Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Flight Centre's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Flight Centre has 15 locations, listed below.

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  Flight Centre

  700 980 Howe St Vancouver, BC V6Z 0C8

• 

  Flight Centre

  1204 2929 Barnet Hwy Coquitlam, BC V3B 5R5

• 

  Flight Centre

  C5 - 17600 Yonge St, Box 18 Newmarket, ON L3Y 4Z1

• 

  Flight Centre

  H5 - 777 Guelph Line Burlington, ON L7R 3N2

• 

  Flight Centre

  362 Richmond Rd Ottawa, ON K2A 0E8

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/03/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I booked a trip with Flight Centre for two people all inclusive to Mexico in March 2020 I paid cash on Saturday, February 29, 2020 the reference booking number was *******. Due to Covid restrictions the trip was cancelled. Shortly after the cancellation, the location of the flight centre where I booked the trip was no longer, the location was in Calgary at the chinook mall. Despite repeated attempts at a refund I have been given the runaround from Flight Centre and *******. I was issued a ******* credit which expired in December 2022 and when I contacted them to extend the credit they told me that flight Centre should refund the trip. I was given the runaround and now my ******* credit has expired and I am out $3000 with no trip. Flight Centre is not a customer oriented company. I feel that they have no integrity. All I want is a trip or my money back. I do not think that is unreasonable I paid cash I was not even refunded my booking costs.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/03/2023

  Hello *********
  
  Thank you for making us aware of the concerns you have regarding
  your booking with Flight Centre that was unfortunately cancelled due to the
  pandemic, and also the challenges you’ve had with confirming what your options
  are.  We regret to hear of your
  experience as this is certainly not the service level we strive to provide to
  all of our valued customers.
  
  We have reviewed your file and can see that at the time of
  cancellation, the ultimate supplier of your trip, ******* Vacations, provided a
  credit in the form of ******* Rewards Dollars.  These Dollars were placed into an account in your name and the expiration
  date was originally set at one year from the date of deposit of your Dollars,
  however, we do note this date was extended by ******* Vacations on more than
  one occasion.  Ultimately a final expiration
  date was set at December 31, 2022.  This
  date would have been noted by ******* in your Rewards account.  At this time your Dollars have expired as
  they were not redeemed prior to their expiration. 
  
  As the agency only, Flight Centre is unable to offer an
  extension or waive any of the terms of your Dollars, as these are set by
  ******* Vacations itself.  Flight Centre
  is bound to the same terms and conditions as our customers.  As much as we would love to be able to offer
  a further extension, we do not have the authority to offer one on behalf of *******
  Vacations.
  
  We recognize this will not be the response you were hoping for,
  however, should you wish to continue pursuit of a further extension of your Dollars,
  we encourage you to reach out directly to ******* Vacations.  They do have the ability to offer an
  extension, but anything offered would be at their discretion and subject to
  their terms and conditions.  While they
  may attempt to direct you back to us as your agency, you are their customer as
  well and they should be willing to at least discuss their refund and credit
  policies in general.
  
  Thank you again for contacting us and providing us with the
  chance to review your file and provide our response. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/03/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I did not do business with ******* I did business with Flight Centre and they are the ones who took my money and did not provide me with a service or a refund they did not even refund me the cost of their fee as promised to me, which I paid to flight centre, because the original flight centre where I booked the trip is now gone. When I spoke to Flight Centre in March 2020 I was told I could pick up a check I explained that I did not live close to the Calgary area and it could be a couple of months before I would make it there and I was told that it would be waiting for me at flight centre but there was no flight Centre in ******* *****e anymore when I tried to collect the refund. I stand by the fact that I believe flight Centre owes me $2800. If Matt B******* the original flight centre contact had been more forthcoming I could have pursued this with ******* before the credit had expired but Matt B******* let me to believe the Flight Centre was an upstanding company and I would get a refund with the proof that I had purchased a service with flight Centre. Once the proof was provided I never heard back from Matt. 
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ********* *****

  Business Response

  Date: 15/03/2023

  Hello *********
  
  Thank you for your reply.
  
  You booked with ******* Vacations, and chose to have Flight Centre act as your agency.  Flight Centre is the agency only in this transaction.  All of the terms and conditions of your travel booking were set by ******* Vacations.  Flight Centre has never been in receipt of any of your money.  Your credit card was charged by ******* Vacations at the time of original purchase and therefore they have your money.  They did not provide the product purchased, however, it was impossible to do so given the government-mandated travel restrictions put in place at that time.  ******* Vacations determined how it would handle bookings cancelled by the pandemic, and yourself along with Flight Centre, were and are bound by those same terms.  A refund was never authorized, and instead ******* Dollars were provided for the value of your trip.  You were aware of this as you provided the information to ******* in order for your ******* Dollar account to be set up.

  
  ******* Vacations provided plenty of time in which to utilize your Dollars, and it's unfortunate they were not used within the time allowed.  As much as Flight Centre would love to be able to offer an extension on these dollars, as the agency only, we do not have the authority to do so.  ******* Vacations does, at their discretion.  We encourage you to reach out directly to ******* Vacations to request a refund or extension. 

  
  Flight Centre has never stopped operating, we have been open and available to assist all of our clients during the pandemic.  While your original booking location did unfortunately close as a result of the impact on the travel industry, there have always been ways to reach us, including calling the toll-free number on our website, contacting other locations listed on our website, or contacting our customer service team.  if we had been contacted earlier, it's possible there would have been more time to look into your file, however, we note you reached out very close to the expiration of your dollars, despite knowing of this important date for some time.  We regret to hear you were not provided the information you had requested close to expiration, however, knowing the importance of the looming expiration date, we feel there could have been an effort to reach us in other ways to ensure your file received the attention you were requesting.

  Having a customer in your situation does our business no benefit and if there was more we could to do assist, we certainly would.  As a gesture of goodwill, we would be more than happy to refund the Flight Centre fees that were charged at the time of booking.  Please contact our customer service team at [email protected] for further assistance with this matter.

  Thank you,

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 15/03/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  I feel that I could have booked myself a trip with ******* without an agent yet I used an agent to assist me and I feel that you should have the ability to get my ******* credit extended as the agent I paid for a service. A service I did not receive, I say shame on flight Centre if you cannot assist me in making me whole for what I paid to your company I’m sure you can promo a trip for two similar to the one I had booked I have already spent hours on the phone with both your company as well as ******* in December of 2022 I feel  my time is worth some thing as well. I also feel that you have the ability to resolve this so please step up and do. Nobody wants to be empty handed after spending 2800 cash. Please provide a trip or refund. 
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ********* *****

  Business Response

  Date: 16/03/2023

  Hello *********

  
  We regret that their continues to be a discrepancy in our positions on this matter and on the understanding of what we are able to do as the agency only in this situation.

  As previously offered, we are more than happy to refund your Flight Centre booking fee.

  As as a final consideration, we note that you declined to include the offered travel cancellation insurance at the time of booking.  We assume this is because you already had alternate coverage.  We encourage you to reach out to your insurance provider to inquire about what options are available to you.

  Thank you again for your feedback.  Since we are unfortunately not able to offer the resolution you are requesting, we consider this case closed on our side.

  Business Response

  Date: 22/03/2023

  Hello *********

   

  Thank you for your response.

   

  Please reach out to us directly at [email protected] and we will arrange for the refund of your Flight Centre booking fees.

   

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 22/03/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I feel this is unfair business practice. I will contact Flight Centre for the return of my booking fees but I reject the fact they are not returning the cost of the whole transaction.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ********* *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:16/09/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  On Saturday, August 27, 2022, based on positive reviews on Flight Centre's ("FC") website, I booked a vacation. The same day, I realized that the reviews on the FC website are not an accurate representation of the resort (health/safety issues). I contacted FC immediately to have the resort changed. I discovered that the bookings team does not operate on weekends. As such, I immediately contacted the 24/7 FC Emergency Line. I was having difficulty connecting with an Emergency agent and I was also not able to leave a voicemail since none exists. I again contacted the bookings team and left them a voicemail indicating that I would like to change the vacation as soon as possible. I continued my attempts at contacting the Emergency Line and was able to connect with an agent. The agent advised me that my request is not considered an "emergency" and that I would have to call the bookings team on a weekday to have my vacation changed. Based on this advice provided to me, I contacted the bookings team first thing Monday morning. To my surprise, I discovered that I was misinformed by the Emergency Line agent and that he should have immediately changed my vacation instead of advising me to contact the bookings team on a business day since changes to a vacation package can only occur within 24 hours of booking without incurring a penalty. On August 31, the bookings team advised that they could not assist me so I immediately requested that my file be escalated. I also emailed the customer experience department directly. I continued to follow up with customer relations and did not receive a response until September 12 from manager, Marc M********. I have provided Marc with all supporting documents including screenshots of all of my phone calls to the Emergency team, bookings team and the supplier directly. Marc has ******* me of ***** and unilaterally closed my file. He has refused to reply to emails and directed me to mail further requests to the FC legal department directly.

  Business Response

  Date: 13/10/2022

  Hi ******

   

  Please see below for my response to the client.  It’s still not as clean as I’d like, but it’s a complicated file and there were a lot of moving parts.  Please copy into the complaint profile.  Thank you!!

   

   

  The client in the above noted complaint completed their own sun package travel booking on our website.  They did not use the services of one of our agents in one of our Locations.  Only after completing their travel booking did the client begin reading online travel website reviews of the resort they just booked.  After focusing on a handful of negative reviews, which had not been verified or corroborated as accurate, and despite hundreds of favourable reviews, the client decided they wanted to change the resort booked.  Since it was a Saturday, our web team was closed and would not reopen until the Monday.  The client did leave a voicemail with our web team however it would not be retrieved until the Monday morning.  The client advised they also called our 24/7 Emergency Assist team on both the Saturday and Sunday, and advised they were told by an agent that because their trip did not depart within 48 hours they could not assist and they would have to call the web team on Monday for further assistance.  On Monday morning the web team retrieved the client’s voicemail from the weekend and reached out to them to discuss.  They advised that since they booked on Saturday, and it was now Monday, the supplier’s 24-hour cancellation policy would not apply but they would call and do their best to get a waiver.  The supplier unfortunately declined to offer a refund.  The client was advised of this and they continued to focus on how they felt they were improperly advised by the 24/7 agent that that team couldn’t assist.  Based on this an in-depth review on our side began, including reaching out to our 24/7 team and advising the client that if we were at fault that we would cover the cost to change their booking.  Our 24/7 Team Leads in both Brisbane and Toronto were contacted and provided with the client’s phone number from which the client confirmed they called, and neither Team Lead could find any instance of a call from the client’s number on the Saturday or Sunday. They also advised their agent would not tell the client to call back but would have called Transat Holidays themselves given the 24 hours cancellation window.  The client provided screenshots of their calls to this team, and they did in fact call, but the call durations were 1 second, 2 seconds and 1 minute.  The Lead in Brisbane advised that over the weekend in question, the average hold time was 17 minutes, so it would seem very odd the client was able to get through and have a full conversation in just 1 minute.  The client was asked if they could provide any other screenshots that showed a longer call duration and they could not.  The client also could not provide the name of the agent they advise they spoke to.  In addition there were also no notes made in the client’s reservation by anyone on the 24/7 team, which is very odd considering documenting all communications with clients is a minimum standard for this team.  The client continued to push for proof that our 24/7 team had not received a call from them and upon provision of emails confirming such, the client claimed the documentation provided had been falsified.  At this time, and considering additional behaviours, it was advised to the client further assistance would not be provided.  As much as our web team and customer experience teams tried to assist the client, the reality is they chose the resort they booked and only did their research afterwards.  If they had been more confident with the resort chosen prior to booking, this situation would not have arisen.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/09/2022

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Hi, my name is ********.
  
  I come by way of this letter to seek help with a problem caused by bad advice from Flight Centre Vancouver.
  
  Please help me.
  
  Best regards.