Travel booking web sites not foolproof

Last week, a Mumbai air traveller was shocked to find at the check-in counter that her return ticket to Goa had been wrongly booked by an online travel planning website. Instead of June 2, the ticket was booked for June 1, and the return for June 6 instead of June 8. The strange part is that the consumer, who is a banker by profession, received a receipt confirming both the dates. She called up the site’s customer care number and was told to send across the complaint. “I then had to book new tickets at a very high price; Rs 7,000 for two tickets, one way.”

This case shows up that online travel sites, which book you into airlines, hotels and package tours, are not foolproof. Their software can throw up glitches. Says an airline official, “There could be some kind of a system interface error.” Other than wrong dates, online faux pas include booking of only some part of the travel or absolutely no booking at all. The airline official says such errors occur because online booking is still nascent in the country.

In the unfortunate scenario where a consumer discovers such a serious lapse, Nirmala Desikan of Chennai’s consumer organisation Concert advises that he or she must gather all the supporting evidence, like the booking ID and e-ticket.
He must send it across to the online company by registered post and ask for reversal of charges to the credit card. “Give them some time, like 10 days, to respond. If they don’t, send another intimation saying you will approach a consumer organisation.” Desikan’s experience shows that companies usually do the needful. “They would like to save their reputation.” If a company still does not refund the amount, a consumer forum must be approached.

On March 9, 2007, the Delhi Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum II directed website makemytrip.com to pay a compensation of Rs 10,580 to a customer.

In response to the ruling, Deep Kalra, CEO at makemytrip .com, says, “We are committed to providing our customers with a safe transaction environment and are constantly renewing our technologies and processes to ensure this. Today the rate of such incidents is extremely low, which is 0.0003% or three for every one million transactions.’’

Interestingly, Internet experts point out that sometimes, the consumer could be at fault too. He may breeze through the booking without clicking on the relevant clauses. Says Air Passengers Association of India national president D Sudhakara Reddy, “Many customers are not computer-savvy.” The airline official agrees with him and says: “After making the booking, passengers must check booking summary to ensure they have booked correctly.”