Chatdeal Reviews 1,957

Do not use chat deal!
Here’s the basics of the situation:
-I had an international flight booked
-I tried to make a flight change through chat deals online booking, which was a $150 difference I paid
-They charged me, then told me that flight wasn’t available anymore, as well as they canceled my original booking - all without putting me on a new flight.
-They informed me that they could charge me $1500 more for a different flight, or re-instate my original flight
-I chose to have them just re-instate my original flight, but they continued to tell me they hadn’t heard from the airline and could not re-instate my ticket until they did. (This went on for 2 weeks, me checking in everyday, then telling me they had made no progress)
-I called one of the airlines in my booking and they said they had already re-instated my ticket and now chatdeal just has to issue it to me, but when I checked back with chat deal continued to say they hadn’t heard from the airline so they won’t issue me the ticket. It was also hard to get any actual information out of them, they ended up just saying the same thing over and over to me, never putting me in touch with a supervisor, and being overly “empathetic” and apologetic without any follow through or sincerity!
-Finally I called the other airline on my booking and it was as simple as them just giving me a confirmation number and I now have my flight info and my tickets ready to go.
-I still haven’t heard back from chat deal at all, and I don’t expect to. They were absolutely no help, and completely screwed up my trip. Ultimately it boils down to a flaw in their flight change system where it shouldn’t have cancelled my original flight if they couldn’t put me on the new flight I was charged for and meant to change to. Reading some of these reviews makes me nervous that there will be some glitch when I actually go to the airport and try to use this ticket, because chat deal screwed up this booking. Fingers crossed, but save yourself a headache and some gray hairs and do not book this service.
Who needs a travel agent these days anyway? Chat deal is useless and a scam.

Update on chatdeal after uploading my original review on 11/24 chatdeal replied here and then sent me an email asking me to edit or take down my review. I can’t stress this enough, DO NOT use this company to book. They make it so difficult to get into contact with an actual person and even their chat box isn’t as helpful or timely.
Quick background on my situation: I was refused to board on an international flight home because of some glitch in the system saying they couldn’t find me despite me showing airline my confirmation email etc. I then had to purchase a last minute one way flight home with a different airline that was cost more than my round trip flight. After chatdeal and the airlines had me jumping through hoops, proving to one another with receipts and official letters, chatdeal still held onto my money for a whole year! Not only that, I’m getting a crummy partial refund and lost out on so much money because of some system error glitch. I even bought travel insurance protection through chatdeal and of course their fine print meant that it was useless! Don’t waste your money trying to “save” with chatdeal, it’s better to buy the flight directly from the airlines because all these companies took advantage of that and used that to evade responsibility and bounced me back and forth from company to company with each saying that it was the others’ responsibility. I’ll never get a years worth of time and labor back and I’m not even getting a full refund y’all and still lost out on so much money.

My experience was absolutely phenomenal! Despite seeing negative reviews, I had a fantastic time. I received a call offering add-ons, but when I declined, they respected my choice and didn't bother me again. Instead, they kept me informed about my flight through email. Excellent customer service, and my ticket had no issues. Thumbs up!

Aweful. Called me straight after booking trying to get me to buy add-ons. But then, after my flights, called me at 2am!!! I didn't answer but they sent an email say they have an 'open case' they need to resolve. So I called them. New bookings can't help, switches to 'exchange' that then auto hangs up. Tried a few more times. Can't find booking you have 3 attempts left.

Buzz was AMAZING!! He made magic happen.

I have been planning a trip take my mother to visit family in Japan for over a year now. I purchased our tickets months ago. JAL changed my flight twice. The 1st time was no big deal. The 2nd time would have made us miss our connecting flight, so I needed an alternate flight. The first representative I spoke to, Veris, was nice, but gave me an option and basically said this is what the airline is giving. The flight schedule was fine, but I had paid extra for Premium Economy (since I am traveling with my mom) and the option I was given was for economy seating. I explained my reason for needing the Premium Economy seats but it felt like I was not being heard.

The following morning, I called Chatdeal in hopes of getting this issue resolved. I was so lucky that Buzz got my call. From the very 1st moment he made me feel heard. He repeated things I said to make sure I felt I was being heard and to confirm his understanding of the situation. He was SO patient and helpful. He made it a point to reassure me that he would take care of things and to not stress.

His first attempt to negotiate with the airline failed. They rejected our fight request. He again reassured me that he would work something out. He would find a fight for me. He asked about a plan B, just in the far off chance JAL could not accommodate the request. I explained to him that I am willing to use another airline. The only issue is the price. The cost per ticket has gone up by almost $1000 per ticket. I don't have that budgeted. So my plan B would have to be accepting the economy seats.

Buzz was very understanding of my situation and was adamant that he would get me the flight for the same travel date, ideal flight time, and most importantly the seats that I paid for. As passionate and confident as Buzz was about making this happen, I must admit I had my doubts.

He was in constant communication with me. If I received an email about my flight, it was followed by a call from Buzz. The amount of energy he put into helping us was incredible and sooo appreciated.

It's been 2 days since I first spoke to Buzz. This morning I received a from Buzz. He wanted to update me. He told me he didn't have any solid information yet but he feels/senses good new coming. He wanted to verify my availability so he knew when he could call me back without causing any interruption to my day.

Fast forward 2 hours or so, I happen to check my email. There I found a confirmation email from Chatdeal. My outgoing flight was confirmed. I couldn't believe my eyes. A minute later my phone rang. It was Buzz. He wanted to give me the good news.

He finished our conversation to assure me that his service has not ended with this issue. He said there are still a few months til my departure and if the airline makes any changes again between now and then, that he would once again step in to assist me.

Buzz made magic happen!! He is TOP NOTCH!! Very professional. I can tell he has a passion for helping his clients. I hope Chatdeal appreciates the asset they have with Buzz. He really is amazing.

We booked back in Dec 21 and Omicron caused the cancellation of flights. We were offered vouchers and were happy to do so.

Since then, to describe Chatdeal as abject makes the word abject seem like a minor irritant, not wholesale incompetence.

Go back to 2022, and I contacted them on 14/09 to book flights. By 30/09 I sent this:
******************
"... it has taken a long time to get any answer from Chatdeal from my original request on September 14th. Because of this we have booked at alternative holiday because I did not trust being able to get an answer from Chatdeal. I was told that Chatdeal needed to check with the airline but I did not receive an answer in a timely fashion."

16 days to not be able to provide prices."
******************
Then on March 17th 2023 I emailed them:

"We have a voucher to use across the Virgin network and I'd like to use these to book flights from London to Calgary.

The dates are
Lon-Cal 7th September 2023
Cal-Lon 18th September
Please can you advise on options using our credit?"
******************
My email on Thu, 30 Mar, 08:14 to Chatdeal read

"Hello

I have not had a reply to my email sent 4 days ago.

Can I can some service?"

I gave up trying to get an answer - they would not offer flights even near what we wanted. They will use their powers to give you cheaper, poor routing to maximise their gain.
******************
Later this year on August 14th I emailed them in response to Chatdeal opening a "case".

"Celeste

I would dearly love for you to explain how Chatdeal had been unable to offer me flights that I have asked for.

I would like you to explain to me why there are significant gaps between me making a request for a price and Chatdeal responding?

If you look back at conversations online you will see that Chatdeal agents have provided me prices that are significantly higher than identical prices from other OTAs, and have only proceeded to provide similar prices when I have instigated the comparison.

I would like to know why in 2022 Chatdeal was again unable to furnish me with flights, taking 9 days to respond to me.

Answers to the above would be a delight.

I genuinely have no clue what you're company actually does or its model."
******************
Now, we are in November. I have spoken with the Airline. Virgin are going to contact them because I have no actual way of getting Chatdeal to respond to me, or to offer anything close to a flight I want.

We have now got 6 weeks to use the tickets before expiry, and options are slimmer of Chatdeal solving anything than I have of winning the London Marathon.

My humble advice is to buy from the airline. My advice is also to check all the conditions. My last advice is to never, ever choose Chatdeal.

If you do want to use Chatdeal, may I suggest an alternative? Choose to burn the money you would have spent, and go and sit in a park for a week and watch the leaves turn colour. It will be far more rewarding

Never use this service. I spent 2-3 hours on my booking day due to only 1 leg of my trip getting booked and the rest having an issue.

I needed to make a change and the soonest anyone can get back to you is 3-4 hours later.

Also you cannot select your seats so enjoy sitting wherever you get placed...

This lady saved my trip, Amari!
Contact her directly her directly by going to chatdeal.com and searching her name.
She is kind and went out of her way to get us a good deal!

I have booked flights with chatdeal for my family. My husband broke his leg and i tried to change my flight to another day where i could get help with my kids.
I contacted chatdeal for a change. They took over a week and countless calls to finally call me. In the end they just cancelled my husband's flight giving me no money (no doubt they will resell that ticket) are won't help me travel one day earlier. There are seats available on the other flight, i am happy to pay the fare difference but no.
Chatdeal say you are a priority: they call you back 10 days after.
They don't look for solutions but they are trying to squeeze you like a lemon.
I wish i had booked directly through the airline. Chatdeal's representative called "Love" was helpless.
I won't use their service any more and you should do the same.

My initial experience was absolute rubbish. I purchased a ticket. The company reached out via email and said the price changed AFTER I purchased the ticket. Then they cancelled my trip. This was my first experience with ChatDeal. Via email, Abbey L. and Mikaela T. were horrible. The worst customer service skills.

I reached out via Chat and spoke with Rafael, Kyra and ultimately Josie. All of whom were incredibly helpful. Rafael directed me to sales. Kyra stayed connected with me until Josie got up to speed and took over. Josie was finally able to find me the same flights. Her customer service was superior. Only problem was they were now 50% higher in price.

Buyer beware: You will see and book at a price, they will not confirm at that price. They will email you but NOT reach out by phone. However, about 6 hours after the second purchase, I have received text messages about seating and meals and upgrades. So, reaching out via text/phone call is an option. If you purchase from them, stay on top of the order or you will get screwed.

Great customer Services, I had my original reservation got changed by AIRLINES, and that was very much disturbing to my limited time in India. I talked to Ms. Katniss, she was very helpful and understood my concerned and help me out with the best solution and rescheduled my reservation to my satisfaction. I very much appreciate and Highly recommend Chatdeal to everyone who are looking for best price and Great service!!!!!

Chat Deal offers a horrible experience. I booked a flight from Miami to Milan Italy both ways. All seemed fine and was the cheapest option (delta and ITA air). My flight on the way down was Miami to JFK then Milan. The flight to NY was delayed and the flight to NY to Milan was missed due to this delay. To fix the problem, Delta and ITA air explained that the travel agent needed to speak to them by phone so i could book another flight. Since I booked this through a travel agent (chat deal) only they could change the flight and i couldnt even purchase tickets to flights that were leaving soon. I called ChatDeal 1000x tried live chat - they dont care transferred me all over and was impossible to get them to help after hours of waiting. Will never work with them again.

After getting a great deal online (or so I thought) I received an email saying that they needed to change one of my flight.
I thought this was ok and they changed it. At this time they also split the booking.
It was when they wanted to change back to the original flight that made this unsuitable for me and because they had split the booking I was told I could not get a refund.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS SITE!

Further to me trying to get hold of them I got this as a response:

Dear Jxx,

I hope this message finds you well. I am so sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I've reviewed your message and see that you've taken some actions, such as contacting your credit card company and leaving a review.

I understand that you can still see the flights that you booked at the airline’s website. I want to clarify that we don't have control over the inventory of the airline, which is why you can see your flight details on their website. However, I do appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

After investigating your case, we've found that the flight you originally booked is available as per the airline's website. Therefore, we're reverting to your initial booking to ensure a seamless travel experience for you.

I'm pleased to inform you that your flight is confirmed and good to go. You can clearly see the confirmed flight at our website or at British Airways website.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're committed to ensuring your travel plans go smoothly.

Best Regards,
Zxxxx

Customer Experience Team

VERY UNHELPFUL AND IF THEY ARE WANTING TO USE THE ORIGINAL BOOKING, WHERE WAS THE PROBLEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. I CANNOT USE THE FLIGHT ANYMORE.

PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE PEOPLE.

Flights booked LHR to BOS and return ORD to LHR Premium Economy. I had searched for them on Kayak, and when I found flights I like, I chose the "Book on Kayak" option (i.e. I pressed the big orange button saying "Book on Kayak", understanding this would mean I was booking with Kayak. I went through the rest of the booking process on webpages that were branded "Kayak" at the top of the page. The flights were booked as an AA codeshare - flights were actually BA. The email with the details of the reservation came from "Chatdeal on Kayak". We then bought our preferred seats direct with BA (the two together on the side: A & C).

About a couple of weeks before travel BA advised us that they had subcontracted the operation of the BA294 ORD to LHR flight to Air Belgium, and that we had been switched to that flight. They further advised us of our new seats - again, two together at the side. That was fine.

Around a week after that, we got another email from "Chatdeal on Kayak Schedule Changes" advising us our return flight was cancelled, and we were being put on a completely different flight that didn't work for us. We could see the BA294 was still running so asked to be put on that. After a week of chasing for a reply (when I had been advised this would be resolved in 24 hours), I was finally able to phone them. Their excuse was that AA were doing fewer code shares with BA and so this flight was no longer a code share, so we couldn't be on it. They confirmed this to be a cancellation in their eyes - so I advised them of my EU and UK legal rights to be transferred to a different airline, and that I wanted to be on the BA flight - the BA294. A few hours later they confirmed we were on this flight - but by this stage the seats we had booked and paid for were no longer available so my wife and I could not sit together.

Then, after I got home, having not received my AA airmiles for the outward LHR to BOS flight, I put in a missing miles claim - to be advised by AA that the flight had been booked using a fare code that was not eligible for airmiles. Unlike other booking companies, the Chatdeal on Kayak ticketing details etc had not shown the fare code. After much chasing, (several times they called me from a number in the US (I am in the UK) but finally we spoke and they confirmed to me that the flight was booked with fare code "P". This appears to be the "reward flight" code (i.e. the code you get when you buy a reward flight using air miles) - which of course would not be eligible to earn air miles. So, how on earth did they manage to book a flight for which I paid good cash on the basis that it was a reward flight???

All in all, not happy on these two accounts.

Morals of the story
(i) book with the airlines direct: it may cost a whisker more, but you get what you paid for – including airmiles.
(ii) you may think you are booking with Kayak when you press the “Book with Kayak” option but chances are you are not – and that you are booking with their partner, i.e. Chatdeal here. And don't bother taking it up with Kayak. Their response was "KAYAK is a search tool as such we would never be able to book flights for you or update you on any changes - we are not a travel agency" even though as their website says, they are in partnership with Chatdeal.

It would be nice to get some recompense from Chatdeal for me not getting around 5,500 American Airlines Award Miles for the LHR to BOS flight and the equivalent in Avios points for my wife, because they booked this as a reward flight not a normal paying flight in classes W, E or T, but I very much doubt that will happen. If it does, I’ll update this report.

British Airways airline canceled my international flight from San Diego to London. As a result, I could not take my flight from London to Johannesburg and I could not take my flight from Johannesburg to Zambia. I notified the airlines in advance of my flight. I have proof of this and chatsdeal acknowledged airline canceled my airline reservation. I provided reservation copy I was unable to use due to airline cancelation and proof airline canceled and proof that I notified the airline. The airline canceled the flights and I did not cancel. Chatsdeal has been stonewalling me for 4 months and still not refunding me. I will be moving forward with charge card dispute in 5 days if no refund. If for some reason, I still do not get money back then I will proceed with small claims court in Virginia and suing the owners of Chatsdeal, because I opted out of the arbitration agreement within 30 days of booking. Stay away from this Chatsdeal booking site. The service is lousy and it is designed to keep the customers' money in event that airlines cancel their flights. It is a total scam. It is honestly better to just book directly from airline. I read their terms and conditions and it has things that are against the law in U.S. in there that would easily be thrown out in court.

I forwarded the issue to investigations

Airlines changed my flights making it impossible to travel. Chatdeal emailed me offering to cancel and get a refund or change. I chose refund, but the email would not let me choose refund. So I called and even though I was #1 in the que, I still waited 45 min on hold. Talked to an agent that said he would investigate. I received an email the next day saying the entire $3699.10 would be refunded. The email specifically said no fees or penalties would be deducted. The next day I received a refund of $2981.10. I’ve called 4 times and told Frank is assigned my case and immediately they try to transfer me directly to Frank. That’s when you wait on hold forever, terminal hold. Frank never comes on the line. Emails to Frank go unanswered, and any call is pawned off on someone else. Seems ChatDeal by Kayak customer service is a big scam. By the way, I’m still on hold now going on 35 min for “Frank”, if he even exists.

Stay away.

Katniss at Chatdeal is amazing! Our flight was delayed and we were going to miss our connecting flight. She was able to get us on a later flight the same day so that we could get into Milan the same day. She was so kind and kept me updated and walked me through the process for rebooking. Thanks again Katniss!

Katniss was amazing. When our flight got delayed, and we were going to miss our connection, British Airways was no help. But Katniss at ChatDeal quickly got us on a new flight. Amazing. Thank you Katniss!

Chatdeal sold me an ailine ticket for which one of the layovers was shorter than the minimum layover mandated by the airlines. When I contacted them,they simply told me to talk to the airlines. To top it all off, I later got two emails from them to let me know that the issue has been resolved.