STA Travel UK 

Amy Martin was a great help in securing my refund which although took a while, did eventually arrive. I appreciate her commitment and keeping me updated throughout the process. I had become a little frustrated having spoken to several people and because of Amy will consider booking with STA again.

Overall good and recommended. I agree with some other positive reviews left in that this has been a very difficult time for STA as well its customers due to Covid-19 being such an unprecedented situation. My experience is that many people panic, as I did and the first thought is to call STA, seek help and then complain if things don't go my way. I cannot accuse STA of deliberately holding back my money because I don't know if this is true, it would be a guess at best and unfair to do so. Certainly I am upset that my insurance payment has not been refunded in full, hence the 4 star review. This was a payment with Allianz through STA for a trip that I didn't even start as it was cancelled because of Covid-19. There's no reason to me that Allianz would offer me a credit note instead of a refund, so naturally I won't be using them ever again or ever recommending them to anyone. Before Covid-19, I had an excellent experience booking my 6 month world trip with Petra Phippen at the Bristol office. She was so helpful with a wealth of travel experience that undoubtedly helped me put a trip together. When she first asked me where I wanted to go, I simply said anywhere, I just need to be away for 6 months! So she did a lot of planing and then the booking for me. Absolutely brilliant Petra and so grateful, thank you. In March, when I had to think about coming home because of Covid-19, Petra did her best to cancel flights not yet used and get me home from Cambodia. In the end I had to buy a new flight at a cost of £1,250 with Malaysian Airlines but Petra was able to cancel and rearrange a couple of other flights for me, which helped. I returned to the UK on 28 March 2020 and was so stressed with everything that I didn't have the mental capacity to start chasing companies up that owed me money. It was around mid May 2020 that Calum Stacey from the Manchester office called me and explained that he was calling people who had trips cancelled to discuss their refunds and credits where applicable. I have nothing negative to say about Calum because firstly, I appreciated that STA were calling me, this showed effort and commitment on their part. Secondly Calum was extremely polite and could not have been more helpful. I feel he really went out of his way to help me and he was sympathetic to my own situation and the many others experiencing the same. I knew that he must have had thousands of phone calls to make trying to help people and this can't be easy at all, especially knowing how angry and rude some people might be to him. He could only do so much. Having read other reviews here, I am not aware that I haven't been credited the full cost for a flight (some are mentioning STA keep 25% back) but I will check again to see. As far as I know I have received credit notes where possible. One is with BA and I am not eligible for a refund apparently because I did not book directly with the airline. I also have credit with STA and with Allianz insurance. Although I am not particularly happy with credit notes and would prefer refunds, I will use them at some point for a future holiday. However, it is bad form for companies not to offer refunds and one questions what it does for there reputation going forward? I do think many companies will go bust as a result - what goes around comes around for example, and if you try to hold onto someone's money that isn't yours, well... A mention to Ellie Collis at the Bristol branch too who has recently been helpful in trying to book myself and a friend on a new trip. In the end we booked with someone else but I do thank Ellie for her efforts to date. This is a long and detailed review, which I hope is of help to some reading. I think STA are pretty good on the whole and given my personal experience I would recommend them to others.

Terrible, I have been trying to get some information from them for months now. When I email their responses are vague, when I call they can't answer any of my questions. I understand that there is a struggle with money but if they could give their customers more support and reassurance in any means they can then that would put me more at ease. Will never book through them again, this situation as shown how truly terrible their customer service really is.

I would give these no stars if possible
Holiday cancelled in March due to Corona Virus
No money back no help or support no interest from them whatsoever
We can't afford to book anything else because we can't get a refund from these crooks
AVOID AT ALL COSTS

122 days and still waiting for a refund. Was told it would be issued within 30 days which have since passed. Absolutely appalling and 4 grand out of
pocket. Currently in limbo as we can’t claim through insurance.

Although an unprecedented situation, STA Travel have been truly awful to deal with during the Corona crisis.

I was abroad in March and needed to change my return flight urgently in order to get home before all flights were cancelled. Despite having a flexi-return ticket, it took them 4 days to change my flight so I had to buy an alternative flight back home off my own back to the tune of £500.

Having had the return flight they provided cancelled due to the crisis, they are not only refusing to refund the money in favour of a credit note (something they put in their terms & conditions following the crisis and well after I bought my flights through them) but are also insisting they will only refund me the amount that was refunded to them by the airline, not the actual amount they charged me. The refund amount for the un-flown leg is apparently now less than 25% of the cost of the return flight.

Next time, I will be paying more money to deal directly with the airline. The saving and flexibility was not worth it and ended up costing me more money! I will now be filing a county court claim against them to recover the correct amount of money.

Awful company - AVOID AVOID

Very quick to take your money, but still refuse to refund flight cancelled in March 2020.

Have now opened a charge back case with my bank.

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

Very recently successful at clawing money back through Chargeback since leaving last review. Told us we wouldn't be able to get Chargeback "and that most customers have failed at invoking Chargeback and for the few that have succeeded it has taken months. Refunds are only being considered personally by the CEO on a case-by-case basis and this is only for those who are Key NHS Workers and recently bereaved (how about skint students/recently furloughed & redundant or those who used their savings on once-in-a-lifetime trips? CEO is more scared of not being seen to Clap for the NHS)." All a complete lie. Money successfully back in my own account by a very helpful HSBC who took 10 minutes to look through our emails and side with us.

Will be filing a formal complaint with ABTA for refusing refunds and CMA for lying to us about not being eligible for Chargeback. Crooks.

Unfortunately, my 4 week trip of the States and Mexico cannot go ahead due to the current Covid situation. Calum has been really helpful in talking clearly through my options, and getting back to me in a timely manner as he promised - the same cannot be said for some of his colleagues. I shall be dealing exclusively with Calum from now on, I'm very happy with his service during a very difficult time.

Just been told that our flights for a once in a lifetime holiday have been cancelled but they are refusing to give a refund for the rest of the holiday which runs into thousands of pounds, they say we have to have a credit note, yet we can’t get to the destination or anything we’ve booked because there are no flights. They have handled the whole thing appallingly and the girl I just spoke to was really unhelpful and just kept repeating herself. I will never use them again and am preparing to take legal action against them. Absolutely avoid this company.

Very easy to book and helpful when taking your money. Absolutely shocking and immoral response when trying to claim a refund / credit for flights delayed due to covid-19. Impossible to contact on telephone, and they simply ignore your requests on email. After I cancelled my flights, they even refused to give me a cancellation invoice, which I needed to give to the insurers. Awful and embarrassing customer service

Calum made my booking process quick and painless. Australia have set new rules for citizens arriving into the country, meaning you are required to pay for your quarantine of $3000 if a booking wasn't made before the cut off time (3hrs!)
Calum organised this for me in the most professional manner and I can't thank him enough.

Please don’t use this company . Singapore airlines cancelled our flights and STA refusing a refund of £6k even though Singapore are offering refunds . Have been offered a credit and can’t claim back for 12 months . Totally immoral . Lloyds bank have been brilliant requested a charge back this morning and less than an hour all money back in my account - please pursue this route

SCAM! Do not use!!!! They know that they will be going into administration due to the coronavirus and their corrupt procedures, and are doing anything they possibly can to hold on to customers monies. Despite receiving refunds from airlines, they are refusing to distribute these to customers and are saying this may only be possible after one or two years. DISGUSTING. DO NOT believe any of the positive reviews, they are all written by their own members of staff.

Complete waste of time and won’t be booking with them again. Avoid at all costs!!

Avoid STA travel. Great, until you need them.

STA have received money back from a cancelled flight during the Corona Pandemic.

They are holding our money in form of a credit note for 12 months before we can claim back as actual money.

Find a travel company with a moral compass.

STA are great until things go wrong. Trying to get through to them on the phone is next to impossible. No one can speak to you about any issues apart from the STA Cares team - who dont answer their phones or emails. Eventually, STA cares emailed us to tell us that they owed us ££££'s under package travel regulations, and then promptly tried to claim this money back on our credit card - we now have a huge credit card bill because we can't talk to them to straighten things out.

STA have cancelled our package which is understandable in the current climate.

When seeking our money back they have flagrantly refused to act lawfully, stating no timelines beyond "up to six months".

We have no had to begin legal action. Avoid at all costs.

I can't thank my agent enough, we also unfortunately had to return home early due to covid restrictions. Our agent Jess was quick to search for alternatives to get us back and informed us every step of the way. One of our trips was unable to go ahead and she has chased this with that company but the other company are refusing anything apart from a credit which is valid for 2 years. She's sent me screens of the emails to reasurre me she has tried everything possible. All of these comments of angry people I understand it is a very frustrating time for everyone. They've not had their full capacity of staff working therefore have had a huge volume of work sprung on them. They also have never had to deal with anything like this in the past so it's all new and terrifying for them also. I'm really glad I booked with my agent she kept communicating with me before this all happened and then during. I know I would of been lost without her.

Due to covid 19 our holiday was cancelled we found this out by speaking with the tour operator. STA didnt contact us we had to contact them. After several emails back and forth and requesting a refund. STA have refused this even though the tour operator have sent payment to them. STA have said it can only be used as credit which I dont agree with. STA our the worst travel agent to have delt with happy taking money but not refunded it. STA i can not even think off what to say my advice to anyone thinking off booking through this ridiculous shameful company
Then here you go --- you want to through your HARD earned money down the drain or give it to someone then book a holiday with these cowboys they have a lot of people rating 5* because that there staff but clearly they are cowboys happy taken your money but want refund it.