It was on 13th August, 2015 that my husband booked flight tickets for the four of us from Bangalore to Venice and back. While researching online, he came across BudgetAir.in’s offer of flight tickets that was cheaper than all other websites. He lapped it up and paid through his bank account. The amount was over $3000. Thus began our misfortune.
That very evening we received a mail from info@BudgetAir.in with the itinerary and flight tickets. We noticed that there was a typo in my younger son’s name. We immediately wrote back asking for a name correction. While that seemed like a big issue then, the real disaster was just unfolding. We soon realized that BudgetAir.in was like a ghost website. The Contact number helpfully splashed all over the page is NEVER picked up. Trust me, I have even waited for more than an hour and yet no reply. Though the website URL is .in which implies based in India, they have no contact name or address that is India based. Even the contact number operates only during the working hours in The Netherlands, not that anyone ever answers the phone.
Despite numerous mails to the email address, we heard no response. This worried us. It was a name change in the ticket after all. Then on the morning of 14th August, 2015, we got another mail from them informing of a schedule change in the itinerary. It had no mention of our previous emails. This terrible change increased our return plan by more than 8-12 hours as it included an overnight stay in Abu Dhabi. The airline was Etihad Airways. The email mentioned that we had a right to reject the schedule change. We immediately responded to this by mentioning that we were not okay with this and wanted our tickets canceled and money refunded. But, no response from them again. Both my husband and I kept trying their Contact number all through 14th August but no reply. On doing a quick search on the net, I discovered that there were many reviews that mentioned this unprofessionalism. My blood ran cold. Had we landed ourselves into a huge mess?
Out of desperation we called the airline. They confirmed that we had the right to cancel the tickets without any charges. But they were unable to cancel our tickets, which they said they will do with full refund, since the tickets had been booked through BudgetAir. Now we were truly in a soup. BudgetAir.in was incommunicado.
Since then we have been constantly writing to them and calling them up but to no avail. We even reached out to their BudgetAir.nl office and spoke to the Customer Service Representative there who has repeatedly replied that they will respond. She even wrote them an email sending a cc to my husband. My husband has also reached out to Travix which is the owner company of the BudgetAir and left feedback on Travix’s website but no response from them as well. We have reached out on twitter to BudgetAir.nl who have asked for the details but not responded otherwise. The tickets are still not canceled.
Not only are we suffering unbearable trauma both mentally and financially at the unprofessionalism of BudgetAir but we had to cancel our vacation plans as well. We couldn’t possibly dream of traveling on these tickets for our European vacation.
I am writing this blog post to let everyone on the net know that BudgetAir must never be trusted to make flight bookings for you. I am still hopeful that someone will wake up and address this matter and it will get resolved from their end.
If not, I am considering my legal options by suing them for my money. That will be the final resort, but I will not stop till they compensate my family for this. This is one BudgetAir review you would not wish to miss for your own safety.
Beware of this site for making any flight bookings. I request my friends to please share this post so that more and more people can be told about the scam of BudgetAir.
Oh my! This is so infuriating and emotionally taxing at the same time… I hope something can be done for this… It’s so frustrating when people do this…Just Sunday, someone fraudulently used my credit card from Lucknow..The card is with me but still..While the ordeal is not as bad as this , it really affects our mood and mental peace not to mention the financial hit…
Oh totally! The experience has been such a mental trauma for the entire family. One moment we were planning a fantastic vacation and another all that we were doing was frantically chasing these scamsters while no one was responding. This is such a huge lesson for all of us to avoid such sites like plague. One thing is certain — I will chase them till the end of the world. Thanks for your support.
Hi Rachna I booked a ticket for my daughter from Chennai to Narita (Japan) for December of this year. I havent got the ticket yet. As you rightly pointed out, there is no contact for India at all. The .in made me think that they do have an indian office but now I am left with no way to deal with them. Can you kindly provide me their contact numbers in Netherlands please.
Sorry to hear that. The contact number is there for their main site not BudgetAir.in. Just Google their main site, there is a contact number there.
This is really sad Rachna. I think you should write to the concerned department in the government and tweet to them also. Hopefully they will be able to resolve your issue quickly and painlessly.
I think what also helps (though you must have done it) is to run an online opinion-check about a lesser known website. Gives insights into whether the site is genuine or fraudulent.
Hope your issue gets resolved quickly.
I am reaching out to all the concerned parties and engaging with other parties who were embroiled in this scam on twitter too. I am hopeful that the sane parties would do something to resolve this issue. It is a huge lesson — this experience. I do hope that no one else gets conned with this website. Thanks a lot for the support.
This is really sad and frustrating.
Loss of money as well as loss of good time.
Don’t worry they will have to pay for this wrong doing. We are with you guys.
Best Wishes.
Yes, Swati. A financial and mental drain. I am just so angry at BudgetAir. Thanks for your support.
Oh no. .This is not good.. very bad on part of the people doing this. .
I also wish that such people are brought to the law and punished..
Take care and keep at it .. just make sure you carry on contacting.
Also you paid via bank so your bank should be able to reverse the transaction.. and hopefully indian banks insure you against such things..
Have you talked to your bank to get that done..
Yes, we will continue to chase them till they give our money back. I also wish that they could be punished in some manner for causing untold trauma to innocent customers. I will be writing to RBI soon as well. Thanks so much for your kind words, Bik.
OMG!! This is so terrible and so very unprofessional! Hope you get your refund real soon. Thanks for sharing, Rachna!
Thanks, Shilpa. I hope so too.
Such a sad plight of affairs. Hope you and G get it sorted soon and get a refund plus compensation for the total mess up.
Hope you get that trip to Venice soon 🙂
Yes, I hope so too, Sid. This has been a nightmare. So much wasted time and exhausted emotions. I hope it all gets sorted out soon and we can plan another trip. Thanks for all your support.
That’s really scary. I hope you get your refund. I’m always wary about booking for sites that aren’t really well known, even if they are cheaper… Hope you are able to sort this our. Take legal action, if needed. Best of luck. <3
Thanks, Ash. Yes, legal action is the last resort, and I’ve already done research on that. I am giving them ample time to respond, engage and sort out this mess.
Hai Rachan, I’m one among your. I have booked the airticket today on June 1st week from Maldives to Bangalore. Since I have received only the acknowledgment and waiting for the E-ticket since morning. Im Afraid that where I will be facing the same trouble as how you have faced. I understand since today is Sunday the office remains closed let me Waite till tomorrow and see what will be their responds towards me.
Im facing the same situation right now..
Did you get your e-ticket after several days?
I started the process to get my refund.
What a nightmare… do they have any social media where they can be put pressure on ?
This BudgetAir.in is almost non-existent on any social media. But we are currently engaging with the parent company and other parties involved. Hopefully, something good will come of it. I will keep chasing them till that is done.
Ok this is what I did when an airline won’t refund for my cancelled ticket: After giving them plenty of decent opportunities I tweetd to them using the trending hashtag of the day. I actually got an immediate response with email from important people from the department. For me it was just Rs. 1800.. but what is not right is not right. Maybe you can try this as well.
Thanks, Nisha, for your valuable suggestion. I am reaching out to the airline too. They are much more helpful. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved.
And you need to put the airline in the loop as well; this website may not care for its reputation but the airline just might put pressure on them. Seriously, Twitter is your friend in such matters. Has worked for us on several occasions.
Thanks, Nisha. I agree. I am doing the same.
Sorry to learn of your experience.
Holiday wasted & so much torture.
Hope you get your refund soon.
Exactly! You can imagine the disappointment of the kids and the heartbreak of the parents. These scamsters need to compensate us for all the trauma they have caused. Thanks for your support, Anita.
Oh gosh! Sorry this happened! Keep trying to reach out via FB, twitter and do not hesitate to take the legal route. Teach them a lesson and we will tweet as well.
Yes, I am doing that Parul. I will keep on reaching out on their social media channels. And yes legal route is a definite option. Teach them a lesson so that no other innocent customer is duped. Thanks for your support.
Very frustrating, but am sure you will finally be able to see things set right!
I hope so, Rahul.
Oh! That is just so horrible! I hope you guys get your refund soon and can go on your vacation in peace.
Thanks, Chicky. This vacation has been ruined as we have done the other cancellations. Just a nightmare.
oh god!! that’s terrible!! so much stress such unproffesionalism causes … I really hope that it gets sorted out soon.
Thanks for letting us know it and keep us posted on what happens.
I just saw the title of your post at the end of the comment and felt immense peace. Yes, after all the toil, I am sure we will get some resolution. We will not sit quietly till we do. Thanks for your support. Sure, I will update as to how things go.
what crap….I can imagine the night mare you are going through right now. I really wish and hope you get the refund pretty soon. Let me know if there is something I can do…trying calling them their time or anything.
My blood boiled while reading it….
Yeah, even while writing this post, I felt my blood boil. Just recollecting the nightmare that we’ve been living these past few days and the immense heartburn of cancelling our vacation and now fighting for our rightful money. Thanks so much, Latha. I will surely reach out for help.
That’s horrible. I hope you get your money back. Such small websites have bad customer service. We had a similar experience while booking our tickets to India. Endless communication and stress. We vowed to stay away from such websites and pay extra for our peace of mind.
I just want that you get your money back.
Thank you, Saru. I agree; this experience has taught us many lessons.
I want that too. Thanks for the support.
So sorry to read this. Do explore all your options to recover the money.
Thank you, Mridula. Yes, I am doing that.
I hope you get your money and peace of mind back soon Rachna.
Thanks, Jaibala. I hope so too.
What an ordeal you must have gone through! This kind of unprofessional attitude sucks. Hope you are able to recover all the money.
Oh yes, Somali, and it hasn’t ended as yet. Seriously, how can they expect to get away with a scam like this? Of course, we will leave no stone unturned to get back what is ours. Thanks for your support.
This is terrible, Rachna 🙁 I do hope this gets resolved in your favour and really soon too! What a mess they seem to have made of this whole thing. How unprofessional of them to not be available for any comment or resolution either. Ridiculous! Let’s all tweet and make them sit up.
It is, Shy. 🙁 Such torture, really. Yes, I am tweeting and friends like you are being a huge help in letting us reach far and wide. I hope no one ever gets conned by such sites. Meanwhile, I will continue to fight for my money.
What harassment! They don’t realize their unprofessional behavior leads to their customer holiday dream to nightmare. Hope you get your money back soon! Shared this!
Thank you so much, Priya. I wonder who runs these scam outfits. Considering that BudgetAir is in so many countries and is based out of The Netherlands, I would have expected better. But, I will keep chasing them. Hopefully, this post will prevent others from falling into the same trap.
Very unfortunate. I usually refer to these middlemen websites for best flight timing and fare and then do actual booking on respective airline’s website, even if it is few hundred rupees more.
Changes and corrections are really pain when there’re too many parties involved- different airlines, booking sites, countries, currencies, policies etc.
I agree, Shrinidhi.
Glad you wrote about it and tweeted too. It’s important to create awareness so that others do not suffer. Hope and wish your problem is resolved soon. Unnecessary mental harassment, waste of time and money.
Thanks, Alka. I am hopeful that the matter will be resolved soon.
This is really horrible! Not only the money but you people are disturbed mentally. I’m thinking about the kids…how disappointed they might be with the mess 🙁
I think you should keep in touch with the Airline continuously, apart from shooting emails to Budgetair.
Thanks, Rachna, for letting us know about this…
Thanks, Maniparna. I am in touch with the airline. I hope others stay wary of them.
I have tweeted this through my twitter accounts. Hope you get your compensation 😮
Thanks so much, Roohi. Appreciate your support.
I am going through same situation, I have booked a ticket under BudgetAirway now i want to cancel my tickets to UK through Eithiad Airway. But this call center is horrible and no one is picking the call nor the email. Now i do not know what is alternative to reach them.
I contacted Eithiad Airway but they are not able to cancel it since it is booked under BudgetAirway.
Give my any suggestion if your case has been resolved
I am happy that you have received a response from them.
Hi Rachna,
I have got a call from Budget air office india, and they said they would cancel my ticket but i would get money back in 1 or 2 months of time. At least i am fine that they finally heard me and cancelled the ticket.
What i have got from them is BudgetAir have a office in Bangalore Koramangla location. If you can find them, it would be good for you to get track of them.
Did you check if your ticket has been cancelled? Also, do get what they say in writing or email so that you can prove it later. Phone calls do not count for much. I hope you get your refund soon. Good luck.
Oh mY God! Really sorry that you had to go through all of this. This is just Pathetic. Dont worry, hard-earned money will never go away that way. I’m sure you’ll get your money refunded without undergoing any more mental agony. My prayers that this gets sorted soon.
Take care.
I hope so, Ash. It has been such a terrible experience. Thank you for your prayers.
Oh gosh! I hope this gets resolved soon, and you get your money back, Rachna.
I’ll share this story, too.
I hope so too, Divya. Still chasing them for refund. Thanks for the share.
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This is so scary Rachna. Good luck. I do hope you get your refund.
Dear Rachna,
Such incidents in life just happen even before we realise that we are in a mess..
Hope you get your refund very soon..So Budget Air is a Big No for me and my friends now onwards..
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Hi Rachna.. Could u please update on what is the status of your refund now?? I feel so sorry to read this.. I just got in this mess today n struggling to trace these guys.. Can u share any contact details which helped u get in touch with these people.. Or the parent company Travix contact details..
Hi S, Yes, I got my refund. Do see my latest post. It will give you all the information you need. Good luck.
Hi Rachna
So sorry to hear about this. I also booked through budgetair.in 2 days back unfortunately and it showed payment error and payment actually went through and they haven’t issued ticket. please can you share with me point of contact as its been really very difficult to get through someone at budgetair.in
and no replies from their email.
Appreciate if you can share contact details of them who can be helpful
So sorry to hear that, Karan. They have no other contact. If they want they call you from some unknown number over skype. Wish I could help you there.
Hi Rachna
So sorry to hear about this. I also booked through budgetair.in 2 days back unfortunately and it showed payment error and payment actually went through and they haven’t issued ticket. please can you share with me point of contact as its been really very difficult to get through someone at budgetair.in
and no replies from their email.
Appreciate if you can share contact details of them who can be helpful
karanpravin@gmail.com
Hey Rachna,
I too have been scammed by this site. The amount has been deducted but haven’t received any confirmation mail from their end. Did u get the money back?
I called the airlines too, they said they don’t have any booking under the name.
What do u suggest I do?
I did get my refund but only because of heat generated on Etihad Airways. These people are crooks. Do read the rest of the posts that I’ve written as well on this saga.
okay. But u had the airlines to back u. In my case even the airlines has denied the booking.
I called them right now, they said they have found my booking and payment and will resolve it shortly.
Fingers crossed.
Oh the airline did not back me. I had to fight a battle on social media. Hope it all works out for you.
Oh yes, I read the posts.
Thanks Rachna.
I got my ticket 🙂
They handled the case pretty well. After a couple calls they acknowledged that they have received the payment. And after a few hours they sent the invoice and the ticket right now. Issue resolved in 12 hours.
Happy for you!
I want to make a point here. It is difficult to deal with Budget Air when things are going wrong. But i have found thier office in kormangala Bangalore(Near Jyothi Nivas collage) so any such issues people go directly to the office and talk to them.
Hopefully this will help you guys…..
Oh yes, I know about their address. Hope it helps others.
I want their address please. I am having a similar issue with this fraud company.
I don’t have their address. I wrote to their Netherlands office.
Hi Rachna, Thanks for your detailed post.. We were planning a holiday and budgetair.com was the lowest price.. However, after checking multiple feedbacks including yours, we decided against booking on budgetair.com..Best Regards, Murali Sathya
I am so glad you did that, Murali, and were saved from them.
Today i made Mumbai to Dubai return air tickets for 7 passengers through BudgetAir. in’s offer of flight tickets that was cheaper than all other websites so we paid 1.34 Lacs through his bank account. Thus began our misfortune.
3 hours back we received a mail from info@BudgetAir.in that payment confirmation mail. But after reading all details we feel we lost money.
Please guide me how to refund my money.
You can also email jmangelaars@travix.com , he is the ceo , or use below details for marjon. They helped me out for refund.
Marjon Paanen
global manager excellence center

Travix Nederland B.V.
Piet Heinkade 55
1019 GM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T. +31 (0)23 5176330
M. +31 (0)6 12509756
E: mpaanen@travix.com
You can also email sprasad@travix.com
Thank you for reply.
I will mail them all the details
Thank you karan.
I received the tickets and same are conform by airline
Good to know. I emailed you this morning but it bounced back. Hope all works out well for you.
Hi rachna
Sadly I too have fallen trap to this scam by budget air. My money has been deducted and I haven’t received my tickets. I can’t seem to contact them. I really don’t know what to do.
@Sandy:
I too was in the same boat as I had booked my tickets to Singapore on 2nd Nov, but today after going through Rachna’s post which is really helpful, I sent an email to jmangelaars@travix.com & mpaanen@travix.com. I have now received booking confirmation and e-tickets, which I validated on the airline site.
Many thanks Rachna for this useful blog, hope people stay away from this web-site for now.
BR,
Rajiv
@Sandy:
I too was in the same boat as I had booked my tickets to Singapore on 2nd Nov, but today after going through Rachna’s post which is really helpful, I sent an email to jmangelaars@travix.com & mpaanen@travix.com. I have now received booking confirmation and e-tickets, which I validated on the airline site.
Many thanks Rachna for this useful blog, hope people stay away from this web-site for now.
BR,
Rajiv
While it may sound harsh and I am sorry for your loss, here’s my 2 cents (considering that I am a travel agent and have booked thousands of tickets for my customers):
1. Budgetair/Edreams/Opodo offers cheap prices but when things go south, you have a hard time.
2. Airline cannot do anything in this case, since when an OTA books a ticket, OTA has to service the tickets not the airline. This is true for any OTA, whether it’s makemytrip, expedia or edreams. Often these OTA will levya heavy fee on top of the airline fee for any servicing. This is how they earn money, and the very reason why they offer deeply discounted ticket at the first place.
3. You can beat around the bush as much as you want, complaining to social media won’t help. Millions have successfully booked tickets with budgetair and tens of thousands face error. But people still get honeytrapped due to low price.
A quick search on Google on budgetair would show 1000 stories similar to yours.
4. Your best bet would be to complain to your credit card/bank and they should be able to compensate you. Most banks and credit card companies will happily oblige in a fraud case.
5. Last action is legal action, but that will take painfully long time if budgetair is not registered in India.
Btw, you haven’t really mentioned anywhere.whose fault was it for the name typo? Was it yours or budgetair’s?
I hope that you would have got the refund or name change done by now, in the best case scenario.
Good luck.
Thanks for posting this Rachna. I was about to book via Budgetair due to low prices, but have decided against it after reading this.
Oh, I am so glad Vaibhav. I hope others do their research before booking on Budgetair as well.
It’s a total scam.Even i got duped.Indian booking agencies are much better.I am just trying to get some refund after hefty charges of cancellation,inspite of the fact my booking was under prime package and i was told there will be no charge for change/cancellation.Whatever little refund i get,will again take 3 months.
Dear u got ur refund back
Yes, I did. Read the other posts.
Luckily I have received confirmation after 2 hrs of booking through Credit Card, I was really worried and intimated HDFC Credit Card to Stop my card and requested for Transaction Dispute, which is withdrawn.
?
Hi,
I am in similar situation. Made booking for $2000 didn’t get the ticket and they confirmed I would be getting refund in 24 hours yesterday and today I can see they claimed the money which was on hold on my card till yesterday.
I am never able to get hold-off the Customer care guys nor they responding to my emails. Please guide me, I planned a vacation for daughter’s first birthday and I have no flights booked nor the refund money.
Kumar
This site is fraud.only it’s name is ending with .in .but this site has no Indian connection.also they have no email or Twitter complaint handle. For any reason – if you have to claim refund then you need to call on Netherlands Europe number .this is international call and so you will lose lot of money .there is no way to contact them on email. So Indians should better avoid this website to book ticket even if it is cheaper.i lost 7500 rs this way for a flight which was cancelled by airlines.but budgetair.in ia not refunding money .I cannot contact them except on international number every time .