Please also read the comments! Not everyone shares my experience! Better still, try SkyScanner or Expedia or Vayama as well!
Recently during my trip around the world I was faced with a number of flight routes which simply could not be booked on the site of the airline itself and other routes which were inexplicably cheaper through an agent. So like any cheaparse traveller, I booked my Avianca flight from Bogota to Cartagena with an online travel agent, Kiwi.com.
I’d never heard of them before, but they were listed as the cheapest option by 50% on SkyScanner. I didn’t even think twice about booking my flights through them.
And then I got a confirmation email from them and it was kind of odd. Just not as professional looking as I had expected. Also, the booking wasn’t made immediately. In other words, they had taken my credit card details and not yet booked my flight. Just a confirmation email saying they were going to do it later.
So I searched online and I found post after post about Kiwi.com being a scam. And I was scared. So I contacted their online support and demanded they send through my airline reference number. They refused. The guy on online support was hopeless and said that I would never get that booking reference number because I wasn’t allowed to checkin online.
Because I had no other options, I just waited. And then a couple of days later they sent an email with a confirmed airline booking reference number and I was actually able to use the official Avianca website to see my booking in the system.
Everything seemed OK. So when I arrived at the airport, I expected everything to be smooth as well. And it was.
So while Kiwi.com’s customer service leaves a lot to be desired and their English is poor, they aren’t a scam company. My only advice would be to make sure you fill in everything correctly during booking and that you make sure you don’t have any complicated requests such as name changes, date changes, odd transits, etc.
And if it’s a multi-leg journey with different airlines and one of the legs is cancelled, you are screwed. Mainly because it’s a non-protected transfer. But you already knew that, right?
Would I use them again? Definitely if the price was right. Have you had a good or bad experience with them? Let me know in the comments.
52 replies on “I Used Kiwi.com (formerly SkyPicker.com) and it Wasn’t a Scam”
A few hours after I purchased my ticket, I realized that I made an error in the reservation. I contacted Kiwi to see if they would be able to cancel or change the ticket since despite a confirmation email from Kiwi saying my purchase was confirmed, no tickets had actually been issued. After 2 days, Kiwi ignored my request to cancel the ticket before it was issued and had it issued anyway, then immediately sent me a response that since the ticket had been issued, I was subject to no cancellation rules from the airline.
To make matters worse, what I hadn’t realized until this set of interactions with customer service was that Kiwi is simply an overcharging middle man service. It is never made explicitly clear anywhere on their site or in your purchase what the actual cost of the ticket is, what their service charges are or the fact that they are not even affiliated with the airline.
When I looked at the actual ticket from the airline, it turns out, the actual price of the ticket was 50% LESS than what was charged, and to add insult to injury, I am supposed to deal directly with the airline for any changes (which will cost half the ticket price to make).
Unless the prices you find otherwise are way more expensive, you are better off purchasing tickets directly from the airline.
Yes even I & my husband was dissapointed about their bad service… it’s really worst service.. they just making money … I just received my confirmation after 12hours I spend so much money just to call them but only answering machine attending the calls.. we miss the flight because airline saying that they don’t accept transit passengers and they should be aware with that.. we tried to refund the money but nobody cooperate ..
Extremely unhelpful customer service and an ap that’s extremely unintuitive and hard to use. Not to mention whatever flight tracker algorithm they use creates the most convoluted itineraries I’ve ever seen. I booked a flight with them and it got mysteriously cancelled through them. I was given a credit that I thought would apply on a new booking. Due to the difficulty of the site to book my credit card was charged a second time. After numerous attempts to refund that credit they have told me there’s nothing they can do, or that they will “investigate” it whatever that means. I implore anyone using this app to stay away. It makes already inconvenient air travel so much harder.
Yes, it is true! Please do not book with KIWI.com or any other site that’s affiliated with them! If anyone needs to you may report them to:
Ministry of Industry and Trade ( Consumer Protection for Czech Republic)
econsumer.gov: Report International Scams
Federal Trade Commission
Your local Consumer Affairs
Internet Crime Complaint Center(IC3): Federal Bureau of Investigation
Don’t even take tickets from kiwi.com. I charge me on credit card and I never get tickets . They are using people to take their money
I booked my tickets through Ryanair, all fine till I got the E-ticket. Under ‘check-in’ it said, “kiwi.com will complete the on-line check-in for this flight and send your boarding pass in a separate email. Passengers that do not provide us with their passport/ID details will have to check in at the airport which may involve an airport check-in fee”.
I had provided my passport details but have no idea why I got this email from Kiwi. Didn’t get the email with boarding pass from them so emailed the day before travelling. No reply of course. At the airport I was told to pay and take it up with kiwi. It cost me £110 and I would have missed my flight if it hadn’t been delayed. Not quite sure what to do next time as I didn’t intentionally have anything to do with kiwi (and never will!)
They are bunch of thiefs,, nothing else,i have purchased my ticket online and i could not travel,,,THEY ARE DIRTY THIEFS,,,STAY AWAY FROM THOSE THIEFS,,,
very bad. when i bought the ticket they did not show need visa for country once i booked they flight i saw visas required for the next country. no one help you if you cancel not pay you back. so bad experience
dont look at there 5 stars,,everything is fake ,THEY ARE DIRTY THIEFS WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY AND WILL LEAVE IN THE AIRPORT WITHOUT MONEY AND WITHOUT VACATION
Kiwi is a fraudulent booking site. Payment was taken from me and then they started demanding more money AFTER I PAID. I booked two tickets and they refuse to cancel both of them. All they want is more money, more money sir. This “business” is a perfect example of a bait and switch SCAM WEBSITE. They leave me no option but to do a time consuming CHARGEBACK with my credit card to get my money back.
After losing $450+ with Fareportal.com trying to attend a UNWTO annual conference in Armenia, I booked BKK – EVN with kiwi.com and LOST money AGAIN. BKK counter agent would not accept the tickets, claiming I needed a transit visa out of Russian Federation.
With my USA Passport I qualified for 14 days VOA in Bahrain but the airlines would not even allow me to go that far, where I could have re-booked, found another route, or enjoyed 14 days of whatever. Asked online for my “guarantee” and all has been silent since. Lost $995 inside a week, and am still in the BKK airport writing this. webweb
I had a bad experience with them on Friday. I found flights at a fare I liked and booked. I received an email saying my payment had been received and tickets would be with me within 60 mins. They weren’t. I contacted their customer services, and v.e.r.y…s.l.o.w.l.y (over 90 mins online chat!) the guy ‘found out’ the tickets hadn’t been issued because the fare had gone up by 50%! Obviously I no longer wanted the flights. I searched their site again and found an alternative advertised at almost the same fare and asked the guy to transfer the booking for me… He said I had to respond to an email he’d just sent me, declining a refund and asking for credit. I asked him whether I’d then be able to get a refund if *that* fare also went up by 50%. He didn’t know. I decided not to take the risk and asked for a refund. They tell me that the refund – of payment they took instantly for tickets they never issued! – will take 10 days to get back to me!
I’m now in the odd position of having flights *back* from a country at the end of my hol (separate booking with another company) but no flights to get there at the start! I won’t be using kiwi.com/SkyPicker again.
Published 3 seconds ago
The Kiwi Guarantee is a Scam. Don’t trust this company. Unscrupulous.
Had a two hour layover in Mexico City, due to slow moving customs and absent transport to the other terminal, I missed the next connection.
Kiwi did not help me at all. They did not reimburse the flights i missed, nor did they buy me a new flight. I was left on my own.
I had another flight a week later which was going to become obsolete due to this mishap. When I enquired about refunding this, $200 flight, I was told that they could get $30 back from the airline and after they took their $20 cancellation fee, that would leave me with $10.
Can you imagine? After all that, losing $500 worth of flights, them not helping with that at all, they still want to charge me a $20 cancellation fee for another flight.
Thieves. Nothing more.
I spoke with customs in Mexico city, customs generally takes .5 – 2 hours. Checkin closes ~45mins before, and time between terminals is 20min. Therefore Kiwi should not be selling flights with only a 2 hour layover. To be safe, 3 should be the minimum.
They didn’t update their policy or system as far as I am aware.
Whoo hoo to that! I agree 100% and how they get away with that crap is unacceptable!
I just booked a flight where they took my payment immediately and I got a receipt a couple of minutes later. Went out for lunch and returned 3hrs later to an email informing me that there had been issues with my booking because the fare had risen during the booking process and that my payment will be reimbursed within 10 working bank days. Put onto them by Skyscanner. 1st and last time I use kiwi, be aware cheapest is not the best. Cheating c#*nts.
Pay extra book elsewhere
Pros: Easy to reach customer service, quick response time, cheap tickets but not necessarily the best value.
Cons: 1)We booked via Kiwi on a NokAir flight for which the basic baggage allowance was 2 checked baggage – 15 kg for 2 people. Kiwi sent us a confirmation of 1 baggage allowance for 2 passengers, so we either had to pay kiwi for the 2nd bag (which was already in our allowance) or send the bags separately (which was cheaper at £76.00 via local post office) 2) You cannot access your flight details on the airline website to amend yourself (you have to contact Kiwi and there will be a heavy price to pay: 106 EUR) or to check in online (via Kiwi which is thankfully free) but they forgot to send 1 boarding pass out of 3. We tried to contact them but were not replying at this point and our travel was the next day. Thankfully, we were able to confirm that we were still able to travel by calling the airline. 3) For a 14 hour flight, the allowance was only cabin bags, so we had to purchase checked bags separately for. We paid £522.00 for our flights, and £117.80 total for bags. If the price difference between kiwi and other agents is less than £100, my advise would be to go for the alternative. Other than the above 3 issues, I would consider using Kiwi again provided the price difference is over £100.00.
I would avoid. .my flight registered but not my prepaid chechecked luggage..trying to get a refund is horrible..the site is so slow. I wish I would have gone with the normal companies. I can’t understand why kayak.Com would have a link to them. Better to avoid the headache. I won’t use them again.
Beware, Beware, Beware – KIWI.COM – Never Again!
In good faith we purchased flights from Sydney to Los Angeles with a connection in Auckland. Only after our purchase did we learn that we could not check-in online and would have to claim and re-check our baggage in Auckland – added risk and a hassle but seemed doable. The kicker was that ONLY AFTER claiming our baggage in Auckland did we learn that we had to go through New Zealand Immigration/Customs, even though only simply transiting the airport facility. The line was very long and very slow, taking 57 minutes to complete. Thus, the connection time that seemed OK was really condemned to failure from the start. The result was that check-in was “closed” for our subsequent flight when we arrived to check-in. KIWI.COM stuck us with the nearly $900 USD cost for booking subsequent flights at an upcharge rate.
I’m cureebtly fighting with Kiwi.com over having our names incorrectly entered into the airlines reservation, even though it was entered correctly in the reservation with Kiwi. The airlines says it must be fixed through Kiwi, Kiwi says the tickets are useable as is.
I also found a better flight on the airlines that we are flyin with, but there is no way to change flights (as you can when you book with an airlines). The difference changes an 18 hr flight to 11hrs.
While the customer service is very responsive, trying to get anything done is like pulling. Eye teeth. Try updating your passport info and it requires online chat with a kiwi rep, an emailed photocopy if said passport, and threats of fees being charged to update or possible failures on the airlines’ part.
In waiting for a confirmation from the airlines that I will be able to travel with my tickets, but I have a feeling that Kiwi would just leave me hanging and paying for the name error at the airport when trying to check in and clear customs.
Booked with Kiwi to fly Yangon-Bangkok-Taipei (Air Asia and then Nok Scoot) a little over a week ago. Chose them solely on price. Receipt and e-ticket were issued promptly, so I wasn’t worried about where my money had gone. It all went well, but because we were required to transfer from Air Asia to Nok Scoot at Don Muang airport in Bangkok it became an exercise in extreme anxiety. Our two hours and fifty-five minutes at the airport, which I had foolishly believed would be sufficient, quickly evaporated as we waited and waited in long queues for immigration and then for check-in at Nok Scoot. We didn’t even want to go to Thailand! We eventually made it, with an hour to spare, but I won’t be putting myself in that position again. It’s just not worth it. Reading the comments above it looked like we gambled and won.
I shopped for tickets on Kayak. Because it was a multi-city trip, Kayak sent me to kiwi.com. There I bought multi-city tickets for 2, when I received the confirmation it was for only one leg of the trip. I tried “talking” to kiwi.com via “live chat” (no phone number available). They pretended not to understand me, and finally when I asked for a refund they refused.
I booked tickets through this company to Europe and back. On my return my Easy Jet flight was delayed in Munich for 2 hours while they fixed the captains seat belt. I ended up missing my connecting flight in London back to the US. On the Easy Jet flight I alerted them that I was missing my connection and they looked at me and shrugged their shoulders. When I arrived at London I went to the Easy Jet counter and they told me there was nothing they could do for me. I was given a piece of paper with a number to call for customer service and claims. At the same time the lady told me they were a point to point airlines and they werent responsible for my connecting flights I needed to allow 3 hours between connections. Even if there had been 3 hours I would have missed my connection, but still if thats the case then Kiwi who booked the entire package to me should know these policies between connections this is the job they do. I never even thought to check that they did there job right. Anyhow I was forced to spent another $3,000. on this day to get myself home. By the time you consider that $2,300. on new airline tickets. I needed to take a 1 1/2 hour bus ride to London Hethrow airport to catch a new plane back to Amsterdam, I had to get a hotel room for the night in Amsterdam before flying out the following morning. When I contacted Kiwi about it the said that London Gatwik airport only requires 2 hours between connections. I sent them a copy of the claim denial with Easy Jet who quoted some air traffic policy from 2008 that says that no reimbursement is required for connections less than 3 hours. I have heard nothing back now from Kiwi travel and I assume now 2 weeks later that I am s.o.l.. Heres the thing….I did nothing wrong. I was where I was advised to be at the suggested times. I had all my paperwork with me and how do they get away with stealing my money like that and not providing the service that they should? I suggest that under no circumstances anybody use this shadey company because there is no guarantee of anything but a spit in your face! Charles Franke
Dont use KIWI.COM.
I used this twice and wow both are disaster!!!!
First booking. Dubai-HK-Manila. its a connecting flight. On the day of my flight. i found out that the connecting flight which is cebu pacificairline didnt have any checked-in baggage.
Dubai-HK with 30kg
HK-MNL – none
W-T-F. right? How come they will arrange a flight like that!!! What do you want me to do with with luggage? Leave if in the first stop?. where you can find a passenger that will just need a luggage until the first stop?
Ending? i paid more to buy for additional checked in luggage for my HK-MNL flight.
2nd booking. my flight was last January 2017 from Manila-Kuwait-Dubai. On the day of my flight i was got held by the airport officer cuz they are asking for Kuwait Visa. And i am holding an UAE resident visa. Visa on my destination country.
Why would they arrange a connecting flight if they already know that the airport officer will not allow us to depart. They are saying a lot of non-sense excuses. Ending? i booked a new ticket and applied for a refund. and after like a couple of weeks i received an email from them that i am not eligible for any refund! Great!.
Dont use KIWI.COM!! They will rob you.
I use Kiwi [skypicker] since say 5 years ago as an information source. It is probably the best site for combining flights for stingy people with a bit of flexible schedule. I would not use them to book on my behalf though, as
1) they charge for it and so the tickets are slightly [2-4%] more expensive
2) their is just a great algorithm, not a real AI… there are many variables (allowances, visas, discounts) a and so one should visit the flight’s provider site for the rules to see what the story is.
Never ever reserve through kiwi.com. They literally live on any possible mistake on your end. Period.
I booked a domestic US round – trip flight. Waiting 20 minutes for confirmation was a bit weird/nerve-wracking/annoying and you could tell that means fishy stuff goes on, but the tickets were legit. Flew to and from NYC with no problems. Both direct flights. So I’d say direct, domestic flights they’re a good bet (the roundtrip ticket was ~50 less than the cheapest competing sight, which is why I took it).
I just booked a flight with wiki.com and received an email saying that my payment had been declined and I should call them before 12 hours to tell them some informations about my card. they will ask me the last 4 numbers, the name of my bank and in wich country it ha been emited. should I call and give them all these information ?
they saythat if I dont call they are gonna cancel the reservation and I dont understand if they are gonna take the money anyway or not. thx for your help
kiwi.com is asking for my passport info for an up coming international flight so that they could check me in online. is it safe giving them my info?
That’s odd. I’m not sure why they would need to do that. Sometimes passport info is needed when booking a ticket, but not usually. I guess you could give it to them…
yeah its odd! i called them and they said to prevent additional fee upon check in i should give them my info and let them check me in online. i tried checking in myself online through the airlines but i cant use the booking number that kiwi provided me.
I booked a trip to Bogota with Kiwi.com. Never heard of them but a friend of mine from work said he booked twice with them and had no issues.
Since this was what I had been saving for, for 2 years, I wanted to be sure and read so many reviews. Most seemed to be about people complaining about Visa issues with Kiwi, or luggage… which I thought strange because I thought the person traveling needs to take care of the visa?? Like I did and many others do, I ignored this point because I am not dumb enough to not fix my visa requirements.
So the luggage? I decided to do a dummy run on kiwi.com to see what all the moaning was about. I selected the flight search criteria and looked at the prices…. Awesome!!! At this point I was excited!
I noticed that the airlines were different from Dublin to the connection in Newburgh – Fort Lauderdale and then on to Bogota also some guarantee thing written in between.
I checked out the guarantee!!! who does that? me 😉 It sounded awesome, If I miss a connection because of delay then they find me a flight for free???? no way, so I got on the kiwi chat, which is 24/7, by this point I wondered if this company was pulling my leg, the girl on the chat confirmed this guarantee and also that I would get a hotel if needed, only up to 50 euro, but still ;-))))) …. oh and some money towards a few beers… I mean coca-colas 😉
So…. I Clicked book now and got through to the next page, which by the way is the only page, I filled in the details step by step and then came to add luggage, of course, why would there not be an ‘add luggage’ section??? its on all normal airline sites unless it states for free, which it never…. I added 20kg…. simple.
So…. further down just before I entered my card details, I came to point where I was warned about visa, remember before I mentioned this? , I checked it out and found I did not need a transit visa, if the warning was not there, then???? but it was so it does not matter.
So I entered my details of my card, clicked pay and received email, booking in the process….. 30 minutes later confirmed and came through, checked the e-ticket thingy that they sent and again I saw visa warning… I double-checked of course and the same result, not needed.
So how was my trip? Well the first flight was delayed and of course resulted in missing connection in Newburgh, got a replacement flight 6 hours later, not bad considering if I had booked separately with the airlines, I would be screwed!!!! F##king amazing. So basically they got me two new flights for free from Newburgh to Fort Lauderdale! I arrived later than expected but hey, I arrived.
So conclusion:
1. Read the info people, only stupid people don’t read information
2. The freaking booking system is one page, one page and not filled with these little ticky boxes like the airlines
3. If I had hair I would pull it out!!!! check the visa warnings!!!! it tells you twice…
4. People of the world, stop thinking that everything is given to you on a silver plateau, stop bitching, stop being idiots…. sometimes you F##k up, realize it and own up to it, don’t bitch about bus##t and blame others… just because you did not want to read a sentence or are lazy.
5. And yes, they charge for a service, what???? you think they would just spend a day helping you to find cheap flights for free????? wise up people!!! business is business and that’s why people generally start a business, it’s not like it is a charity free fight finder.
6. Complaints usually come from spoiled dumb people who are lazy
I would use kiwi.com again and again, especially because I am not an arrogant dumb spoiled b##ch ar#e moaning …. its the most simple booking I ever made, by a long shot!
That’s one way of putting it. hahahaha
BEST COMMENT EVER – I ‘ VE BEED READING ALL THOSE COMPLAINTS AND I WAS THINKING EXACTLY THE SAME— THANK GOD IM NOT THE ONLY NORMAL PERSON
I booked for the first time through Kiwi to travel from Okinawa, Japan to London, in the UK on July 15, 2017. My experience with Kiwi was the greatest I have had so far as frequent flyer since 2003. First, all the flights included in the itinerary were lined up properly with reasonable amounts of time in between and as such I was able to get to all the gates on time to catch my next flight. The only problem I encountered was with one air company at the last connection which imposed me to pay a 60 Euro luggage fee while I had already paid at my first flight assuming that the payment was to take my luggage to the last destination. As soon as I arrived in London, I wrote to KIWI customer service and explained the issue. Within an hour I got a reply with instructions on how to request a refund. I did it right away and a day after I got the 60 Euro refunded to me by Kiwi. I have to admit that in addition to the fact that Kiwi’s price was the cheapest possible, its personnel have shown a great deal of professionalism, responsibility and care in handling my situation. I would strongly recommend Kiwi to anyone who wants to travel for less.
My experience with Kiwi.com has been beyond frustrating. Over the past three weeks I have requested numerous times for flight change from Manchester to Amsterdam then Taipei. However, upon my every request, Kiwi.com staffs had told me I would receive a response within 12 or 48 hours, yet, I never once received any form of reply. I had to call and call and to be asked to wait for another 12 or 48 hours!!!!! Two days ago, I called again for the 7th or 8th time, and I was told to wait for another 12 hours again. As expected, still no response after two days. So I called again today only to find out they had my request completely wrong! Instead of changing my flight (Manchester –> Amsterdam –> Taipei) to the beginning of the October, they mistaken my request to be flying to Amsterdam on the 8th of Sept and have a little less than “a month” of layover in Amsterdam before flying back to Taiwan in the beginning of October!!!!!! I really don’t understand how does that even make sense??? What am I going to do in Amsterdam for a month?? Just to wait for a connecting flight back to Taiwan??!! I even told them that I’m a gold member with China Airline (my flight from Amsterdam to Taiwan) just to make their life easier to change my flight but with no avail. In any case, they told me since “I’m changing my request” they would need another 48 hours to reply me… which I doubt they would. I’m really baffled by Kiwi.com’s incompetence and inefficiency… and baffled by how they can stay competitive in this business. Or is this just a norm in UK and Europe?
Booked with this company few months ago.
I’ve been sent a link via email to enter my passport details, but actually there was no empty space to enter it. There was only a recap of the booking which I could have print. I’ve been on the website too, but there was no “Manage my booking”!
Basically when I went to airport, the airline charged me 22€ because they missed my passport details. The lady at the counter told me it wasn’t the first time that it happened and they always had boarding pass issues with this company. She even already knew how to claim my money back on Kiwi.com website.
Obviously I didn’t get my money back and I had to call them many times and speak in English, which is not my native language.
Very bad service and it’s a shame they don’t provide their service in different languages.
I WOULDN’T RECOMMEND IT AT ALL!!!
I’ve flown a lot but never had flights where they don’t serve complimentary water or let you refill your own bottle until using Kiwi. I flew on Air Asia X and Peach airlines, with a connection in Osaka. They wouldn’t let me transfer most of my fruit in my bags to Hong Kong because you had to go through Japan customs to get from one international terminal to a separate international terminal to change flights. I’ve never seen such small seats. My hat could touch both arm-rests at the same time. Also when we bought the ticket, we didn’t get a confirmation right away as we’d always been able to get. There was also no option of checking luggage. But the ticket was about half price. For hundreds of dollars, it might be worth it – a new low class below what we’ve always known as coach class.
I made two similar bookings via kiwi.com last Christmas, 12/24/2017. I rescheduled and cancelled the booking by submitting refund application 20 mins after purchase. The flight are 100% refundable within 24 hours according to their website. Kiwi.com did nothing but sending me an auto-reply confirmation email. After long wait I contacted them on 1/5 and one of my booking is refunded. I contact them again on 1/8 again and they said it’s under processing. Yesterday their online chat service is completely gone, leaving me no option but submitting another hopeless refund application form. Today, 7 hours after the flight, I still haven’t heard anything from kiwi.com, have no way to contact them, and I’m highly doubtful if any penny will be refunded for now. It’s really unfortunate that 1. I mistakenly chose this service, and 2. skyscanner listed kiwi.com on their search result (no idea how much commission is received).
I wrote a blog post about my experience https://medium.com/@howardliu_41017/kiwi-com-the-worst-booking-experience-ive-ever-had-7f0ff08b1f0d. Nothing can bring my money back, just to warn against future innocent.
Kiwi.com – This company has a business model of pure fraud. They sold us international flight tickets and did not tell us that our tickets did not include a seat number, a meal, any bags, or even any BEVERAGES. Thats right, NOrwegian Air, who is also partly responsible for this reprehensible service model did not even give me water. Water for a thirsty passenger that paid over $1K on an international flight. They blamed Kiwi.com – when I called to complain, No refunds, no help, no explanation. Customer service was a joke, did nothing do not use them. Not worth it, they should be out of business and the owner/founder in legal proceedings.
I told them to cancel my flight three weeks before the flight was scheduled and less than 4 hours after I booked it after I realized they charged my credit card more than what their TOTAL price was listed for. I got to the airport three weeks later and learned that the flight had not been canceled and my money has not been refunded. in addition I was charged $25 by my phone company to make the international call to request the cancellation. In my experience they do not follow through. This is too much trouble. I will never deal with them again.
I will never booked for KIWI.COM. This company is focus mainly on money generated business. Cheap ticket? They have it. Here’s the catch, you need a visa to wherever the connecting flights. and They are offering for 45 minutes layover which is very impossible for you to check in, get your check in luggage. Never again Kiwi.com. NEVER!
My wife’s father became ill (on his deathbed) while we were on vacation so my wife bought tickets through Kiwi.com for an early return home from Miami. She was a bit distressed apparently and didn’t realize that we had to go through immigrations and customs in Brussels and check back in with 90 minutes to do so which is impossible. Should the flight be on time it would be impossible let alone if there are any delays.
We cancelled the tickets immediately (well within the 24 hour grace period written in US law) and were told it would take 30 days to get a refund. After 45 days I contacted them – supposedly they forgot. They refunded 144.32$ out of 986.23$ and are telling me that I have to deal with the airlines.
There are too many good booking agencies out there to deal with rather than crooks. Ended up buying tickets through Expedia – a bit more expensive but there is a real company behind the sale.
I fully recommend that no one use Kiwi.com!
Well, May somebody tell me please where to book online tickets in safe mode?
I was thinking in Kiwi, but I read your comments.
Try Expedia. They’re big and reliable.
If ANYONE reading this post is considering using Kiwi.com – DON’T!
Don’t do it! KIWI.com is a TOTAL scam.
You will not regret anything more in life, than trying to save a couple bucks by this total joke of a business that profits from predatory.
STAY AWAY FROM KIWI.COM!!! SCAM CITY!
I purchased tickets with a connecting flight for my husband. After he landed at the first airport, he discovered the connecting flight did not exist. I called the airline and was told that the flight did not exist and that the airline had stopped serving that route. There were no other flights my husband could have taken to his destination from that airport. He ended up renting a car and driving over ten hours to get to his destination. I submitted a claim for a refund of the ticket. Although Kiwi says that we will be informed of the results of the refund application within ten days, more than ten days have gone by since the submission of my application and I have yet to hear back from Kiwi.
I just got double billed from skypicker.com which directs you to kiwi.com on their web sight. They are a fraud. What a headache trying to get my money back. Everyone, please block them from billing your credit card.
I am having a HORRIBLE time with them now.
The payment page had glitches. Ie it jumped when I filled in passport number., credit card etc.
I ended up with a 12 digit passport number in my details I had to chage. I called immediately and spoke to an gent who told me he could see it was page error.
Cut to 24 hours later, I receive no update. I call again, speak to second agent who has no clue about the first agent. Tells me I have to wait 30 days to see if change is free or not ( this can be expensive). My flight is in 24 days so I can’t wait 30 days.
She insists.
I tell her about the previous agent. She doesn’t know anything. Etc.
A total shambles and inconsistent information.
The ticket is not valid with a weird passport number on it.
I told her I wanted to cancel for this reason, and all she could do was say, “No, you should wait 30 days for the changes’.
Again, I can’t do that. ( deeply frustrating).
I cancelled immediately and bought another ticket with clean info.
Then posted a review on Trustpilot.
Magically, I got a reponsone in my email and one the trust pilot site within minutes.
The review answer was glowing about Kiwi.com’s actions. They’d fixed the changes for free and I was silly to have not followed the agents advice and wait 30 days, but everything is fine now because they’ve fixed it for free. Did I mention they fixed it for free.
But my email said different. MY email from them including the review answer PLUS a slew of personal accusations.
You did this wrong and that wrong
It was your fault
You didn’t uncheck boxes and scrolled down before deactivating boxes.
Your fault not ours.
While I get not everyones native tongue is English, I’m not aware fo rudeness in the body of a personal private email being part of any culture’s dictated. This was insulting and rather upsetting.
Furthermore the third agent ( the email lady) said absolutely NOTHING about the first agent’s talk with me, in which he said, Yep, it’s page error.
It’s as if they have selected whichever information suits them best, and deleted the rest.
I updated my review on Trustpilot saying as much.
The answer again was that they had fixed the problem for free, for free and were sorry but it wasn’t their fault. Again, no mention of their first agent, who incidentally was there within 30 minutes of the purchase and clear had more insight than the subsequent ones.
I tweeted to Oliver Dloughy who put me in contact publicly with kiwi on twitter. They responded all nice and so on. I filled them in in private message on Twitter.
The same agents came back with flat our refusal to see the whole communication I’d had. thereby ignoring their own agents words on day one.
She also is sending limited info on their screen shots although I’ve asked for whole screenshots to show there was a page glitch. ie, the page jumped while I was filling in the info.
Now I’ve tweeted again to Dloughy who said he can’t help this time. I responded politely, with please read my notes yourself. If you only read the notes form that agent you’ll see what I already have been told.
He deleted the tweet as it was public.
I will no message him on Twitter mail.
DO NOT buy from this site. Do Not Buy From This Site.
If you have a ticket going anywhere with no hitches at all, ok.
But it’f there’s a hurricane, storm, delay, cancellation or ANY kind of issue you will need to call them for, you are going to be at a financial loss. They simply DO NOT CARE
about you once they’ve got your money.
It sounds caray and can they do this?
Yes, they can. And they do. While it’s tempting to think of a $20 save on your flight, remember that many many many many nancy flights get bumped, rained off, delayed and so on.
Plus FWIW if you need to upgrade luggage, get special assistance ( wheelchair or other help), you’ll find you have to pay heavily. Something that is NOT alerted to you in any way before you buy the ticket.
I am seeking wheelchair assistance, and was only informed AFTER purchase
” This nation is not supported by this airline”.
Something that Kiwi.com should alert passengers of before they buy that airline.
For everyday airlines, every one will have a request. Meals, food, drinks, carryons etc.
DO NOT GO WITH THESE VILE PEOPLE.
8037889£ booking reference.
NEVER AGAIN..SCUMBAG ROAMING THE EARTH SO MUCH FOR GUARANTEE PROTECTON IF YOU MISS YOUR CONNECTING FLIGHT I MISS ONE AND HAD TO PAY FOR MY NEW TICKET THEY REFUSED TO REFUND ME AND THEIR ONLY REASON IS BECAUSE I DID NOT CONTACTED THEM FROM THE AIRPORT..I WILL ESCALATE THIS DISGUSTING APPALLING
I had booking for 5 passengers from new york to kabul afghanistan for 14 Jan 2019. I received a job opportunity i sent them an email stating that all my 3 children and my wife are going but as i have a new job now so please cancel my ticket. One indian accent guy told me on the phone that as u have informed us very early threfore the airline will not charge me anything only we will chrge u euros 20 for service chare he told me to go to kiwi.kommanage my booking and fill a return form and they will return my money i found the page filled it and wrote my own name only and at the end of page it said u paid $600 for one person so u will be refuned $427 i said ok give me that. after few hours i received phone call saying that they have cancelled all 5 passngers and out of $2996.67 that i had paid i have received this $427 and that is it and they cannot further assist me. They stold my $2600+
I have my account info and also their booking etc.
DO NOT BUY TICKETS FROM KIWI THEY ARE A SCAM!!! YOU WILL NEVER GET A REFUND FROM THEM, NOR CREDIT
I am still waiting for a refund from kiwi.com when DELTA airlines already told me that ticket was refunded.
I lost AU$1821 because kiwi.com requested a refund and once requested, I could no longer fly.
Not all companies in my trip (JetStar, United Airlines and Delta Airlines) were going to refund my ticket so I requested to kiwi.com to stop the cancelation of my flights. The airlines understood my situation (no ESTA visa approved) and rescheduled my flight but KIWI.COM didn’t care. They didn’t care about me, DELTA airlines and United Airlines. They just requested the refund and I lost my rescheduled ticket because the refund was already requested. They screw my flight. If they wouldn’t have interfered, I could be right now at my final destination. Please someone stop this horrible people and send them to court for negligence. Charges should be pressed against them.