STA Travel UK 

I went to the Victoria branch of STA travel to enquire about a trip to Australia. The customer service was the opposite of helpful. I wanted a really broad overview of prices for a trip that centres around New Year’s Eve. The assistant treated me as if I was insane as this is the most expensive time of year and suggested moving the trip back (hence missing new year) which would only have saved about £100. I went in excited about the trip and left feeling like he had rained on my parade and brought me down several pegs. Personally I would organise my own trip and probably do a better job.

I amended flights with sta travel in march all paid for. One day later they told me that the flight I booked is not available. Could not give me a reason as to why. Gave me options to use another airline..but the flights will take a lot longer to reach the destination...asked for my money back as not what I paid for...no reply...asked several times..still no reply...filed a complaint...no reply. Asked update on complaint several times...no reply!!!!!!! This has been going on for over 2 months. Disgusting service. I am going to have to buy a new ticket will never buy from them again! Absolutely disgusting. It's funny how they managed to communicate with me almost hourly until I asked a for refund..they just seemed to of dropped off the face of the earth!.....

Would echo that sudden influx of 5* reviews seems to be orchestrated by sta Travel. Come on Trustpilot, do something! Your inaction is making a mockery of your website.
sta Travel have taken £2,000 of my daughters hard earned money for a holiday they cancelled. They refuse to refund her money. She initially felt sorry for the 'lovely' lady she was exchanging emails with. She soon changed her mind when I pointed out that sta Travel is owned by a massive Swiss conglomerate with very deep pockets and a no doubt an executive board eager to keep their multi-million dollar bonuses. Looks like the vast number of sta Travel customers cheated out of the money they are owed need to get together and start putting some pressure on the fat cats in Zurich.

The sudden influx of 5* reviews for this company is very suspicious. STA Travel are criminals.
Refusing to give money that the law states consumers are entitled to.
Using customers money to keep the company afloat. So many will be severely affected by this, will never use STA Travel again.

I don't need to echo the views shared by others relating to the COVID-19 response. £2,500 lost for a 2 week holiday at the start of May with absolutely no form of recompense. Both a student, and a key worker, STA still do not offer any help, money which I've needed (like many i'm sure) to get through this pandemic.

Using us as creditors is a disgusting breach of ethics, changing policies after agreement is even worse. It's not often I've ever wished negativity on a company, but STA deserve everything that will come their way. Contacted via email multiple times, and calling was nothing short of a joke; 16 times to even get through, with operators only to voice my disgust, but they are 'unable to do anything' to help.

Paid via credit card, and have travel insurance with the bank, but needless to say it's a protracted process to get the money back as they continue to point out that legally STA have to refund.

Do not fund these thieves, profiting from people's misery.

Having booked a trip for August right before COVID shut everything down, I was very pleased to see how fast I was offered a life time voucher for the value of my deposit paid. It would have been money lost in an already expensive honeymoon, so Ewa and Amelie from the London team really saved the day for us! Thanks both and cannot wait to resume the trip planned sometime in the hopefully near future.

STA travel have been brilliant, before and during this strange time we are in. Great communication, professional and willing to help around the clock. The agent I have been dealing with (Holly Clark) has been amazing, emailing and ringing me to get anything sorted and has helped me move my travel dates to next year for the same price!! Thank you for all your help so far.

STA travel has been absolutely brilliant in providing an excellent customer service. I was dealing with this wonderful lady ( Holly Clark ) and I'm very satisfied.. Very professional and very helpful. Thank you for helping me with some cancelled flights and explainning the process.

Do not book with STA Travel! I recommend going with a more trustworthy company.
Disgusting, unethical behaviour and breaking the law by not refunding my flights that had been cancelled by the airline. STA travel are not responding to emails either.

STA travel are such a brilliant company and have always supported me with all of my travel needs. Cat in my local Liverpool office has been brilliant over the years helping me plan every detail of my dream trips with me. During the pandemic the staff have been incredible too. Holly has supported me with my every need and has been so reassuring and kind throughout. Holly has spoken to the tour providers on my behalf and arranged all of my trips for future dates with me. I am so appreciative that through such a difficult time STA have been so supportive and helpful every step of the way. Couldn't recommend them enough. Thank you so much xx

I have been very impressed with STA travel throughout the whole process! Me and 4 friends booked to go to Bali for 3 weeks this summer. Vicky Walker was especially helpful during this process!
We were notified by the airline that our flights were cancelled and so sent this through to STA. Within a few days we were contacted by another representative to inform us of the next steps we could take.
A week or so down the line, Holly Clark got in touch with myself via a phone call that was followed up with an email.
They were personal and yet professional in all of their responses which made the whole process a lot easier to deal with.

Would happily recommend to a friend when we can go on holiday again!

Like many others on here, STA are refusing to refund my daughter and her friend nearly £2500 for the parts of their trip that were cancelled due to coronavirus. Initially they offered them £877 in travel credit, have managed to get that up to £1200 travel credit. Worse still, they lied about the whereabouts of £938 which was paid to them for the Kiwi Experience, which couldn't be used. STA told us that Kiwi Experience were holding the money, so we contacted Kiwi Experience ourselves (they were phenomenally helpful and quick to respond) and the truth is that they don't receive that money from STA until the trip is used. Surely a company can't be allowed to get away with withholding other people's money and then lying about it?

This company is targeted at students, most of whom have worked hard to save for their trip of a lifetime. I would advise any student out there to steer clear. How a company reacts in a crisis is very telling and this has certainly revealed that STA can't be trusted when things go wrong.

My wife and I and another couple have spent over £8000 on our holiday with Sta travel. We have had no refund for our cancelled holiday due to world coved 19 closure. Spa do not answer emails or calls. What right have they got to not pay everyone’s holiday refund. By law we are entitled to a full refund. What happened to consumer rights. The travel Atol and Abta protection do not seem to care. How can the government let this company get away with this.

Terrible service, our flights were cancelled by the airline and we were not notified by STA. Had to find out when logging into the airline website. The airline is refunding STA in full but STA will only offer a travel voucher "if they survive this"
We want our money back so we can book direct with the airline and not be held to ransome by a agency who changes their terms and conditions after sale to suit their needs not to allow refunds. After 6 happy trips with STA I will not be booking through them ever again.

Me and my partner spent £8000, STA cancelled the trip, refused to provide us any form of refund and are now ignoring any contact. They were all helpful smiles until something went wrong and then became incredibly difficult. You don't want a company that drops you and your rights as soon as there is a problem.

Disgusting company I am nearly 2500 out of pocket.

They are breaking the law and trying to worm out of it.

We want our money back... In full period not a voucher.

When things return to normal due to other commitments I cannot travel within next 12 months.

My money would be better back in my bank so I can choose to spend it with a better travel operator.

I will never use these again.

They are trying every trick in the book to avoid providing a legally obliged refund for cancelled flights.

We booked a MultiFLEX Pass airline ticket involving multiple stops and several airlines. Started travelling late 2019 before COVID19 was even heard of. The pandemic caught up with us and the final leg of our flights, via Thai Airways were cancelled. STA and Thai were uncontactable and we were left with no other option than to book alternative flights home, at significant cost!! Once back in the UK we contacted STA for a refund and their initial response was to stall and malinger around the issue. After we repeatedly refused vouchers we were eventually told to submit a formal complaint!

STA are aware of their legal obligation to provide a refund within 14 days of a cancelation under the terms of the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements 2018, but are refusing. What is even more disappointing is that Thai Airways have made it clear that they will provide a refund for cancelled flights but that the refund must be administered via the original booking agent. All this information has been provided to STA but still they fail to do the moral and ethical right thing.

There are plenty of small independent travel agents that cannot commercial compete with the likes of STA but that have still provided timely refunds for cancelled holidays and flights, despite the impact on their operating profits. I hope when this is all over we can remember the companies that did the right thing and reward them accordingly.

I wouldn’t rate them at all if only to leave this comment. Booked a once in a lifetime trip for it to be cancelled. They are refusing to give me my money back. I’m struggling myself now due to lost income and rebooking a holiday is no longer my priority. However they’d prefer to just keep mine and everyone else’s money to keep Giving the Big boss millionaires An income. Will never use them again. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I've been holding off from leaving a review, thinking that STA travel may eventually u-turn on their illegal policies. However, this has not been the case and they continue to believe they are above UK law.

They are currently illegally holding 1000s of pounds of mine, which should be refunded to me due to cancellation of my 3-month, once in a lifetime holiday. I cannot reschedule this extended trip because I have work commitments. I have confirmation that the airline has refunded STA, and that the tour company was never paid by STA. STA refuse to refund me my money, even though my money is in their bank account!

On top of this, their customer service is poor, refusing to reply to emails or social media posts.

I'd never book with them again and I would recommend to avoid them at all costs.

I booked some flights through sta travel in july 2019. Due to fly to mexico then to cuba and back to the UK end of march to mid april. Due to covid 19 all travel was stopped by the goverment. Not sta travels fault, but now i am having a nightmare in getting my money back from them. I have contacted their complaints section their refund department and now Abta but sta travel have not even bothered to respond. I know by law consumers act 2015 they legally have to refund me. I also know they have had goverment funding to help. We have used Sta travel a few times and have been ok, Now they have lost a faithful customer due to their lack of action.
Martine