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Budget Air

Budget Air

Budget Air
1.1

496 reviews

Positive vs Negative
4%96%
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Trip Completed ?Yes · No
Transparency ?
1.1
Customer Service
1.1
Ease of Booking
1.8
Brand Manager for Budget Air? Claim your listing.
496 reviews
1 Arjun B.  · This has benn the wrost experience ever... can't get past through the chatbot... looks fake website plz i advise everyone to mot book through them
1 More Tricks  · One word “SCAM” Don’t go with these guys They will burn you
1 Shouman  · Never book through Budget Air. Very poor customer service, and it's a money machine that can cost you much more than any other agent.
1 SK K.  · Do not book with 3rd party agencies. If anything goes wrong you are on your own and it is not worth it. Book directly with the airline.
1 Wyll T.  · Extremely poor customer service. Basically a scam. Avoid at all cost!
1 Cheeta  · Scammers took my money and canceled my flight without notifying the airline. I’ve reported it to my bank and Fair trading.
Shaun T.
Shaun T.
 

VOID AVOID AVOID!!!! Absolutely horrendous Absolutely horrendous. The airline cancelled a flight and moved the arrival date to the next day, so they gave me 6 options to choose from. When I tried to make the change with the airline, they said I have to contact my travel agent: Budgetair. Budget air does not have a phone number, so I was forced to… Read more

chat. The agent said none of the options were available - when I asked to escalate, they said no manager was available, so I would get a call back in 6 Hours. No call was received. I chatted again the next day, the agent said no options were available. So I escalated to a manager, he said I could only get a refund for half of the flight (half?) or accept the flight that they had put me on. Why did the airline give me 6 options, and these guys gave me no options at all. I asked to speak to him manager, he said he no I cannot speak to him. Kept re-iterating that their system said no options. I asked them to contact the airline, they said they are not in the business of doing that. So you're basically being punished by booking to Budgetair. They dont care about the customer at all. They are more interested in telling you no. We spent half an hour and at the end of the call he said I (the customer) wasted 30 mins of his time. They force you into a non-solution.

Siva
SivaVIC
 

Its purely a scam. I have booked my flight and since day one i had an issue and airlines flight was cancelled and airlines informed to agent and these ppl didn’t even bothered to inform nor call. When i had a flight next day i received a mail from airlines the night before i board a flight, which says boarding gates are open, i am flying from… Read more

origin to layover on 16th and my layover flight to destination flight they automatically arranged it to 15th without even asking. How on the earth someone can back fly to layover where they have a flight next day. How st^pid the budgetair can be. And they are never in a reach to customers. I went through soo much of trauma and stress bcz of this agents. Never trust this scammers. I am going to lodge a consumer complaint on these scammers and not going to leave them .

Maris
MarisTAS
 

BudgetAir has no real customer support. There is no telephone number to contact them — only a robotic live chat that is completely unhelpful and provides no real assistance. They hide behind rigid policies instead of taking responsibility or helping customers when a flight is changed by the airline. Absolutely unacceptable level of service. I will not use this company again and would strongly advise others to avoid it. Show details

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Reviews with attachments

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Naresh S.
Naresh S.VIC8 posts
  Verified

What a terrible experience in just had with this website and lost about $400. Their form doesnt support no name option and they completely ignored. Their services agent had no idea how to resolve my issue. I called the airline on their behalf and airline mentioned they can change the name error but agent needs to call. I went back to the agent… Read more

with long wait via chat and have to train the agent via chat about the issue. He raised a change request.

Messaged again the next day about my issue but no response.

Emailed the next day and no replied response.

Its Monday evening here, I waited for the chat and the agent told me airline refused my request and only option is to cancel the flight.

I didnt receive any email. If I won't contact I won't find out.

Please, please avoid this dodgy website.

Agents names were [Name Removed], [Name Removed], [Name Removed].

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ocie
ocieWA8 posts
  Verified

Never ever purchase a ticket from Budgetair. They issued the tickets, but they didn't update our contact details before they released the Etickets. It's been hell talking about the issues on live chat. Like you're talking to the wall It's a big problem... When I tried to manage my booking, OTP is sent to their email. I asked them to change to my email but my travel agent said NO Never again Business class ticket $7000 Show details

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Duke D.
Duke D.3 posts
  Verified

I bought a ticket from SYD-Korea, and I paid extra $54.6 for 100% refundable ticket, and I have received their confirmation on my email written that it's 100% refundable. I had to cancel my ticket, but they said It's not refundable, they use third party company for refunds, I contacted them as well but they said it's not refundable. Asking for respective reasons. So they turned out to be a scammers. NEVER BUY TICKETS FROM THEM ! Show details

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Brad
Brad4 posts
 

PLEASE SAVE YOURSELVES FROM THIS FRAUDULENT COMPANY. Worst people to deal with . They will cancel your flight but still take your money . They will also block your emails too . Show details

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Ravi
Ravi10 posts
  Verified

No Assistance even you have paid – I booked my return ticket for from (16 May to 14 January) and would like to change it return for 17 May. Their service representative Chunu gave me the quote of AUD 5187 to change this ( I had package for flexible dates), where as original ticket cost me AUD 1281 for both ways and even with fluctuation on Qantas website for one way same day… Read more

showing AUD 820.

Their representative have clear intention of not helping by restricting me 12 months from date of booking not from date of departure (he may be policy bound though and benefit of doubt can be given) but then $ 5187 for change if a best joke. Refuse to connect me manager via email or number also blocking customer to get solution. So many steps to avoid customer then why do business with customer? just a thought for you to think.

Latest follow-ups

MOSTAFA
MOSTAFAQLD
 

My last review was about our seats booking refund. This website cancelled our flight and regarding to their policy they should refund all money. They changed our flight to another date but still we should pay for booking new seats. When we said We… Read more

already paid before for seats in previous flight and requested for refunding after one month still waiting for refunding. In my last review a guy his name is Mark responded and said my team help you for this problem ASAP. Every time when I chat whit them they tell me wait 48 has andvladt one said 96 hrs. I waited more than a week and still I haven't received any email or refund. I want to let every body knows do not trust this website. They steal customers money very easily and they do not believe their policy as well. They are big lier. I say again do not trust them.

 Follow-up  · I am still waiting for refund my money back.

Positive reviews

Raymond K.
Raymond K.NSW
 

Wow Great Fares – I booked flight reservation with them and I got really a good price. You can call them on Toll Free+1 (833) 905-9393. They have really good prices.

Maryam
Maryam
 

Amazing service – I don’t know why everyone is saying they scammers! I’ve tried a lot of websites including booking through the airline directly, when the airline cancels flights they sometimes take forever to refund and I personally had an issue with virgin airline I booked directly with them and they cancelled my flight and never refunded they gave me limited… Read more

credit which I couldn’t do [Content Removed] with it. So please be patient with them! I recently booked through Budget air and the return flight was cancelled by the airline and they informed me they’ll refund between 5 to 10 days and it didn’t even take 24hrs they refunded me my money. So happy with the service.

Mark
MarkQLD4 posts
  Verified

Misunderstood Product – I felt compelled to write a review about Budget Air after reading all the bad reviews (after I had already book a flight with their service). What I think a lot of people don't understand is that they resell excess tickets that airlines place on numerous sites like these to get rid of. This means that the ticket you purchase on this site has also… Read more ·  1

been advertised on many other online budget sites. These sites all advertise the same ticket for whatever they think they can sell it for. The airline then compares the "offers" from these sites when they sell a ticket and accepts the best one.

In my case, I was looking for a business class ticket from Vancouver to Brisbane on a site called SkyScanner. They brought up 6 different prices ranging from $5500 to $4500 on 6 different booking sites with budget air being the cheapest. Now, had 6 people have been after the same ticket and each booked with one of the 6 different booking sites, the airline would have accepted the most expensive one to get the most money for their seat. That means 5 people would have missed out. All those people would have written bad reviews on the site they booked with. Budget air, generally being the cheapest would get the most bad reviews.

You take a risk going with the cheapest site on a popular route at a peak time of year. I was lucky in that I was in an off season, booking an expensive ticket on a not so popular route.

So when the stars all align, sites like this serve their purpose - to match excess tickets to people who want to pay less and are flexible with their dates and understand they might not get exactly what they want.

If you need to travel on a specific date and route and can't afford to wait 24hrs to see if your booking is successful then this is not the site for you. Also, if you are not 100% certain of your plans and might need to change or cancel then this is also not the site for you.

Maybe they could be a bit more transparent about what they do and people won't be disappointed.

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Negative reviews

Samantha H.
Samantha H.3 posts
 

Never book with them, useless bot service so if you get a flight changed they have no-one to contact, the bot leaves you hanging for 45mins but insists you write an sms to ensure you're still waiting every 2mins or they disconnect you. The email responses are delayed and inaccurate in that there is no address of the most simplest of requests such as to send the revised eticket. Shame on this service. Show details

Kevin
Kevin
  Fair Incentive

Very disappointing experience with BudgetAir. My flight was cancelled, and although I requested a refund within the allowed time, it has been over one month with no response and no refund. Qatar Airways confirmed BudgetAir is responsible, but they are not helping at all. I do not recommend using this company. Show details

Sam O.
Sam O.
 

I wanted to change a flight so waited online for 40mins to be able to message someone as the dont have a number to call. They wanted $1200 to change a flight and I looked online and to buy a new ticket is $800. Do not book through this company, its 100% worth paying a bit extra Show details

Recent reviews

Salsbeel Nawaz
Salsbeel NawazNSW3 posts
 

This is the biggest scam. We made a mistake with the name and they asked us to pay $1000 cancellation fees and buy new ticket their customer service is so poor spend 5 hours on wait and finally got connected with such a nasty person who kept saying, “I cant help you” what a scam!!! They are biggest scam!!! Show details

Kamal
Kamal
  Verified

I had a very frustrating experience with BudgetAir and would strongly advise others to be careful before booking through them. I booked an international ticket through their website and later discovered that my name was entered incorrectly on the booking. I immediately contacted their customer support and requested a simple name correction.… Read more

However, the process has been extremely slow and stressful. Instead of providing clear information or quick assistance, they kept saying the request was “sent to the airline” and that I had to wait without giving any proper timeline.

Customer service responses were delayed and often vague. It felt like they were avoiding responsibility and pushing everything onto the airline, even though the booking was made through their platform. For something as basic as a name correction, the lack of transparency and urgency was very disappointing.

When people are dealing with international travel, mistakes happen and customers rely on agencies for support. Unfortunately, BudgetAir did not provide the level of service I expected. The whole experience has caused unnecessary stress before my trip.

Based on my experience, I would not recommend booking through BudgetAir if you want reliable customer support or quick solutions to booking issues.

Sylvie
SylvieNSW
 

Rated 1 out of 5 stars Stealers ,fraud, scam, disgusting, dishonest, liars, horrible and terrible company. The worst you can’t deal with. Stay AWAY from those disgusting stealers. I lost my money when they cancel my flight from Dubai and can’t make the rebooking they offer me. I was gone from Dubai Every company reimburse the people when the war… Read more

in Iran begin and I can’t leave Dubai. Budget air refused to reimburse me and all my friends with différents sites as been reimburse. When I phone them they said they I received an email later that they won’t and they keep changing my flight without my knowledge and not knowing if I can make it. Ever ever again. They are a bunch of stealers. If something happened then you will loose everything. The aviation rules are if the airline cancel we should have full reimbursement. They don’t care. They don’t answer their email either. That is cr#p disgusting and stealers.

Airidas S.
Airidas S.
 

Complete scam, wouldn't recommend to anyone. charged for the tickets, but didn't manage to book tickets. Booked only half of the tickets and left me hanging in the middle of nowhere. Show details

Subagio Kusuma
Subagio KusumaQLD3 posts
  Verified

dont expect them to help you at all. i made mistake in the booking and they are not willing to offer refund despite qantas told me i am entitled to refund within 24 hours. They told me to get refund from qantas, however since i made booking through them, qantas is not able to give me refund, which is fair. Show details

Dave
Dave
 

I called Budget Air as i needed to reschedule a flight due to family reasons and they advised the fee was approx $200 higher that the origional cost of a new booking for the same flight. I asked to chat with a leader and they refused to escalate this and referred me to chat direct with the airline. I called Vietjet and asked the same thing and… Read more

they only charged about $100 for the rebooking and issued the credit.

Dont waste your time booking with Budget Air as you can book direct with the carrier that will provide you great customer service.

We travel at least once a year and will never book with Budget Air. Obviously it is not much revenue they will lose out on but was wondering how many other passangers they have done this to.

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Unhappy repeat customer
Unhappy repeat customer5 posts
 

There is a reason why a business does not have Google review. And the overwhelmingly negative review here is quite telling. BudgetAir gave me advice relating to names on flight ticket that is contradictory to the advice given by the airline itself. And they wouldn't take responsibility for the shortcomings of the prompts for info on the web… Read more

page, or the contradictory advice, or show any pro-activity in help rectifying the issue.

There is also no phone line for urgent contacts, the people on the chat in India do not have any authority / drive to do anything, and you are largely on your own.

Don't be fooled by a couple of dollars cheaper and buy any ticket through them.

LynxCN
LynxCNNSW5 posts
  Verified

Bait and Switch Scam When you buy Business Class on this website, they will change one of your legs to Economy to save cost. When you call to speak with an agent, they simply say that sorry there is no room on the flight for Business. After a whole round-about conversation about the whole situation, they tell you that you can upgrade to Business… Read more

if you paid more money...so what is it, is there no seats or do you just want to charge more?

After a long phone call going no where, i decided to just let it go. I got a call one day before my flight to notify you that your flight is cancelled. They can book you onto a later date, confirm the changes and then proceed to call you that you flight is again cancelled. The only way to resolve this is if YOU cancel the flight, get a refund and then book a new flight.

When you tell them that the flight is still showing available for the same day, the next day and 5 days later for exactly the same price as you are speaking with their agent on the phone. They will inform you that they will escalate this with their team and will call you back.

When i called them back an hour later to check for updates, I was told by the agent that an email has been sent to you about the new booking itinerary even though there is nothing. All previous emails came through without an issue, now all of a sudden the emails are not coming through.

When you are completely fed up with thei incompetence and give in to the refund so you can book you flights else where, you are then told. Sorry we can't give you a refund at the moment, because your case has been escalated to another team...

Stay well away from BudgetAir.com.au

Alberto L.
Alberto L.NSW
  Verified

Customer service was the worst I’ve ever experienced. I had an issue where the tickets were issued in two parts, for a one way trip, and I called for assistance because the airline was having trouble boarding my 63-year-old mother. It appeared as though she was staying in New Zealand, when in fact she was only transiting there for two hours. I was… Read more

pleading with the representative to at least contact the airline to help clarify the situation. Instead, he kept telling me to read the visa conditions, none of which were relevant to the issue. He even asked me to provide an email from the airline stating she couldn’t board the plane, which was unreasonable given the urgency. Wild. Travel agencies like these should not be allowed to operate here in Australia. I am lodging a complain with Fairtrading.

Nelson
Nelson4 posts
 

Very Disappointing Experience with BudgetAir and Thai Airways Booking I booked a flight from Melbourne to Kochi on 16th December with Thai Airways through BudgetAir in July. I received the booking confirmation and e-ticket without issue. However, about a month later, I received an email stating that my connecting flight from Bangkok to Kochi was… Read more

cancelled due to Thai Airways rescheduling their route. I immediately contacted BudgetAir and requested to be rebooked on another flight or to a nearby destination, but they refused and only offered a refund.

Since December fares are very high, I contacted Thai Airways directly, but they asked me to contact my agent. Eventually, BudgetAir refunded my money after deducting their booking fee, which took around five weeks to process. I had to rebook my flight at almost double the original fare.

This was a very disappointing and stressful experience, and I would not recommend booking with BudgetAir in the future.

Ivan E.
Ivan E.QLD3 posts
  Verified

I booked a ticket with BudgetAir and the airline later changed my flight by more than 8 hours—a clear involuntary schedule change. BudgetAir sent email notifications but never mentioned that if I didn’t reply after a few emails, the change would be automatically accepted and I’d lose the right to a free rebooking. When I contacted their support,… Read more

they admitted this “automatic confirmation” rule is not written in the booking terms or emails, yet they still refused to process a free change.

This practice forces customers to accept undisclosed conditions and blocks the consumer right to a free rebooking or refund when the airline makes a major change. If you value transparency and your legal rights, think carefully before booking with BudgetAir.

RRK
RRKVIC
 

I am a first-time customer with BudgetAir and my experience was terrible from start to finish. When booking tickets for myself and my wife, I entered our names exactly as they appear on our passports (with spaces in the first names). However, the booking confirmation removed the spaces, showing our names incorrectly. I raised this issue… Read more

immediately, providing screenshots and even confirmation from Thai Airways that their system accepts names with spaces and that this was a name correction, not a name change. Thai Airways also made it clear that the travel agent (BudgetAir) had to fix it.

Despite this, BudgetAir refused to take responsibility and kept insisting nothing needed to be changed. I was forced to go back and forth multiple times, and the whole process was unnecessarily stressful and frustrating.

After pushing hard, I was finally given a full refund — but only after wasting so much time and energy on something that should have been resolved easily.

For a first-time customer, this was an awful experience, and I will never book with them again. My advice: stay away from BudgetAir. There are plenty of more reliable alternatives out there.

Sulub
SulubVIC
 

Really, they are scammers. I tried to change my flight; I have the right to change it for free, and I paid $395 They said you have to pay $345 if you want to change so I tried to cancel it and get a refund They said there is no refund for your flight So please guys try as much as you can to avoid this company (Budget Air) I lost $740 for nothing just only for one hour and half trip

maz
mazWA2 posts
  Verified

Never use this company to book an airfare. You cannot get in contact with this company. They do not reply to emails and refer you to a service chat. This chat puts you in a queue saying x amount in the queue. It then jumps to 30 in the queue and then when you get down below 10 in the queue it logs you off. This happened to me at least 8 times in… Read more

a row within a 12 hour time frame. After 5 days I still have not been able to get in touch with the company. The only way I have successfully been able to change my details is by contacting the airlines directly myself. This company is impossible to make contact with and DO NOT use them. I ended up paying more than half of the original ticket price to change my flight.

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