Beware of City.Travel: A Cautionary Tale

I truly regret not reading all these reviews before buying the ticket.

But let's go in order: there will be a long post with all sorts of screenshots. If briefly – under no circumstances use the services of City.Travel and BE CAREFUL when choosing tickets on AviaSales. Better overpay and buy directly from airlines. A penny-pincher pays twice, you know.

They returned my money on the day when the return period set by city.travel expired.

On April 5 of this year, I bought tickets through the well-known aggregator AviaSales for the route Moscow – Antalya – Moscow. There: April 26, back on April 29. AviaSales search system redirected me to the website of their partner City.Travel, so I didn't even think about not trusting them (and I was wrong).

I successfully bought the tickets, they were sent to me via email, however, an hour later I received an email from City.Travel:

Canceling flights is normal, and the issue is resolved promptly either by replacing the ticket or by refunding the money, but here's where the troubles began.

In this correspondence, I wrote two messages, and I received the following response:

I found out myself that the airline canceled the flight due to the flight cancellation and asked City.Travel to exchange the ticket because I saw on the airline's website that there was a flight on the same day, but a few hours later.

This manipulation is done quickly, I know, because I myself worked with the order, purchase, and processing of numerous airline tickets.

However, City.Travel didn't hurry to resolve this trivial issue. They are a very busy company, with their office located in Dubai. This is open information, taken from their official website:

Contact Information

CITYTRAVEL DMCC Indigo Icon Tower, JLT, Dubai, U.A.E. Registration Number: DMCC178974 Tax Number: 100594701300003

For official correspondence:

CITYTRAVEL DMCC U.A.E., Dubai, P.O. Box 337522

www.city.travel

Free customer support chat:

Whatsapp, Telegram, Viber, Signal:

+971 54 54 500 54

Customer Service Call Center in Russian:

+7 495 640 60 40

+7 812 640 60 40

They have phones and a chat in various messengers for Russian-speaking customers.

I decided to write to them on WhatsApp, and I received a familiar answer right away:

I'll explain why I was so worried from my side: on that day, the return ticket, as I already said, was still a bit later, and the number of seats on this flight was rapidly decreasing due to the cancellation of the current flight. And I was used to the fact that all companies I contacted about this issue resolved it very quickly.

I tried to appeal to their conscience by trying to call them on the hotline on the same day. I waited on the line for 30 minutes, and a girl answered and said, 'What do you think?'

Your request has already been received and will be processed in order of priority. Wait for a response in your personal account and by email. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that due to a significant increase in the number of requests, the processing time has increased. Thank you.

Then, when I tried to clarify the processing time of my question, she irritably repeated her answer, adding: 'Do you have any other questions?'

I didn't have any other questions, except for one: will they return my money for the cancelled ticket at all?

I tried to write to them on WhatsApp again a couple of days later:

Then I tried to resolve the issue myself by writing to the carrier, and I received a logical answer:

'We can't do anything, as the ticket was purchased through a mediator, so you should contact them.'

It's an interesting moment: the airline returned the money for the cancelled ticket on the same day, and it settled on the City.Travel account, because it didn't return to my card.

There was nothing left for me to do but write a tearful letter to AviaSales, as the mediator who consciously chose such a partner:

Then they asked me to wait another week, and then another week:

Frankly, I wrote to city.travel on July 15, counting 60 working days from the day they promised to return the money. From them, I received an ignore, and, well, Aviasales – they're good, they taught me, such a fool, to calculate 60 working days! It turns out that the Dubai office is also subject to Russian holidays, so the return period, according to Aviasales, is July 25! Okay.

Well, and today, it seems, it's not July 25, but the money is still not there, I was recommended to contact the bank and find out if the return was somewhere there.

I'm obedient, I did everything as Aviasales told me:

And here's the result: the money was not returned after the promised 60 days, the user agreement, which city.travel refers to, is apparently not taken seriously by city.travel itself.

UPD today, July 26: After this message from Aviasales, my complaint to Rospotrebnadzor, and a visit to the bank from which the payment was made, city.travel sent me a message with the following content:

I don't know what worked from the above, but the money was returned to my card today.

The questions remain, but the conclusions have been made.

City.Travel's services can lead to significant issues, including delayed refunds, unhelpful customer support, and a lack of transparency. It's recommended to avoid using their services and instead opt for direct bookings from airlines. This review shares a personal experience with City.Travel and highlights the importance of being cautious when choosing ticketing services.

What is City.Travel, and why should I be cautious?City.Travel is a ticketing service that can redirect users to untrustworthy partners, leading to issues with refunds and flight changes.

What are the risks of using City.Travel's services?The risks include delayed refunds, unhelpful customer support, and a lack of transparency.

Can I get a refund from City.Travel if I need to cancel my flight?Refunds from City.Travel can take longer than expected, often exceeding 60 days.

Is it better to book flights directly from airlines or use a ticketing service like City.Travel?Direct bookings from airlines can be more expensive, but they often come with better customer support and fewer issues.

What should I do if I encounter issues with City.Travel's services?If you encounter issues, try to contact City.Travel's customer support, but be prepared for unhelpful responses.

Can I trust AviaSales' search system to find reliable ticketing services?AviaSales' search system can redirect users to untrustworthy partners, so it's essential to be cautious when using their services.