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Exploring our world one trip at a time...............................

Buyer Beware......Kiwi.com

8/12/2018

1 Comment

 
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​kiwi.com

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Travel is a passion of mine – I love to travel. I also love to plan in detail my trips. This past summer I took a chance and booked flights using Kiwi.com. What seemed to be too good to be true turned out to be just that- too good to be true. My initial travel itinerary involved a flight from Austin to Rhode Island with a 90-minute layover before catching a flight to Belfast where I had a hotel booked and paid for, as well as a planned tour. Arriving two hours early I checked in only to be told that I never actually had a flight direct to Rhode Island and that I would fly four hours later to Denver and then on to Rhode Island. This of course meant I missed my flight to Belfast and I also had a 6-hour layover in Denver. My new itinerary involved 5 flights involving 3 states and 3 countries putting me at my final destination 3 days later…………………………
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Stranded at Shannon Airport
Once your flight plan has change there are few to no options I was literally at the mercy of Kiwi.com and the customer care is nonexistent. I was frequently on hold for up to 2 hours waiting to speak with a representative. I was told I would receive an e-mail explaining alternatives- often the e-mail would come hours later. I had ridiculously long layovers with one refund of 30 euros. I requested a hotel only to be ignored. I finally paid for my own hotel in Rhode Island as I had been traveling all night and still didn’t fly out till the evening. Finally, I flew Norwegian Airlines to Shannon which is in Southern Ireland where I had another 10-hour layover. If there is an airport to be stranded in though Shannon was a good one. The people here were friendly and understanding. When I went to check in at Ryanair and explain my predicament the attendant commented “Your mistake was booking with Kiwi.com.”
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As I have learned when traveling you have to always have a positive attitude however Kiwi.com pushed me to my limits. I did make the best of it and visit some of the surrounding area as you can see from a previous blog, but I will NEVER book with this company again and nor should you. I did however learn some things form this ordeal.
  • Shannon Airport is a great place to be stranded.
  • Bunratty Castle is worth a visit.
  • Ryanair is staffed with competent and helpful people.
  • Ryanair is reliable- Book direct
  • Norwegian Airlines is a great airline to fly with and they have great connections from Rhode Island to Ireland with only 6-hour flights- Book direct
  • DO NOT book through Kiwi.com
  • Kiwi.com has a guarantee which is useless
  • Kiwi.com has NO customer care or service
  • Kiwi.com is a terrible travel company that will literally leave customers stranded with endless layovers

I Never Made it to Belfast ........but

I had a great time all the same. Next time you plan a trip do your homework, book flights directly through the airline and have fun!  Happy travels……………

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Bernie Presta

Exploring our world one trip at a time............................

1 Comment
Terry Griffin
8/20/2018 03:38:46 am

Bernie,

I enjoy reading about your travels and I’ll not be using kiwi.com!

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