Direct Air Consumer Reviews - Page 2

MYRTLE BEACH, SOUTH CAROLINA -- I purchased 10 tickets online with Direct Air under the "Family Ties" program ($149/ticket special rate) in December 2009. The deal was advertised to run from January 10, 2010 through October 30, 2010. My son-in-law used 1 ticket in early April 2010. After he booked his flight (from Springfield, IL to Punta Gorda, FL) the reservation desk told him the deal was "seasonal" and no more flights would be from Illinois (as of April 17, 2010).

In March 2010, I called the reservation desk and talked to Marianne, a supervisor, who told me to send an email to the corporate office. She said "I probably could not get a refund, but could get an extension." I sent 2 emails, made 4 phone calls, sent letter to the corporate office, and 2 messages through their FACEBOOK page.

It's been over 2 months and I have received no response. I am stuck with 9 tickets and stand to lose $1,300.00. It's a scam because they have no customer service and they don't resolve issues and the corporate office does not publish a phone number. By omission, they deceive the customer into believing their tickets are good for a year, when in realty they are good for about 3 months. I filed a complaint with BBB. UPDATE: Go to Direct Air's Facebook, trip advisor, etc. and read the negative comments! Direct Air has an "F" rating by the Better Business Bureau which received 52 complaints in the last 36 months.

Please save yourself from being ripped off. Direct Air has cancelled my flight, and only left a voice message on my home machine. No email, not letter, only one short message. I had to try day after day to get someone to answer the phone. Who has several hours to wait on hold? The women I got on the phone told me that I should be concerned about getting a refund. This has been very expensive already, I have had to rebook my flights at three times the price paid with Direct Air. Has anyone else experienced these issues with Direct Air? I plan on filling a complaint with the Attorney General.

FLYING OUT OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS -- I have been trying since December to confirm 5 flights that have already been paid for. The family ties promotion offered purchase of air fare tickets then, destinations and dates to be confirmed when we wanted to make them. There has been no contact available by phone; a machine picks up and says to call back later; no option to hold on. I tried again today and message said to hold on; which I did for 82 minutes before a live agent came on.

The flights I wanted in April were not available; nothing is available in April. I asked for a refund. They do not refund. I asked if they would put on another flight to accommodate all those they overbooked and she said no, it is not their fault if there are no flights left. I asked her name. No answer. I asked to speak with a manager. She hung up on me. Now, I ask you: Is this any way to run a business? Is there no recourse? F.Y.I. THEY ARE OFFERING A NEW PROMOTION NOW: WAY 2 GO... I would not trust this to work either.

PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA -- We have used this airline because we have a large family and the prices are inexpensive. Every flight has been delayed an average of at least 6 hours. Almost every flight has been a mechanical problem and there are no back up planes when that happens. The staff at the airport are absolutely clueless and rude. They have only 2 or 3 checking people in for 2 flights leaving at the same time.

Often times there is a 200 people backup in line. If you have plans on the day of travel do not expect to get there on time. Plan on spending $50 at the small pathetic snack bar. Expect there to be no communication from the airline staff. Expect Mayhem when the flight takes off and there are not enough seats. Handicapped people and children are not getting on first. It may be cheap but It is not worth the headache!

NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK -- My husband and I booked flights to Lakeland Florida in October 2011 and a Direct Air Customer Service Rep called to inform me the flight had been overbooked but had booked us through a nearby airport (Buffalo, NY) for an alternative flight. The flight was the same day and still nonstop. It was now with Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines then called to give me further confirmations.

Then Direct Air called me again to tell me that my husband and I were being given two nonstop return flights for FREE to be used anytime in the next 12 months for all our inconvenience and gave me a confirmation # to use. So contrary to complaints against this airline, I say bravo to Direct Air!

NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK -- We booked an extended family vacation with Cruise to San Juan for Spring Break. We heard from a friend - who heard from a friend, that Direct Air had cancelled some flights out of Niagara Falls. Upon calling Direct Air myself, I found out that in fact our flight had been cancelled, 2 months prior! When asked why I hadn't been contacted, or a refund hadn't been issued, they said they were working their way through a big list, and calls were being made based on when we booked. We booked 7 months ago!

We have now re-booked using a major airline and paid over $1100 more than our original cost as we are getting too close to our travel period, and all the Direct Air cancelled flights to San Juan, Barbados and a Florida destination that's gone, are scrambling to leave the same weekend! Thanks a lot Direct Air. Great Customer service. NOT!

WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS -- We bought 2 Family Ties vouchers in April this year and a week ago, I went online to reserve flights in January, 2012. I followed up with an email asking how long it would be before I heard whether we had the flights requested. I have heard from neither the reservation request nor the email. My next move is to sue them under Massachusetts General Law 93A for unfair and deceptive practices. Fortunately, I am a lawyer who can do it. If this has happened to you and you have lost money as a result, contact a Massachusetts lawyer who deals in consumer protection if you are in Massachusetts and want to sue them as well.

We pre-purchased two of the family ties vouchers (the special ended 9/11/11) from Direct Air. Ticket reservations opened 9/12 for the family vouchers. We went on the website at 12:01 A.M. and submitted a round trip reservation request for a Punta Gorda departure in December with a return from Kalamazoo, MI. We are supposed to receive an e-mail letting us know if the flight reservation has been accepted. It has been 48 hours and no response. We have tried to call Direct Air numerous times and "all circuits are busy".

We have sent email contacts through the website and no response. Our next move if we do not hear from this company in the next 24 hours is to cancel the charges. This whole situation leaves me wondering how this company does business. They obviously are understaffed and are totally lacking in customer service. I do not recommend doing business with this airlines.

I left this as a comment on another post, then thought it probably deserves its own heading. Today is Sep 12, which is the first day you can book for the Family Ties passes that were sold until last week. Having read some of the reviews I was not looking forward to the experience. My goal for purchasing these passes was for inexpensive flights to FLA to get on a cruise with my parents and family (6 total).

Before I bought the passes I called the customer service # (on Sep 5) and asked how many seats were available for the flights I wanted (constrained by the cruise schedule). There were 50 each I was told, which is how many are blocked for this promotion. The woman said if I called back on the 12th I should have no problem.

I had a hard time getting through today (all lines busy) but called the main number on the website and they transferred me into the system. I was on hold for 1/2 hour and heard some key clicking then was disconnected. Called back the same way again, waited 35 minutes, and had my call handled. It all went very smoothly. I got the flights I wanted, all seats booked together on both flights, and no service charges (was advised of luggage charges for checked bags and given advice to pre-pay the day before once we were packed). Very courteous male agent. Now to see if the flights go as planned, but so far I'm happy with the promotion and the service.

I bought 6 Family Ties passes intending to use them on the Niagara Falls/Punta Gorda route this past winter. Every time I tried to book a flight either the flights were full or one of the legs was full so I could get there but not back or (and this really makes me crazy) the allocation of Family Ties seat on this particular flight was used up. Who knew there was small print that said seats for Family Ties pass holders were restricted?

So here I am, still holding 6 passes. Direct Air have stopped flights to Florida for the season and by the time they start flying again the passes will have expired and I will be out of pocket over $600. I have tried e-mailing them on a number of occasions but they have never responded. Calling them is a complete waste of time. You can wait hours to get through and get absolutely no help at all from the person who eventually answers the phone. I am surprised an enterprising lawyer hasn't jumped all over this.