Kiwi.Com

howlongdoesittake

My daughter had booked a post graduation trip to the Far East starting in June. Unfortunately all her flights have been cancelled, we contacted  Korean Airways and KLM, all are happy to refund the full amount paid. The 4th and last company she used was Kiwi. Com acting as an agent for Japan Airlines, the cost for her flight from Tokyo to Singapore was £997.00 + £8.49 service package. I have gone online to claim a refund  and the amount offered is £8.47 which I thought was an error, it seems not. Is anyone else dealing with these .....

babyjack0625

My flights to LA have been cancelled 29/6/20.  I can see on Twitter KIWI are doing this to many, many customers.  Absolute minimal amounts being returned.  I'm absolutely dreading this happening, we really need the funds back.  I am really hoping Martin and the team will pick this up and give us any insight at all into what is going on here.  Is this standard practice across other travel agents?  I believe KIWI will collapse during or at the end of this.  I did see one customer talking about bringing an action against them and looking for support.

lbowes20

If you paid via credit/debit card do a chargeback

Westin

babyjack0625 said:

My flights to LA have been cancelled 29/6/20.  I can see on Twitter KIWI are doing this to many, many customers.  Absolute minimal amounts being returned.  I'm absolutely dreading this happening, we really need the funds back.  I am really hoping Martin and the team will pick this up and give us any insight at all into what is going on here.  Is this standard practice across other travel agents?  I believe KIWI will collapse during or at the end of this.  I did see one customer talking about bringing an action against them and looking for support.

I think really all you can do is wait for first contact and an offer from Kiwi on your cancelled flight.  Some airlines are offering refunds, some travel credits, Kiwi are only likely to offer you what the airline offers them.

The terms and conditions you agreed to will cover what, if any, fee may be deducted by them for administration costs from any airline refund. Some ticket sellers are giving complete refunds, some making deductions.  

Kiwi is not really a travel agent, not in the traditional sense. They really are just a company which has developed and is using a meta search engine to sell often unconnected flights. They will deliver a flight but will, like many online ticket sellers, be lacking in an extra customer service provisions.  

Kiwi is also a business operated and incorporated in the Czech Republic. Using these overseas online ticket floggers need to be considered when making purchases.  The internet is also full of poor reviews on this company - check Trip Advisor. Unfortunately many people just search on price and price alone with no research on who they hand their payment details to.

Pollycat

Even in the 'good times' the Air Travel board of Tripadvisor was awash with complaints about these 3rd party flight sellers.

Travel2be, Travelgenio, eDreams, Kiwi, Vayama...

Kiwi has a 133 page thread with many unhappy customers.

I only ever book direct with airlines. Using these 3rd party sellers, you just put another link in the chain - and agree to their T&Cs - and often airlines won't deal with you direct if you do have a problem as you are not their customer. Kiwi is their customer. You are Kiwi's customer.

The other companies you mention - Korean Air and KLM are airlines. As you said Kiwi is an agent. If your daughter had booked direct with JAL do you know if she would have received a full refund as with the other 2 airlines?

babyjack0625 said:

My flights to LA have been cancelled 29/6/20.  I can see on Twitter KIWI are doing this to many, many customers.  Absolute minimal amounts being returned.  I'm absolutely dreading this happening, we really need the funds back.  I am really hoping Martin and the team will pick this up and give us any insight at all into what is going on here.  Is this standard practice across other travel agents?  I believe KIWI will collapse during or at the end of this.  I did see one customer talking about bringing an action against them and looking for support.

They were Flightpickers before Kiwi.

They'd probably just change their name and carry on trading.

christmasjones2003

Hi,
I have a similar issue with Kiwi. We were on holiday in Cape Verde when Coronavirus struck and our original flights home were cancelled and we were stranded abroad. We couldn't book any flights home other than through Kiwi which cost £480 (more than our original flights)/ These flights ended up being cancelled and we had to get an emergency repatriation flight home. I have tried to get the money back from Kiwi who only offered me £91 in vouchers. I then tried the airlines (via their complaints system and the EU261 directive), who won't pay out as I didn't book directly with them. I then tried my credit card, but they have rejected my claim as Kiwi.com's T&Cs state they won't pay out because of force majeure, I'm in the middle of a claim with my insurance company but it's not looking good as it has been rejected once. Does anyone have any advice as to what I can do next or is it just accept that I'm not getting the money back?  Should I accept Kiwi's offer to get my money back from the airlines or does this invalidate any other claim I might try? Help needed

Life__Goes__On

Have you been refunded anything yet?
Who were your flights with? (original and the re-booked flight, not the repatriation flight)

THEV1LL4N

My flights from Kiwi were changed.  It looks like the flights I had originally booked have been cancelled and as a result I have been moved to another flight.  This is very very inconvenient due to the times of both flights (outward and inward) which affects my car rental booking and entire itinerary (accommodation and the hours I've spent planning each day) for the week due to the knock-on effect.  I am wondering whether this change counts as a cancellation as the original flights appear to be cancelled).