This morning, I woke to over $900 missing from my bank account. And in my panic, I start scrolling through the activity on my app only to see a very infuriating reversal on a dispute I submitted months ago for a flight I never got on. The dispute was for Kiwi.com, a booking company that I attempted to use when I was traveling back home from China during COVID-19.
About Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com is a travel booking site that promises you can organize your travel plans the way you want to while avoiding the many hurdles you might need to overcome when booking your travel. It was founded by two men and has since expanded to 600 IT developers. The site reportedly averages 100 million searches per day. The site hasn’t yet surpassed a decade of existence.
You can read more about how they work as a company and their response to COVID-19, by going here.
My Refund Update – Status as of 12/17/2020
I received 2/3 of my refund on 12/17/2020, after trying all of the methods below. Keep in mind, everyone’s method of getting their refund back varies. I managed to get mine after filing a formal complaint with the Department of Transportation. But that may not work for everyone. Be sure to try all avenues and hit all your bases when trying to get your refund back.
Be sure to try all methods below.
My Incredibly Kiwi.com Refund Experience
Now I admit, I didn’t research this company before purchasing my ticket. I was desperate to get home and had already faced two other canceled flights. When I booked with Kiwi.com they promised the flights would be guaranteed and if not, they offer a guarantee to support you should you get delayed or cancel, see the bogus guaranteed here. Less than two days after I booked my flight from China to the US, the flight was canceled due to issues with a connecting flight.
I was then met with their sorry excuse for a refund policy.
I applied for a Kiwi.com refund using one of their many refund options and waited. One month went by… then two, then three, then four, and then five. Now I’m here because Kiwi.com has deemed my ticket “non-refundable” displaying that I had “traveled” on this trip.
I started my journey home on May 16, 2020, not April 2020. I have screenshots, tickets, blog posts, and photos to prove it.
For the next few months, I furiously contacted Kiwi.com to address a few things:
- Where is my refund?
- Why is my booking saying that I traveled?
- Why wasn’t my booking fully canceled when it was canceled by the other carriers?
When I finally got a hold of someone at Kiwi.com about why it appears I traveled even though the flights were canceled, they told me, “The airlines know you didn’t travel because you didn’t check-in. Don’t worry.” I took their word for it, even though they were far surpassing their promised refund date.
Then this morning, I decided to check out my Kiwi account to view my booking. When I discovered the ticket had been deemed non-refundable, the pop-up insisted it had sent me details regarding my non-refundable purchase, yet I haven’t received any notification about this nor the reason why it wasn’t refunded.
The Kiwi.com Refund Policy
While many might just look at this site like booking.com or Priceline, this site has a sketchy refund policy that causes more stress than it alleviates. They will provide you a refund based on your circumstance and in some cases, they will make you pay them to get a certain kind of refund.
It has been over 5 months since I have seen my refund as a result of COVID-19. Originally, when I had requested a refund, they promised it would take up to 3 months to see anything.
Kiwi.com offers three types of refunds to their customers in the event that their flight is canceled. In some cases, you actually have to pay them money to get a refund. Like, what? In most cases, you are highly unlikely to receive a full refund and are more likely to receive a partial refund.
THOUSANDS of Dissatisfied Customers
Thousands of people have attempted phone calls, emails, and literally, any sort of human correspondence with reps regarding their Kiwi.com refund and have been ignored.
So they took to Twitter and Facebook to comment on whatever blogs Kiwi.com is posting (attempts to look good I guess) to voice their disgust for the less than mediocre customer service and the refund policy.
If you mosey on over to Kiwi.com’s Facebook Page, (which very shockingly has over 490k followers, which I don’t understand), you’ll be able to feast your eyes on the comments spitting with dissatisfaction and anger over the Kiwi.com refund process.
I’d like to mention, that a lot of Kiwi.com’s responses defer blame to the airlines and their refund policies. A convenient way to avoid any accountability around this mess they’ve created by leaving booking options open during the COVID-19 crisis.
Here are some comments along with Kiwi.com’s social media managers less than stellar and quite aggravating responses:
These responses and their attempts at reputation management is just a myriad of weak and empty apologies that really don’t provide a solution. I truly wonder what they are even doing over there to actually please the hundreds of customers they’ve upset.
What You Can Do From Here as a Kiwi.com Customer
If you’ve been affected by the asinine experience regarding your Kiwi.com refund, don’t stop voicing your upset. Times are hard, but we CANNOT let corporate companies like this get away with taking funds that we rightfully deserve back.
1. Contact The Airlines in Your Booking
If you haven’t done this already, or you’ve attempted to contact anyone at Kiwi.com to get help, call the airlines directly to address the booking you made. If they have not refunded you or have already deemed your booking non-refundable, ask them why.
2. Call Your Bank Directly to Dispute the Charge
Contact your bank and talk to a person. Don’t try and dispute your charge via your banking app or online. Talk to a human person and tell them that thousands of people still haven’t received their refunds from Kiwi.com. Ask your bank to PLEASE visit the Kiwi.com Facebook page when investigating the dispute so they have tangible proof that thousands have not been paid by this company.
Additionally, it’s harder to dispute a charge or reverse a dispute if when they are dealing with the actual human and not just an account.
3. Submit an Official Complaint with the Department of Transportation
This was the method that ended up working for me. A few weeks after I filed the complaint, I got an email from the Kiwi.com rep saying my refund was on the way and they were still working on the last portion of obtaining my refund. She detailed that the Department of Transportation reached out to them with the dispute
If you are feeling like things just aren’t moving, trying filing a complaint and see how things move along from there.
See links below to DOT sites where you can file a complaint.
- US Department of Transportation
- EU Department of Transportation
- Canadian Department of Transportation
- UK Department of Transportation
- Still trying to find other links to DOTs around the world… bear with me.
4. NEVER Book With Kiwi.com Again and Tell Your Friends To Do the Same
One way to bring a company to its knees so they can change is to stop support their business. Do not endorse them. Shout to the rooftops that this company cannot be trusted, at least right now. They have handled this COVID-19 crisis poorly and too many have been taken advantage of. They need to change how they conduct their business and they won’t be able to do it if we stay silent.
Denounce them as a travel booking site.
5. Leave A Review About Your Experience
Sitejabber is a place where you can leave a review about your experience with Kiwi.com. I encourage you to visit the site to leave a review about your experience so people considering them are forewarned.
6. Sign This Petition
Over 10,000 people have signed this petition already! Be part of the change and visit this website to sign the petition!
7. Join the Facebook Group and #KiwiScam
Thousands are already working together to fight Kiwi.com’s thievery. Join the group to see how you can help support each other in getting your money back!
Also, be sure to follow #kiwiscam on Facebook and Twitter.
8. File a Complaint with FTC
Escalate this to every place you can imagine! You can go to the Federal Trade Commission’s website and file a formal complaint about Kiwi.com’s scamming. Just visit the website here to file your complaint.
How Many People Haven’t Received a Refund? Take the Poll!
If you have not received your refund, please take the poll below. This will show how many people haven’t received their refund from Kiwi.com as a result of the COVID-19 Crisis.
P.S. I’m SO Sorry You’re Going Through This
My dearest traveler, I am just as frustrated as you, but we will get through this unbelievable trickery if we work together. Just hang in there, keep fighting, and don’t give in until you get what you deserve.
Please leave a comment if you feel there is any more support we can offer each other during this fiasco!
94 Comments
Hi Kelly!
Thank you so much for this article. I’m preparing myself for the future battle with kiwi.com. In December 2022 I’ve purchased on kiwi.com multi-city connection flight from Istanbul to Bangkok with connections in Kuwait un Mumbai. Istanbul-Kuwait-Mumbai flight was operated by one company, Mumbai – Bangkok by another. First company denied me boarding because of “untrusted reputation” of the second company. I called kiwi.com call center explained situation, spent freaking amount time and money on that calls. Kiwi insisted me to check in (like I can do it by myself ignoring company’s check in desk, yeah right) and fly like everything is ok. I got denied over and over again by check in manager whilst speaking with kiwi call center. 5 minutes before check in time ended I was forced to buy third company ticket almost for my last money I has at that time.
Now I wrote kiwi.com claim for refund. I’m more than ready that kiwi will refuse. So I need to figure out in advance what to do next. What should be next institution to go to, or just a next step? EU transport commision to claim on kiwi.com itself? Me myself is EU citizen, airline which refused boarding is Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways (so i can’t proceed with compensation helpers, like airhelp.com for example). I appreciate very much if you can share some peace of advice.
Hello, My name is Satyam Chavan
I booked a flight ticket from Kyiv to Mumbai on 26 Feb 2022 (Booking Number: 0 2 0 0 3 3 8 7 9 8) on Kiwi.com.
My Flight was canceled by the airline and I was supposed to get a refund but it’s been more than 9 months now still I haven’t got my refund. I have raised a ticket multiple times but every time they say the same thing like we are waiting for the airline to issue the refund.
I tried calling them on their helpline number ( (202) 844-4159 ) but this call was not taking any refund requests.
Thank you so much for this helpful post!
Because of your information, I tried out the method of filling out the complaint form that I found on the European department of transport website, and sending it to the airline – and it worked!!! 🙂
I’m so stoked, and am so thankful for you taking your time to share your wisdom and experiences in this matter with us.
I hope I can spread the word so that more people learn of this option that seemingly has worked for the both of us (even though it’s still not the full amount, and the overall issue isn’t solved).
I hope that kiwi.com will go down!
Much love,
Mishale
I booked the flight tickets to India from SFO to Hyd (via Kiwi.com) via Italy and the connecting flights got cancelled to Hyd and the Kiwi did not issue refund for the same even awaiting for 5 or 6 months.
I bought some tickets with kiwi this year, but they send us the wrong time so we lost our flight, we call them and one of their agents told us that buy a new ticket from our pocket and they will refund us that money, a tickets that originally cost $200 we had to pay $1,200 I send them all the proof for a refund, but they are going to refund me just $500 dollars. I’m curious if someone happen for the same situation and if they got a refund?
I booked the tickets via Kiwi. After a while the flight was cancelled. The company had not returned my money during 6 month. I wrote them several times but everything was absolutely useless. After that I applied to the credit company and informed them that my money was stolen. They made some investigation and after about 8 months ALL my money were returned.
My kiwi.com booking was canceled by the carrier Iberia within 24 hours of purchasing airfare via kiwi.com on May 16, 2022. I requested an assisted refund from kiwi.com immediately after being notified of the cancellation. The total amount for this tickets was $4,230.21, all tickets with Iberia airlines.
I paid extra for Premium Services, including call support priority. I have called kiwi.com several times over the past 3+ months to request information on the status of the refund. The only information I have received is that agents are working on it, and that I would receive a full or partial refund within 90 days of the refund request. As of today it has been 104 days since that request. Despite having paid for premium services, they will no longer let me call not he phone because the “journey” (that I never went on!) has ended.
I have sent dozens of messages to the kiwi help desk. Each reply is invasive and non-informative. They say things like “We already applied for a refund but unfortunately, we are still waiting for Airlines to process your request,” and claim to commit to “refund you as quickly as we are able,” and generally tell me to hurry up and wait some more. One message I received says the following: “we have not yet received any refund from the airline that is the reason we are asking you to wait unless and until we have the refund from the airline the same will be passed on to you in chronological order.”
Meanwhile, Kiwi has refused to provide any basic documentation or verification that they are engaged in refund claims process, claiming (without any citations or actualy policy information) that “we do not share any internal conversation between us and the airline.”
Well…it turns out that kiwi has been lying to me the entire time. Iberia customer service has confirmed that REFUNDS HAVE ALREADY BEEN MADE FROM IBERIA TO KIWI FOR ALL OF THE TICKETS I PURCHASED. The refund was made in full to kiwi.com because the flights were canceled by Iberia within 24 hours of the booking, and a full monetary refund was made in compliance with Iberia policy.
Contrary to kiwi’s specious claims, there has been no delay on the part of the carrier. The only delay in this refund process comes from kiwi.com.
Iberia provided me with refund confirmation numbers for each ticket, and explained that multiple refunds were made for the transactions, including credit card and cash refunds. I have sent all these numbers info to the kiwi.com help desk. Their response is “we have forwarded your concern to our finance team let them check and get back on your registered email id.” I’ve yet to be contacted or receive further information.
The airline for my booking has already made refunds to kiwi.com, and is in the process of further providing supporting information to me. It is clear that Kiwi.com has been fraudulently withholding the total refund from me for months.
I plan to pursue many of the other options/avenues in this post. Thanks very much for sharing all this information. Kiwi.com is an absolutely terrible, fraudulent company.
I recommend filing your claim with Better Business Bureau. Looks like the customers have a high winning rate. I just submitted my claim. Will see how it goes.
https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/miami/profile/travel-agency/kiwicom-inc-0633-90562676/complaints
Yea had part of the flight cancelled by the airline meaning I couldn’t take the other flights, so requested a refunded. Months and months later I was partially refunded which made no sense. When investigating I found out the kiwi.com did not even cancel the remaining flight giving me a no show for the first flight but actually getting refunded for the other which they then kept!! It was refunded to a Mastercard which I don’t even have one. So what is happening is they are purposely not telling airlines you won’t be on the flight, and keeping any refund that is given. I tried to join the Facebook group but it’s gone now? I want to get people together to sue Kiwi.com. They are straight stealing.
I’m thinking of a class action law suit since that’s most appropriate for the kiwi.com’s No refund scam. A class action law suit is easier and will give justice to all the folks that were defrauded by kiwi.com. All the folks that were defrauded can add their name as defendants in the lawsuit. They have just perfected the way of stealing money from people across the world. They are skillful in making us check the box with lengthy legal terms and conditions and say that we accepted it.
My wife and I booked a return flight from Thailand to Indonesia with Kiwi.com in 2019, but my flight -scheduled for March 13 2020(!!)- was cancelled due to covid. After filing a refund case, I patiently waited a year and half before attempting to contact kiwi myself (emphasis on attempt). After finally getting through, Kiwi proclaimed that the airline had not been cooperating and in the interest of time, they offered me a refund. Success! …not yet. Despite claiming to pay “out of their own pocket,” I was never informed that the refund would be in the form of a credit (w/ expiration date). Given that it was equal value to what I had originally paid, however, I accepted.
Last month (May 2022), I went to use the valid credit toward a new flight, but the Kiwi.com website could not process the payment (although, they admitted that it was a technical problem on their end). After filing several more complaints with multiple Kiwi reps (amounting to countless hours on the phone), I was offered that they would zero out my credit and provide a monetary refund instead, which I accepted. Finally! …or so I thought. Again, their solution was entirely disingenuous. When I received the confirmation of payment, the amount was some arbitrary number, not half of the credit value (what I had originally paid). Kiwi claimed that it was all that the airline refunded them (really?!), but provided no evidence or documentation for the invoice – which I demanded to see. In an email, Kiwi “explained” the situation and refused to return the full amount, despite threats to take legal action.
This is about the time I stumbled across your blog, while searching for ways on how I was going to sue. I decided to file a complaint with US DOT (While I am an American citizen, I live in Europe: neither the flight nor the original payment involved the US)
About 10 days later, I received confirmation from DOT that they were investigating the issue, but (as I assumed) because the the flight was between 2 non-US points, they were unsure of their jurisdiction. In any case, the issue would be filed with all the others against kiwi.com. Literally a day later, however, I received an email from Kiwi customer relations (which conspicuously included my DOT case reference code) stating that they would be looking into my case. That was five days ago and I just got confirmation today that they will be refunded the rest of the outstanding balance. Check. mate.
15 minutes of reading your blog did what I couldn’t do in over 2 years! I don’t typically comment in blogs, but couldn’t not add to this post.
Thank you!
Hi,
I too recieved the refund from Kiwi via US DOT in 5days ,though am not a citizen, but yes have relatives in spite of not contacting them. 🙂
But yes I would suggest ,insist and call and get the refund from the airlines first, only if airline refunds it’s mandatory for Kiwi to refund.
A part of the travel ( as there were Bisa issues in boarding) was fully refunded.
* sorry it was Visa issues.
Thank you for your advise, I will try this one too. Also I am looking at hiring a lawyer.
I both tickets for my relatives so we can meet in Tenerife, long story short their flights were canceled twice and I ended purchasing tickets from somewhere else. I paid over $1000 and they refunded me $177. Plus I paid $1600 for new tickets for my relatives since everything else was booked too and we flu from Chicago.
Now Kiwi can’t even provide me with information from this companies that they are stating canceled by them flights were non-refundable. DOT is my next option.
Thanks!
Nikol
My name is Mariana. I’m from Brazil. I bought two tickets through kiwi.com in Feb/2020. I’ve been trying to get my refund ever since.
I was already giving up when I found your site. I sent a message to DOT as you suggested. In seven days, I received 50% of the amount! I would like to thank you for everything. I wouldn’t have made it without you. Now, I’m still trying to get back at least 80% of what I paid, as the flights were cancelled.
Thank you.
Hi Mariana! You’re so so welcome! I’m glad you found some bit of success!
OI MARIANA. TUDO BEM? EU TAMBÉM SOU DO BRASIL E ESTOU COM ESTE PROBLEMA. PODERIA ME INFORMAR O SITE QUE VOCE FEZ A RECLAMAÇÃO? OBRIGADO!
For Residents of Europe : Please contact the ”European Consumer Centre” . I did the same and got my full refund today from kiwi.com.
Hi! I am planning to do the same. What kind of evidencies have you provided? Just to prepare in advance. Thanks!
Thank you very much for for sharing your experience and providing all the information,very helpful! I am on the process to fight for my rights. Seeing your sharing gave me much courage.
All the best
You’re welcome! I wish you so much success in resolving this. Hang in there!
I too haven’t seen my refund in over a year, despite Kiwi confirming they have my money.
I followed every bit of advice on here, especially disputing the charge with my credit card company, who was hugely helpful, and filed complaints with USDOT and FTC.
THANK YOU so much for this information! Hugely helpful, I appreciate it so much!
You’re so so welcome! Be sure to update us and let everyone know how everything went! I’m so sorry this happened to you! 🙁
I bought three tickets for about $4,000 at Kiwi.com. After I bought them, I realize the return date I requested was changed to a day later and that I would need a visa while I’m on layover in a certain country. I called Kiwi.com to cancel my tickets and for me to get my refund. They said because of the tickets I bought, I was only eligible for $10 in Kiwi Cash if I cancel 🤡. They said they already talked with all of the carriers and that my tickets were already booked. I reached out to all the carriers and they are more than willing to give me a refund since I am not using the tickets. I realized that Kiwi uses their own card to purchase the tickets and keep the money for themselves. They also did not outline their 24 hour cancellation policy only when I ordered the tickets which the DOT deems as deceitful. I am so frustrated because I am a graduate student and $4,000 is a lot as I do not work. I reached out to DOT and I am disputing this with my bank but I am so disheartened. Because I canceled my flight and not Kiwi.com, I am at a disadvantage. I just hope I get my money back honestly.
Update: I got almost $3,000 back! I called each of the airlines and filed complaints on the websites listed on this blog! I also messaged the DOT and Business Bureau. Thank you all so much God bless!
I booked trips in May 2020 for June and July 2020. Flights canceled, had to rebook several times. No refunds. On September 19 of this year, I complained to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). On 05Oct I received a reply from the BBB and from Kiwi.com. I received a partial refund from Kiwi, however, I am still owed $3952.95! I am concerned that Kiwi will still delay the rest of my refund. Two of my canceled itineraries don’t have a breakdown of the funds, but only read “service fee, schedule change- alternative selected”. For one of my charges to my bank, there was no itinerary at all, only an e-mail listing possible trip alternatives that were not the same as what I spoke with a representative over the phone (was charged for this as well ($1766.07)). I urge others reading this post to contact the agencies above. Thank you to Travel Branyik for the info on contacting the BBB, FTC and DOT. This is what I did and because of the BBB sending Kiwi a letter, I got that partial refund…
Oh my gosh. What an absolute nightmare. 🙁 My sincerest apologies for what you’ve had to endure with this. I’m glad some of these tips were able to help you. Please be sure to share any updates you have!
i issued ticket on line by KIWI.com , for a Philippine lady who paid all her money to leave Saudi Arabia but she could not travel due to the new regulations of Malaysian gov. no transit allowed . KIWI refused to make any refund , they stole all money
the lady got depressed , stuck now in Saudi Arabia crying day and night for this huge loss from criminals , without heart , broke her , rubbed her , i would complain about them everywhere, who can assist me to make complaint
There are a lot of tips in this blog that can help you. Let me know if any of them work!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/254374211743198/?multi_permalinks=917536115427001¬if_id=1633695816648848¬if_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif
This Facebook groups has thousands of people in the same situation.
I booked a ticket on kiwi.com for travel from Aswan, egypt to SFO on 20th apr, 2020. And due to covid these flights got cancelled. I immediately contact kiwi.com and even paid extra for premium refund. And from then on till now, i
havent received a refund and any messages sent to them, either gets unreplied and website shows, waiting for airlines to refund.
So i contacted using DOT and they replied immediately and said would refund 40% of the total amount, to my astonishment. And in addition, they keep telling me i need to provide a different bank details as the CC which i used will not work (no idea why? i still use the same card). Every time i reply, it takes freaking 30 days for them to reply back with same standard reply. they wont provide a phone number to call, absolute worst customer care ever. On top they said its tech company (just plain bullshit company..)
what are my options now? Should i go to court?
Thank you for your precious information!
You’re welcome!
can someone share kiwi.com customer service no, waiting for refund for past 1.5 years
It’s virtually impossible to get a hold of them. I suggest getting in touch with DOT for that reason. Good luck!
After a year and a half of waiting for my refund today, I was given a credit. I never want to use Kiwi.com ever again nor have the extra cash to pay for other travel expenses.
I’m so sorry to hear this Erica. Are you able to fight them on it? Get the DOT involved?
After three months, I was just offered by Kiwi a refund of $700 on a $1600 ticket I couldn’t use due to Covid. I’m beyond sad, as now we won’t have the money to rebook our trip. I hope there is a class action lawsuit against this company. I can’t imagine their actions are wholly legal.
I heard from someone in the Kiwi Scam group that if a class action lawsuit was taken out against them, they could go bankrupt, and then no one would get their money. The best way to make sure they don’t get service again is to leave negative reviews, contact the DOT, and encourage all of your friends and family to never use it again.
I am trying to get refunded my money due to covid 19 145580754 whats going on ?
Seriously, THANK YOU! I have been sitting with my own “priority refund” never changing from “waiting for the carrier” for 10 months now. I’ve tried multiple times to politely communicate with Kiwi to figure out what the deal is, and have been met with zero help and zero updates. This was for round trip flights from Alaska to Vermont back in May of 2020 that go cancelled. Fingers crossed a complaint filed with DOT will do the trick. THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
This company scaming 145580754 not get my money back yet
Hey there,
You are SO welcome! I’m so sorry you have had to experience this and I hope you never have to use them again. Definitely update us all on how things go with DOT! And good luck!
Kelly
Thank you so much!!! After 10 months I finally got my refund back! I knew the air carrier had already refunded kiwi and I was trying to explain this to the people working at the help desk. Unfortunately they don’t have any access to the data regarding refunds (I don’t even know if they have any contact with the company at all, or if they can only solve problems concerning the use of the website) and it was extremely frustrating to talk with them. I followed your advise to file a formal complaint with the DOT, this way my claim bypassed the help desk people and reached someone that actually works at kiwi and I got my refund back. So, even if for 10 months I thought I was being scammed, I think the truth is that kiwi has a terrible system of communication and you need to find a way to contact them outside of they helpdesk feature. The complaint with the DOT worked for me, do THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your help!
Heyyyyy!!
This is great news and congratulations! I’m so glad I was able to help out with this advice and even more glad you beat them at their lame games!
Good insight as well on how to get past their help desk! And thanks for coming back to post so people know there is actual hope.
<3 Kelly
Update. I too got an e-mail today (after 10 months and filing a claim with the DOT) that they are committed to getting my refund and this is an issue with getting a refund from the airline. I’d like to believe it, but when they make themselves uncontactable, or provide any info to their customers it’s hard to beleive I’m not being scammed.
Has anybody been in my situation before? I opted to get kiwi.com credits. I’m an American expat living in Thailand and due to Thailand’s no entry pandemic regulations, I am unable to leave the country if I want to come back. So I’m stuck here. And this is where my job and home is. I explain this a few minutes ago to a kiwi.com customer service representative. I told her that I want to have my balance refund it to my bank account and that I did not want to have credit with kiwi anymore due to the strict travel restrictions that forbid me from re-entering this country I live in. She said there’s nothing she can do about it. It’s the policy. Credits cannot be transferred or reimbursed in the form of money.
Hey Ken,
I would call their bullshit. Definitely contact Department of Transportation and tell them everything that is going on. If your ticket refund was not issued as a result of COVID, make the DOT aware. The more they know about the more aware the issue becomes.
Another tactic I suggest is sort of bombing the CEO on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and what not. Have you tried any of the methods in this post yet? If so, have you made progress with any of them yet?
Keep us updated. What you’re going through can help others.
Hang in there! Keep fighting them.
Kelly
Thank you so much for writing this. I booked flights on Kiwi.com in January 2020 for April 2020. Due to the pandemic, airlines ceasing operations (FlyBe), flight cancellations and international travel bans, my trip was cancelled. It has been well over a year and I still have not received a refund. Finally today, they updated me that they are still waiting for the airlines to process refunds which I know is a blatant lie because my two colleagues who booked directly with FlyBe and British Airways (the same exact flights I booked on Kiwi.com) received their refunds after the flights were cancelled in March 2020. Kiwi.com also told me in their update that a 20 EUR chargeback fee will be deducted from the total refund amount they will receive from the airlines. After holding my money hostage for over a year, they want to charge me 20 EU?! NO!!! Absolutely not. I am enraged. I reported them to BBB and on econsumer.gov. I will also report them to the DOT, thank you for that suggestion. It feels incredibly validating that so many others are going through the same frustration with this bogus service but this is outrageous. How is this service still operating? Unbelievable.
Hey CR,
I am SO sorry but hope some of the methods in here actually help you. Leave negative reviews everywhere. Talk to news stations, bomb the CEO on all his social media accounts. Infiltrate their comments on Facebook and let them know you’re upset. It’s hard to erase people’s anger on this, and it will be hard for them to recover.
Bother them constantly until you reach a resolution and don’t let up. Ask them regularly for updates. I know it is incredibly tiring. Definitely keep me updated on how things go. Definitely don’t pay them a single extra dollar.
Hang in there and keep pushing them. Keep applying the pressure. What they’re doing is unfair.
Kelly
Thank you for putting these together! I live in the UK at the moment, and used my mother’s card to book ticket for my mother to travel from China to Japan last July, and few days after, received email telling me connecting flight was affected, and requested refund, now I want to know if I want to file DOT complaint, which country should I address it too? Thank you so much for any help!
Hey There!
Contact the DOT in the UK and see if they respond. I’m still looking for DOTs all over the globe to see if I can add them as resources. I’m not sure if China has one. Have you guys reached out to the airlines directly and asked if they have refunded Kiwi?
Give that a try to. Don’t stop pressuring them!
Kelly
I found something odd about a booking I’m still trying to get a refund for since August 2020. I have filed a DOT complaint now thanks to this site. What I found odd in my booking is Kiwi.com gave me an image of a credit card from a major bank with my name on it, all properly dated and numbered, but the card is a complete fake. I was supposed to show it to an airlines if they asked for proof of purchase. I can’t quite bring myself to believe this sort of thing is legal. Has this happened to anyone else?
Hey Michael,
You’re the first person I’ve heard who has dealt with this issue. Has anything changed since you posted this comment? Have you addressed this with their reps?
Let me know what progress you have. Anything you’re experiencing could help others!
Kelly
Yes, I noticed the same on mine. So weird! What is that?
Hi,
I am a recent victim of Kiwi.com. I booked my ticket 3 weeks ago from India to Europe and i one of my connection is now cancelled. After researching about Kiwi i understood i have made a terrible mistake.
Ive applied for assisted refund but i am so worried if I am gonna get it back or not after reviewing all of your complaints. Should i wait for three month to see if there’s any update from the Kiwi or could i directly file a complaint immediately with the Transportation department. If yes, then should i file it with the Indian office or Europe.
Thanking you in advance.
Try cancelling through your credit card now. When I contacted my credit card company they said I was out of the window because I waited the 3 months.
The problem with cancelling or asking for a chargeback from your bank is they issue a credit, and then they argue with Kiwi. If Kiwi wins the argument, they take the credit back. Some find it successful, but I did that, and they ended up winning the argument and taking my credit back. So, it is an option, but people need to be aware that the chargeback may not always be successful. If you are outside the normal times to request your refund through your bank, I suggest exploring the other options I’ve listed above!
I contacted my bank at the last minute allowed for a credit-card refund. I received a sum equal to the full cost of my ticket purchase at Kiwi. I held the money in my savings account since the bank said they could take some or all of the money back depending on what they could make Kiwi pay. In the end, my bank gave me the whole sum; they won’t necessarily tell you what Kiwi paid them. Kiwi will string you along until it’s too late to get your bank to act for you to get a refund, so as NATIOANAL FOOD says, above, go to your bank as soon as you are told your only option is to request a refund.
I just recieve mail yesterday that my conection flight was canceled from Nepal to Romania. And Kiwi has offered me 48 euro as kiwi refund for my 241 euro ticket…or asisted refund in 3 months but with the possibility of 0 refund. Or for 17 euro asisted refund with quick processing of 3 weeks. Basicaly I gave them money, they gave me nothing, and I cant get my money back. That is illegal under any kind of law, simple theft. I wonder if anybody succeded in sueing them? As far as I know we have better chance if there is a larger number of people.
I managed to get one Kiwi ticket refunded through my bank because that purchase was still within the 72 day window of my bank. The first ticket I bought I did not go to my bank quickly enough because Kiwi kept stinging me along telling me the matter was almost settled.
My best advice is to contacting the DOT in India, and hound them like hell about your refund. The problem is they keep selling their tickets only for them to be cancelled. So fight like hell to get your whole refund. Do not let them rest and put pressure on them. This has been a problem for the better part of the year and they are still facing booking issues and impromptu cancellations. It’s rather ridiculous.
Hang in there! I know it’s beyond frustrating, but keep pushing.
Thx so much are this article, I had all my travel cancelled by airlines due to COVID. I contacted airlines directly and money was refunded to Kiwi, Kiwi gave me the run around for 9 months, even though I provided proof they had been reimbursed.
I have no doubt they never intended to refund the money. I filed a DOT complaint and that got results. After the official DOT request for info they finally retuned my money, what a surprise. So my advice is to not waste time going back and forth with Kiwi and file the DOT complaint.
Your first reaction upon having a “ticket broker” like Kiwi cancel your flight should be to have the charge to Kiwi be stopped on your credit card at you bank. Always make the purchase with a credit card. Don’t wait even five whole minutes. Purchase directly from the airline if possible. Of course, a ticket broker must be used if your travel itinerary involves connecting flights using different airlines. Sometimes what looks like a kiwi is a lemon.
Unfortunately, I did reverse the charges on my card, but they were kicked back by the company. While it is the first and obvious action to take, it’s not 100% effective for everyone.
Hello,
I just applied for the same assisted refund option but now I’m scared that I will not get any money back. My flight was nearly $2000 USD and it took a long time to save up for it. Did you end up getting a refund?
Kelly,
After a number of request at DOT, I got some refund money more than two years since the flight was canceled (17 August 2020) in bits and pieces, I’ve gotten back about half of the initial cost. Kiwi will not give me a precise accounting of my refund. Keep in touch with DOT if you’re still waiting.
THANK YOU ! SO glad I found this! I live in the US but had flights cancelled in the US and Europe. I filed a claim with the US department of transportation. Do I also need to file a complaint the the EU since some of my flights were with European airlines? How did you go about that?
You’re SO welcome! I only filed a complaint through the US DOT. They kind of force Kiwi reps to take care of the rest and they are in the email correspondence the entire time as they work through processing the refund. I had flights in China, Poland, France, and the US. So contacting just one DOT seemed to do the trick. If you don’t hear anything about in like a month, I would file with the EU.
Thank you so much! Did you receive any kind of confirmation e-mail or anything filing with the DOT? I filled out the form and submitted and I assume it went through, but I never got an e-mail or anything confirming….. I also filed a complaint with the FTC. Im SO grateful you put this out here for us!
You should be given a case, or file number by DOT, or an explanation for why they can’t help you. For US customers, DOT has clout since Kiwi can be banned from doing business in the US.
They cancel my flight and they told me if you don’t want to lost your ticket and your money you have to takes another flight + 490 € . Scammer company
Hey Julia!
They are awful. But hang in there! Keep persisting until you get your money!
Kelly
Thanks for putting together this post to share your story and attempt to help others. I have tried contacting all these agencies. In time, I am hopeful that something may come from it, but I am not going to be patient and wait. I am working on getting the media to cover kiwi and their scam and talking to large law firms about a class action law suit. If I get a firm interested, we will discuss the concerns brought up by your attorney friend. In my mind, it could be worth it if it stops Kiwi from scamming others. Thank you.
Hi I am curious if your flights had been on American based companies or not… I have just been waiting to see if I will get anything back but its been almost a year now. I am not sure if I am able to file anything with the department of transportation because the flights I had booked on were not US airline companies. Does this matter or could I still try to file a claim?
I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Like everyone, I booked my flights through Kiwi’s online booking trying to come back from China. I had three connecting flights on this booking, all of which were not American-based airlines, if that’s what you mean. I still filed with the Department of Transportation, which is ultimately where I was able to start getting my refund back. Not only that, but DOT has been a part of correspondence with Kiwi reps during the refund process the whole time. They have been holding them accountable for the refund chaos.
Literally every other avenue for me didn’t work until I filed a complaint with DOT.
I would still fight for it, honestly. It’s the better part of a year for me now and I’m still fighting for the rest of my refund.
Your flights back to the US from China may not have been US carriers, but what Kiwi is concerned about is being able to book flights that land in the US. If DOT bans them, they go on a black list at the airlines.
Kiwi.com is a joke took £1200 for a flight never taken. I contacted kiwi.com to be told no refund as I have to give 48 hours notice. The flight was booked 12 hours before departure and cancelled 6 hours before as kiwi.com messed the booking up. To be told I have to give 48 hours notice for a flight booked 12 hours before departure what a joke. Kiwi.com should not be used
Hey there,
I am so sorry. Please don’t give up. Keep pushing back. I did for several months and ultimately got my refund back. For me, what managed to work was to contact the Department of Transportation. Please give it a try and see if you have any success. Do NOT give up! They are taking advantage of customers and we need to be pushing back.
Good luck! There is a whole group for support on this. We have your back.
Kelly
Hello can I have the link in order Submit an Official Complaint with the Department of Transportation in the UK?
Hey Sophia,
I apologize for not responding sooner. Here is the link. Good luck and don’t give up!
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-transport/about/complaints-procedure
Kelly
Hey Kelly, I am serious about failing a joint lawsuit against the company. I understand that this might not be an easy process but I am willing to do what it takes to bring this company down.
Hey Ahmed,
So I’ve been looking into all avenues and even discussing some things with a lawyer friend of mine. With the way the pandemic has been affecting everything, filing a class action lawsuit could only hurt them, if it went through, that is. With a class action lawsuit, they would have to fork over so much money to just fight the lawsuit, they would likely have to go bankrupt. If they go bankrupt, none of us get our money back. The other problem with a lawsuit is Kiwi is if you’re not a resident to the same location as Kiwi, you can’t really file a class action lawsuit. Their are angry clients all over the world that a class action lawsuit wouldn’t apply to. Which is why I’ve offered the other options. I know is frustrating. I’ve been dealing with it since April. But try the other avenues first before filing a class action lawsuit.
I hope this helps! I’m sorry you’re going through this.
Kelly
Kiwi became big with virtual interlining which is, with the pandemic, also their bottleneck. Since a One-Way in general is more expensive, Kiwi cheates the airlines booking systems with booking return flights and using only the In or Outbound. You will never know as Kiwi will almost never give you the original PNR but only a Kiwi booking reference for these itinararies.
The issue here is that when the airline only cancels the unused bound, they will not refund because you will be rebooked (on the bound you were not aware you had it 😉 ) They will never use your email address for the booking 😉
It’s obviously that airlines don’t like this scam, and try to block this. Therefore Kiwi is doing everything like screenscraping, using thousends of email adresses, various of payment types etc. etc. during booking, all to stay under the radar. Often these email addresses and payment types do not exist anymore after some time (virtual CC etc) which is an issue on itself with refunds. So better to blame the airline iso explaning the customer their scam
Thanks for the post Kelly,
I wish I disputed with my credit card company right away, but I foolishly waiting the 3 months that Kiwi said would take for any refund to come through. Eventually, those 3 month got extended and now I am past the credit card dispute period.
I am based in Canada and the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) allows you to file complaints against airlines. I don’t know if this is still appropriate because Kiwi is not an airline. Did you encounter this when you filed your complaint?
For anyone that comes across this post, please CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY, you have 60 days. Don’t waste your time trying to get a refund with Kiwi.
Best,
Wilkin
Hey Wilkin,
Disputing my charge got me nowhere. And I didn’t face any issues at all when filing a complaint with the Department of Transportation. You should try filing any way since they’re a booking site that deals with airlines.
It honestly never hurts to try.
I took every possible route I could find until I finally got a refund. I didn’t think they would give it back to me either. But they did. (I still haven’t seen it in my bank account, but apparently, it is on it’s way).
Anyways. Good luck. Don’t give up. And let us know what worked for you if you happen to get a refund. Any experience helps!
Take good care.
Kelly
In my case, the bank gave me the best result, but, yes, don’t hesitate to make a claim. My bank gave me a complete refund of the amount I paid for the airline cancelled flight via Kiwi. I don’t know what they got from Kiwi, but a hint I got in an e-mail about another matter makes me think Kiwi didn’t appreciate me going to my bank. Which is to say, “Just do it.” I’ll use the DOT route to try to get some refund on my 17 August ticket, also cancelled.
Maybe we should go into a joint lawsuit. I’m in! They owe me almost 1.400 €!
Vesna, do you have a Department of Transportation you can file an official complaint with?
This route helped me get my refund.
I made and official complaint with the Department of Transportation about the company and weeks later, Kiwi got back to me saying my refund was on the way. I definitely suggest trying to find your Department of Transportation.
I’ve been learning that filing a lawsuit during this time, could actually hurt the company, thus making them shut down, thus making sure we don’t get a refund at all.
Good info, but take further steps and file complaints with ic3.gov, Forida State Attorney General’s Office, US Attorney General’s office.
Hi, James. Thank you and will do. I appreciate the tips!
Have good morning
I name Rasool
I purchased a ticket on my credit card from Tehran to Germany but the airline did not give him boarding card in told him you have too much stay in Turkey but they have a permanent Visa I would like to know how you will return my money or you should antor ticket. Thanks
I would get in touch with Department of Transportation to escalate the problem. And be annoying with Kiwi to get your refund back.