Wizzair to get more info etc. After being a good client with booking.com for years, I'm very disappointed in the way the handled this.
Jan Van Den Bulcke
I needed to ask for a refund
I needed to ask for a refund with a delayed flight, the airline insisted me that Booking was the one who had to manage it, and even though I tried for months, eventually I gave up since Booking was not doing anything to help me an assist me with a proper customer service.
Sergio
I need to talk to a human
I inadvertently made a duplicate booking for a Ryanair flight on 29th September 2025 . For 4 months I have tried to get a refund. The trip was on 17th November 2025. Ryanair say its not a fault of theirs and Booking.com is not an AUTHORISED agent for them. Neither will contact the other. I go round and round in circles mostly talking to Chat Bots.Disgusting customer service from both Ryanair and Booking.com. They've had £500 of my money for 4months and you can't talk to anyone who has my interest at heart.
Mo
false flexible ticket
I purchased a flight ticket advertised with a flexible option. In practice, it is impossible to change the date.When using Manage Booking on Booking.com, multiple alternative flights are displayed with £0 fare difference. However, their partner agency, Gotogate, later states that these flights are not eligible for a change.I explicitly asked Gotogate to identify any eligible flight within the next two months. They confirmed that none exist, which contradicts what is shown on Booking.com’s interface.Gotogate then advised me to contact the airline directly. The airline confirmed that a date change is possible only by paying USD 175 in change fees, plus any fare difference.This demonstrates that:The ticket is not effectively flexible.Booking.com’s booking management interface is misleading.Responsibility is shifted entirely to Gotogate and the airline, despite the purchase being made through Booking.com.I have documented all screenshots and written communications, as this appears to constitute a misrepresentation of the flexible ticket option and is now a potential legal issue.
Ed
We booked business class flights from…
We booked business class flights from Melbourne to greece last year with booking.com the leg going there was ok but our flight back was absolutely disgusting. We pad business and didn’t get our business class seas. After 5 months we are still fighting with booking.com to be compensated for our flights that we paid for and did not receive. Every time the customer complaint centre emails us back they keep coming up with excuses that they can’t help, then we have to fill in forms, show proof that you paid and so on. Mind you we have email correspondence by booking.com 5 times that we have business class seats. We showed then the emails, the invoice we paid to THEM . The last email they sent us was yesterday 5 months on stating the we need to take it up with the airline and get compensation from them. We paid booking.com not the bloody airline. Every time we get a response we get the same lies. We have asked for a manager to call us and nothing. I will be taking legal action soon on them, they think by emailing back and forth that I will give up. Hmmmmm no I won’t. Do not use them to book flights. They take your money but will not pay back what we are owed when they have stuffed up.
Konstance
They are thieves
They are thieves. I bought a flexible ticket and they wanted to charge me again for the change. The customer service is very bad. They dont help. If you dont want to lose your money dont buy tickets with them
Gabriela
Worst customer service experience ever !
It's just unfortunate there is not a zero or minus rating available. I had a flight booking made thru the app. Unfortunately, I had a medical emergency and had to go through a surgical procedure which prevent me from taking the holiday and flight. I was well within the timeline for full refund, and the app confirmed this when I cancelled. It is now more than 100 days since this and I have yet to receive my refund. This is after countless live chat discussions, phone calls at my expense, and all to no avail. I keep being told the same thing over and over by automated agents who are of no help whatsoever, and I am still awaiting a cancellation reference number so I can contact the airline directly (I know, ridiculous, but I was informed to do this during a live chat session). It is by far the worst, most incompetent customer service I have ever experienced and would urge anyone to avoid going forward or stop using full stop.
Grifter
