You Get What You Pay For – Cheapoair

Our motto is: We Discount the Fares, never the Service!

There is their motto…here is ours…Don’t use Cheapoair…we can’t make it any simpler than that…We have yet to hear of a good experience with this organization. In our other blog…Flight Wisdom, we often criticize Travelocity, Orbitz, Expedia, and Cheaptickets…however…we await a positive comment from anyone on this latest discounter.

We have serious doubts about this organization’s reliability. Even their website proofreading is cheap. Let’s check their faq…

• How do I change the dates of my flight ticket?
  • You may fill out the form below, and indicate in the subject line “Date Change Request”, and give us the new date of travel. Please indicate your Booking Number. Please note that all changes are subject to the rules of your specific fare. CheapOair.com will charge up to $100 fee for handling the change. This fee will be addition to the airline’s penalty and any fare difference. Certain fare rules may not permit any changes to the booking. CheapoAir Representative will advise you if that is the case. (If you don’t want to fill out the form, their number is 212-478-0335)
• .What fee is charged for changing my airline ticket?
  • When changing your ticket, a number of penalties may apply, including the following: Additional penalties imposed by the airline:
    Additional charge resulting from a higher fare rate
    A CHEAPOAIR.COM service fee of $35 will apply for making the changes on your behalf
• What are the ticket terms and conditions?
  • CheapoAir.com acts as a service bureau that provides value added service to retail travel agents. CheapoAir.com has no control over and assumes no liability for the actions of the suppliers from whom it obtains Travel products. For your convenience CheapoAir.com has included its service bureau fee in the fare quoted to you. Our service bureau fee may vary depending on a number of factors, including the market conditions, the amount of savings we pass on to you, the time and effort we spend on locating the tickets you request at the best prices, upgrades applied if any, your form of payment, etcCheapoAir.com believes in 100% customer satisfaction and if you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may collect a full refund of our bureau fee within 2 hours after CheapoAir.com receives payment. Once tickets have been issued there may be a penalty involved for refunds. We do not have control over printed prices on the tickets, although most tickets may have BT (Bulk fare) printed on them, some may have a specific value on them, which may be different (lower or higher) than the fare collected. We urge you to inform your client of this.

But wait…we haven’t heard any stories…to present their side of the story…we have their own testimonials page…Let’s check the internet for ‘alternative’ points of view.

“I booked a flight on CheapoAir – nonrefundable, which is fine. I took the chance. What I didn’t know was that this did not guarantee me a ticket! My flight is due to leave in 3 days and while I have a reservation, the airline tells me that I do not have a ticket. “Is the agent holding your ticket for some reason?” they asked. The payment went through, so Cheapoair has my ticket. I am unable to buy another ticket because this is non-refundable. But I don’t have a ticket to go!

I have contacted them by email, and the first time I received a reply which said I would have my ticket in 24 hours. That was 3 days ago. I contacted them by phone and after nearly an hour on hold, someone told me they would get back to me that day. That was 2 days ago. Yesterday and today I was cut off while on hold.”

There are more…courtesy of Complaintsboard.com. There is also a series of stories on the boards of Independenttraveller.com. Cheapoair’s representative was given equal time…”Some very serious concerns and questions have been raised in this thread about CheapoAir.com. My hope is that you will grant me an opportunity to post a response. I am very sorry to hear that our customer had such a bad experience using our service. We are very dedicated to our customers and to providing cheap airfare backed by quality customer service. CheapoAir.com is also a member in good standing of IATAN and ASTA, two of the most recognized Travel Industry Associations. We have been in the Travel Business for over 12 Years.We welcome an opportunity to address this issue personally. My hope is that you will post this, along with the below information on the Independent Traveler, and in response to that customer’s complaint.”

But…we insist on fairness…so if anyone would like to comment…comments are available to you.