Sneharthi Roy is the senior vice president of operations for CheapOair, a Web site that sells discounted airline tickets and hotel rooms. I asked him about the low travel prices we’ve seen lately and some of the possible pitfalls of buying travel in a buyer’s market.
In American vernacular, the word “cheapo” can be used to describe someone who is frugal and knows how to save money — which is usually thought of as a good thing — but more often than that, someone who is a miser. When you decided on the name CheapOair, what were you trying to convey?
When deciding on a name we wanted to convey value, savings and pricing to the users as well as have a catchy name which the user could remember, there were also not too many domain names available which would convey such a message. We also wanted it to be a bit on the humorous side, since travel should always be a bit of fun.
Does a traveler booking through CheapOair have the same protections as someone who buys a ticket or room through a travel agent?
Travelers booking through CheapOair have equal protections exactly like buying through any other agency. If travelers pay with a credit card, they will have the credit card protections as well.
Travelers also have our Errors and Omissions insurance protection. Our customer service policy is customer friendly and provides for refunds as well as access to changes through a toll free # and if done within the same day of making the booking. We also let them cancel a fully non-refundable ticket for a nominal fee. We are streamlining our refunds processes further to provide status updates online as well as faster processing.
How much money can customers save by using CheapOair, as opposed to going directly through an airline or through a travel agency?
Customers may save money over using direct airline’s websites and online travel agencies, because CheapOair provides multi-GDS [Global Distribution System] airfare data as well as multi-airline itineraries. We build our own itineraries through the use of our own complex mathematical algorithm where by we combine low-cost carriers with major scheduled airlines to provide more options as well as better or more pricing options.
We also display opaque negotiated airfares which may be cheaper than some published airfares. The airline’s name is revealed only after purchase is completed. Our negotiated airfares database is huge and has over 18 million airfares. We have a dedicated team of data loaders which upload all negotiated airlines fares on a daily basis so that the latest sale fares are displayed to the users. By using multiple GDS’s we have more diversity and at times better fares.
As a consumer advocate, there are two questions I get about CheapOair and its affiliated sites. The first one is: Are those deals too good to be true? I wanted to ask you — are they? How do you get the fares and hotel rates so low?
Most of the travel purchased through us is fully non-refundable. Changes are often not permitted or are permitted with a penalty as is the case in most discounted airfares.
The second common question is, in a way, an answer to the first. Yes, they say, the deals were too good to be true, and I need your help — a reference to the many fees and surcharges that are disclosed only when someone is asked to pay them. How have you addressed the issue of disclosure and transparency when it comes to buying airline tickets and hotel rooms?
This information is available in three places during the purchase process. In the “Fare rules” tab, in the “Policies, Rules and Restrictions” as well as the pop up disclaimer which each user must accept before completing the purchase. It is also mentioned that there is a penalty for changes. Name changes are never allowed.
When I read the online reviews about CheapOair, I see some positive comments, but also some not-so-positive ones. One thing that struck me was the extreme contrast: one review saying CheapOair was the greatest travel site in the world just above one that said it was the worst. Any idea what’s happening?
We get all kinds of comments, some are positive and some are negative, though we get many more positive than negative comments. In the travel business even if the airline vendors make a mistake the users blame the travel company, which we face a lot.
Here’s one comment that kind of took my breath away: “CheapOair is aggressive to put out good reviews and pay to have them come up near the top of searches, but dig just a little to find the terrible truth. They are not in the USA, they use a bait and switch tactic to defraud you out of fifty dollars in cancellation fees and then you have to cancel the bogus airline ticket they bought in which they changed the travel dates by yourself.” What kind of changes have you made to your customer service department to ensure more reviews like this aren’t generated?
We make every effort to maximize customer satisfaction. Our biggest consumer challenge is refunds processing which we are addressing in an aggressive manner and we have created a dedicated team to manage such customer complaints.
We have a team of dedicated agents who are available to provide customers by phone or email the status of refunds and clarify any related questions. Our goal is to provide users online status updates in real time and provide 24/7 toll-free customer support when processing refunds. We are also adding more and more customer service agents to assist our users. We are headquartered in New York City and directly employ customer service agents in our three wholly owner call centers, two located in United States and one in India.
So people are upset because you won’t refund a non-refundable ticket? That sounds familiar.
Since the majority of the tickets are fully non-refundable we do face a challenge when users ask us for refunds, we must then go through a tough process of convincing our airline partners to provide special waivers to process customer refunds which causes delays and dissatisfaction with our customers when requests for refunds are denied by the airlines.
As a travel agent we depend on our travel suppliers and the GDS’s, to provide us accurate and real time information on pricing and availability. When any update fails or sold out fares are not removed from the system, it causes customer resentment.
Can you give me an example?
Yes, when the user is trying to book an airfare that the system shows is available but in fact it is sold out. In this case, the systems between the airline and the customer have not caught up to the current data.
We always look to improve our technology so that there is a hassle free and smooth transaction for our valued customers.
As I’ve pointed out in the past, these problems are shared by everyone. How do you fix it?
In today’s online fast-paced environment no travel company can succeed unless they provide top level of customer support. We truly understand this, get the message and are striving to enhance our customer support levels. We have recently implemented IVR technology in our call center to provide real time confirmations and status of bookings. We have also added a dedicated team which provides schedule change information to all our customers.
Again, in the end we want to ensure our customers have a good and satisfying trip when they have used our services.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
These guys are absolute thieves of the worst sort. They wouldn’t know customer service if they tripped over it. Virtually everything they do is opaque and not user friendly. They are singularly unhelpful when there is a problem. The worst thing is when you think you have a booking and five or six days later they say the ticket is unavailable now. By that time you have lost out on some pretty good fares that no longer exist. They are absolutely the worst travel organization I have ever dealt with and I don’t think you are doing yourself a favor by publishing “puff” pieces like this.
I can never seem to find an airfare from CLE-LAS that works for me. I don’t wants to change flights/airlines 12 times! As for picking a hotel in LAS, I have insider info that the properties there will give you the crapiest of rooms. My friend works for a large property there, so she has first hand knowledge.
“We build our own itineraries through the use of our own complex mathematical algorithm where by we combine low-cost carriers with major scheduled airlines to provide more options as well as better or more pricing options.”
Anyone who whould use a service where connections are made with different airlines is crazy! That’s just ASKING for trouble with too many possible problems to mention.
Haven’t used this site, probably wouldn’t have without reading the reviews above, but having read them, I definitely won’t use this site. After reading the article, I did go to the site just to see if the information was accurate. I priced a trip Chicago OHare to Quito, Ecuador. The price was not cheaper than ones I have found elsewhere that would allow changes for a fee. I would suggest that Cheapo put their terms in larger font, right below the price and before one enters one’s credit card information. That would be a bit more customer friendly.
It’s kind of interesting that Mr. Roy does not utilize the term “customer”, instead calling his customers “users”.
I appreciate Elliott interviewing CheapOair. He’s said some very nasty things about them in the past. It is nice to see that he gave them the chance to explain themselves, even if he still kept it somewhat negative.
All online retailers will be accused of being a scam at some point. CheapOair seems to be an easy target because of their name. I’d like to know how many satisfied customers they have for every one irate customer (who seemingly is only mad that the company isn’t American).
@Annie, I don’t recall saying anything “very nasty” about CheapOair in the past. Also, I’d be grateful if you could disclose your relationship, if any, with the company.
Maybe. While everything has risks, a so-called benefit to that is it allows “users” more options to fly and (sometimes) more affordable fares they’re willing to pay and handle.
That’s what OTAs like Expedia and Orbitz do every other day.
I’ve used this company before and had a great experience with them.
Thieves. Beware of cheapoair and their bait and switch tactics. Just like Martin Smith above, I booked 2 flights this month that were processed and confirmed. A few days later cheopoair says the fair is unavailable now and I’ll have to get a more expensive flight. By booking with Cheapoair you’ll waste valuable time and miss out on better deals from other sites. The big name sites will always let you know at the time of booking that the fair is no longer available. With Cheapoair, they’ll allow you to book a flight thinking you got a good deal, but then you’ll get the cancellation call a few days later and you’ll end up with a more expensive last minute flight. This interview is definitely a fluff piece.
@Annie and @ren — are we reading the same interview here?
Sure, I could have asked tougher questions. But I didn’t bring up potentially embarrassing subjects, like CheapOair’s BBB grade, because I wanted them to finish the interview.
I believe @Annie is doing spin control on behalf of the company. And @ren, sorry about your experience. For what it’s worth, I think Cheapo is trying to better itself.
I just don’t think that insulting an executive during an interview is necessarily the right way to bring about positive change.
you were waaaay too kind to cheapo. i went through a nightmare with them just this week. read the online reviews first – i’d say 99% are negative – but took the risk anyhow. bought 2 air tickets via phone (so it would be recorded). they told me my tix were confirmed and sent an itinerary that makes it look that way to placate me. the itinerary says the e-ticket info is coming shortly, but it never came. i called three times and they kept mumbling something about a problem and told me the tix were “being processed” and i’d receive the e-ticket #s in 2-3 hours. nada. had to finally speak to a supervisor who called their concern dept and forced them to issue the tix. what a nightmare. save yourself the angst and doubt by using a site like kayak or calling a consolidator directly. they should be called crappo air.
I booked a hotel stay with CheapoAir and charged what they showed as the complete total. I then found out that, without including it in the (supposed) total, they made a separate charge of $10 as a service fee.
Just an update on this interview. CheapOAir tells me no one by the name of Annie works for the company.
They’ve also asked me to forward the name and reservation numbers of anyone with a grievance to the company, and they’ll review their case.
This company is the worst I have dealt with! It took over two months and countless hours on the phone (when I could get someone on the phone), to finally get through to these guys that they double charged me for airline tickets. I faxed them several times the credit card statement showing their mistake, but they still didn’t get it. After I contacted the NY state consumer fraud division, the BBB and an attorney, they suddenly realized their mistake. Stay away from them.
I purchased a few times from Cheapoair. When I needed to change my trip, I called their Toll free number. Trouble I had initially was to get them since their phone system have a long menu and you have to listen carefully. After few attempts I leant if I select as existing customer option 6 and provide booking number to their phone prompt system , press 2 and bingo…I could connect to an agent faster than time you need to fog a mirror with your breathe. You can speak to phone agents within minutes and do not have to wait an hour. You need to have booking number to be able to get quickly to an agent. Cheapoair had to take special permission from the airlines for a death in my family and I have spoken to them 6 to 8 times and every time I got through. I will always recommend my friends and colleagues to Cheapoair
CheapoAir is also TravelOne and they are owned by the same crook. Last December 2008, I booked (TID#1684718) 2 roundtrip flights from Washington DC to Brindisi, Italy for May 2009 at a cost of over $3000. When the 3 Paper Tickets arrived at my house, one segment of the trip was missing–the return from Brindisi to Rome. I immediately called and was told that this segment of my flight was an electronic ticket but there was never an electronic confirmation as I usually receive from an e-ticket. I called two more times hoping to get another agent who could provide confirmation and was told the same thing, i.e. it’s an electronic ticket, don’t worry, you have paper tickets anyway. When my husband and I arrived at Brindisi airport at 5 am on May 28, we were told that tickets had never been paid for nor booked for this flight. We waited for two hours while the plane was completely boarded while the whole airport searched for our reservations. At the last possible minute, we paid over $800 to get to Rome and our connecting flight. Upon our retun home on June 9, I contacted Julie Kaswen, Director of Customer Service at Travel One and was told that she was assigning a prioity customer team to research my complaint. Ms. Llajjaira Diaz phoned twice and asked if I had proof of another ticket purchase and I told her I could email copies of my tickets and receipts right then if she would give me an email address. She refused to give me an email address over the phone but 2 weeks later she emailed me and wanted to know why I had not sent documentation. I sent it immediately and was told I would be updated on the status of my refund. It has now been 10 weeks since I requested a refund for a ticket I had to pay for twice and it has been 6 weeks since I had a response of any kind from Ms. Diaz although I ask her weekly for an update on what she calls “a glitch in the system”. I join many others on the internet who call this the worst customer service in the industry and I see many others who say they too have had to pay twice for one part of their trip. Is it not fraud to say a ticket has been booked when indeed it has not? How can these thieves be stopped?
First, full disclosure: I am a professional travel consultant. I have arranged air-only itineraries for customers. I don’t know what sort of multi-GDS systems CheapOAir is using, but on my GDS system when I ticket a flight, I immediately have access to ticket numbers, confirmation numbers, and other pertinent information on that flight for my client. That’s the only way I know the flight reservation is confirmed with the airline. This information is provided immediately upon payment. Ditto with airline websites – you pay, and immediately receive a confirmed reservation number (record locator) and ticket numbers for the flight(s). Considering this, there is no reason anyone should settle for a travel company that takes money and sends a confirmation number a while later. Confirmation numbers are available as soon as payment is made.
I understand the desire to save money, especially on high-priced airfare tickets. But, many times the ways money is saved has a negative result on the travel experience. Combining multiple carriers on the same itinerary opens the traveler up to several risks. This includes the possibility of missing a connecting flight without recourse for alternate travel plans, baggage misdirection, and more. Sure, that can happen on any flight, but it’s typically more prevalent on multi-carrier flight arrangements. In order to ensure a seamless travel experience, multiple airlines involved in the same itinerary must have an interline agreement with each other, providing passage for the traveler. In the absence of such agreements, the traveler is playing with really hot hands. Not all airlines have interline agreements with all other airlines, and the general public is generally left in the dark on these.
Really, if you are needing airline tickets, the absolute best thing you can do is book directly with the airline or with a professional travel consultant. Sure, you might pay an additional fee, or a few dollars more for your seat, but I don’t think the aggravation and agony you’re likely to endure is worth the cost savings.
I should have mentioned that both CheapoAir and OneTravel (not TravelOne as I erroneously called it before) are owned by Fareportal, Inc. and the service of process address to file suits is:
Shailesh Jain, CEO (alias Sam Jain)
Fareportal, Inc. (DBA either CheapoAir or OneTravel
Suite 1201
213 West 35th Street
New York, NY 10001
This is the only way we can stop the sale of non-existent airline tickets. and the futile process of trying to recover compensation for same.
Mr. Martin Smith, please contact me directly so that I can be of assistance regarding your concern you have posted. I will require your 7 digit booking confirmation. I do regret the inconvenience you have experienced, and do welcome the opportunity to assist you further.
My email address is:
randrews@cheapoair.com or
escalation@cheapoair.com this email is monitored 24/7
Regards,
Renee Andrews
CheapOair.com
Online Customer Service Manager
866-636-9088
I flew with cheapOair even after they had tried the bait-and-switch tactic…they were dunning me with emails saying the flight that I thought was booked and paid for they wanted to change, but a follow one went through and I thought, OK I’ll fly with them since I am flexible and won’t need to make any changes….but I found I could not check in for the entire flight from MCI to Tallinn at once, since the airlines did not have any agreements. The the leg from MCI to Newark to Stockholm was OK on Continental, although with just a 65 minute layover, I ran from the plane to the baggage pick up, it took 30 minutes to get my bag and there were NO Estonian air people around. Then I had to go through customs, and go upstairs to re-check in.. I got to the gate about 35 minutes before the flight left and there were no Estonian Air people around and by the time I found someone to help who called to the plane gate, I was told it was too late to board. I thought they’d just put me on the next flight, but they would NOT because I did not check in on time!! I would have to BUY another ticket. I have been flying 35 years and this is the FIRST TIME ever that an airline did not help me out and it is because cheapOair booked me on two airlines (Continental/Estonian Air) that did not have a baggage handling or connection agreement. So I had to pay almost $300 for a ticket from Stockholm and of course had to spend a lot of Krona for meals while I waited 8 hours for my flight…to say nothing of losing an expensive personal item during the long delay after a longer flight…DO NOT USE THIS AIRLINE BROKER CHEAPoAIR is NOTHING BUT PROBLEMS. After hassling by email with Aden, Renee Andrews and Katie Schwartz, they finally changed the first leg of my outbound flight to the night before so I could be in ARN early enough and I could check in the night before (Continental would not let me check in 24 hours early if they were not the first leg of my flight)…they booked a hotel for me but did not PAY for it, talk about CHEAP-O and with meals and all that was another $200. plus the hassle, hassle hassle. (I was told that CHEAPoAIr could recover the taxes on the ticket since it was not used…they probably don’t know that since they don’t see to know the basics of air travel.
This is an update regarding Marie L’Heurex, when Marie booked these reservations CheapOair.com was not aware that she would encounter problems regarding the transfer of luggage. According to the legal connecting time she had sufficient time between flights. Due to her having to claim her luggage, and re-check with the connecting carrier, this caused a delay and the airline denying her to board. When the customer brought this to our attention, and had concerns with the return, we immediately starting working on a resolution for the return flight. Marie, was reprotected on the return at CheapOair’s expense, for a new plane ticket, the hotel would not accept a credit card from us for payment so Marie agreed to pay for the room and forward us the bill. It wasn’t until I just recently contacted her requesting the bill to be sent, it appears she never forwarded to our office or contacted me she apparently did not have our office address. I am currently waiting for the receipt and an immediate refund will be given, we always had every intention of paying for the hotel.
This is in answer to the comments entered by Martha. We at OneTravel were very disappointed to learn she had any difficulties with her reservation and have been working with her to get this resolved. Her ticket was issued and the airlines was paid for the ticket. Lufthansa later cancelled her flight due to a schedule change and protected her on Air One. Martha was notified of this change.
We have contacted the original carrier regarding the refund of the two unused tickets and have not received a satisfactory answer as to why Martha was denied boarding on Air One.
The refund will be sent directly to Martha by the airlines for the unused portion of her ticket. She has been advised this may take 1-2 weeks to arrive. In addition we have sent her a check via Fed-ex for the other outstanding portion of her refund.
OneTravel certainly regrets any inconvenience or frustration Martha has experienced.
For any further clarification, questions or concerns, please contact ggallarde@onetravel.com
Georgia–You have not been honest. The truth is that I had to call you on March 19, 2009 and tell OneTravel that Lufthansa was no longer partnering with Air One (and WHY WAS IT NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO TELL ME?) on the segment of my trip from Brindisi to Rome on May 28. Lufthansa did NOT cancel my flight, you did. And furthermore, you DID NOT book me a new one and I had to pay $800+ to get to Rome and my return flight. I asked what I should do on March 19, 2009 and an agent named Brittany told me that she would cancel the segment with Lufthansa Flt#2835 operated by Air One (ID#3DZ8QP) and rebook me on Air One Flt 4407 because Air One was now partnering with Alitalia. I received an email shortly thereafter changing my airline reservation number FROM #3DZ8QP TO #BMKVNT. When I arrived at Brindisi Airport there was no reservation with EITHER Air One or Alitalia. The rest is history except that you have only reimbursed me for half of the additional $800 I had to pay to get to Rome with a promise that “the airlines” will pay the other half to me. “The airlines” did not cancel my original booking and fail to book a replacement flight for the segment of my trip from Brindisi to Rome–TravelOne did. So, where is the rest of my refund, Georgia?