Beware of CheapTickets

Oh wow, what a scam!

With a name like that, I should’ve been suspicious of this online ticket-buying site! I booked a ticket on their site. I received an invoice and an online booking confirmation.

"Thank you for your online reservation. This confirmation also serves as your invoice. You will receive a second email within 24 hours containing your e-ticket."

12 hours later, I got this message:

"You booked a flight under reservation number 5TJ5HF on our website CheapTickets.be. Unfortunately, we must inform you that we cannot issue your ticket at the original price. After consulting the participating airlines, we were unable to find a solution to issue your ticket at the initial price. We can offer you an alternative that matches your request, which we have already reserved for you. The recalculated price is 161.33 €. (...) If we do not receive your confirmation by tomorrow at 9 AM, we will no longer be able to issue your ticket at the newly recalculated price and will have to cancel your reservation."

That’s nearly a 20% increase!

Is this even legal? What can I do about it?

I checked their site again—the ticket was still listed at the same price!

On top of that, calling their customer service costs 0.34 cents per minute. They keep you waiting for 20 minutes (that’s 6 €) before you get to speak to an advisor.

I’m devastated. I’ve never seen anything like this! Apparently, I’m not the only one: http://voyageforum.com/voyage/achat_billets_cheaptickets_D649310/

Are there others in the same situation? What can we do collectively?

Hi,

I’ve had the chance to book flights with Cheaptickets.com several times and have always been really satisfied. Never had any major issues—the last one was in September for a KUL-DBX-ZHR round-trip with Emirates, paid $996, booked last-minute.

I really couldn’t find a better deal, so I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the site’s reliability. You must’ve just had bad luck.

Plus, they let you cancel that same ticket, so you’ve got options. I honestly don’t see where the scam or fraud is here…🤪

That said, you mentioned cheaptickets.be—there’s also cheapticket.ch, cheaptickets.nl, etc. I’m not sure if the offers and purchase conditions are the same, so it’s worth running a simulation to check.

Thanks Madog for your reply. Of course, I assume they also sell tickets properly otherwise they wouldn’t still be on the market. What I’m contesting is their method. Once they give you a booking confirmation and charge you, they don’t have the right to change the price. And on top of that, they keep displaying the trip at that price. I’m not responsible for their poor management. They should have either covered the difference or at least offered me some compensation.

In the end, I went directly to the airline’s website—in this case, Iberia—and was able to pay for my ticket at the original price.

In the end, I went directly to the airline's website—in this case, Iberia—and was able to pay the original price for my ticket.

As is often the case, booking directly with the airline isn’t necessarily more expensive.

Hmmm, weird... It can't be the same company as the site www.Cheaptickets.com, which I also used in 2009 with no issues. On the contrary, their fares were unbeatable, reliable, and we didn’t have any problems. We even managed to change our return date once we were there by calling them—it took 15 minutes with minimal fees. Anyway, this European company must be a different one from the one we know better... I don’t know what to tell you, call them!

Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad to hear it was an isolated case.

Avoid at all costs, not to say a scam! I booked a flight ticket starting from April 7, 2024, with cheaptickets.ch. Due to health reasons, I had to cancel my flights on September 30, 2024. After checking with Pegasus Airlines, they confirmed they would refund the full amount for flights + baggage to Cheaptickets.ch so they could reimburse me—something that was done immediately, with emails and documents to prove it. However, cheaptickets.ch decided to refund me for the 2 flights without the baggage fees, claiming it was Pegasus Airlines’ fault, which is false (the email + documents and phone calls prove it). On top of that, cheaptickets.ch initiated the flight refund on October 7, 2024, and I only received a refund for one flight. Since then, I’ve been fighting to get reimbursed. They always give the same canned responses, passing the buck like they did with the baggage fees. I even contacted my bank to see if there was an ongoing refund—nothing! I’m desperate and really angry at how customers are treated, not to mention anything else!