Possible legal violations…AVOID
Possible PCI and consumer protection nightmare. I saved myself $800 by locking my card before they could charge it. This was one of the most deceptive and alarming travel booking experiences I have ever had. I booked what appeared to be legitimate round-trip airline tickets for two people from Kansas City to Milwaukee for roughly $630 total. Then I received a phone call informing me that the flights I had already booked were supposedly “not available” and that the minimum available option was now around $1,600. That is not a minor fare change. That is a post-purchase price escalation of nearly THREE TIMES the original itinerary. When I questioned it, the explanations constantly changed: * One agent claimed the return flight was unavailable * Another claimed the departure flight was the issue * Then I was told economy seats were gone * Then I was told they were merely “consolidators” * Then they attempted to push cancellation fees and travel credits instead of a refund Meanwhile, while literally on the phone with them, I checked Southwest directly and found equivalent flights for roughly $800 less than what this company was attempting to charge me. At that point, the entire thing felt like a classic bait-and-switch operation. What concerned me even more was the complete lack of clarity around payment processing and ticket issuance. During the call, they admitted the product I purchased was not actually available, yet they still intended to process payment and steer me toward credits and fees. As someone familiar with payment processing and PCI compliance standards, that raised massive red flags for me immediately. If you are collecting payment information through your platform, processing transactions, and acting as the intermediary between the customer and airline, you absolutely inherit responsibilities under consumer protection laws and payment card industry standards. You cannot advertise inventory that does not exist, fail to issue the purchased product, then attempt to extract substantially more money afterward while trapping customers in credits and cancellation penalties. Thankfully, I realized the charge had not fully posted yet. I immediately locked my card before they could process the transaction, booked directly elsewhere using another card, and saved myself around $800 plus what likely would have become a prolonged dispute process with my bank. I genuinely believe less experienced travelers could easily get trapped into: * Paying massively inflated “replacement” fares * Losing money to cancellation fees * Being forced into unusable credits * Or spending weeks disputing charges This company may try to hide behind technicalities like “availability changes” or “consolidator agreements,” but from a customer perspective the experience is simple: You think you purchased flights. Then you get pressured to pay dramatically more after checkout. Avoid entirely. Book directly with the airline instead.