Despegar.com Reviews 42,920

I advise people NEVER use Despegar. My husband and I had a terrible experience. We lost money, points and health due to the lack of Information they didn't provide us. We are going to sue them even if we loose more money because it's only fair they assume some responsabilities. Extremely angry and disappointed!

I tried to pay for my flight reservation through the website, but it was impossible to complete the transaction. The payment page was not functioning and did not allow me to finalize the purchase despite several attempts.

I contacted customer service via WhatsApp. The representative informed me that he could not fix the website issue and could not help me complete the payment. When I asked to cancel the reservation, he said he was unable to do that as well.

Instead of resolving the issue, he offered to create a new reservation at a higher price. I declined, and he abruptly closed the conversation. His attitude was dismissive and unprofessional.

Customer support is nonexistent.
I'm trying to process my refund, and there are some issues, so they send a request again and again asking to provide my bank details.

I submitted them multiple times, but nothing, so I had to call, as there is no other option to contact them.
I got into a loop with a bot, but finally had a real person on the line.

The support specialist was nice, and hopefully the issue will be solved, but guess what...
They charged me 4USD for the call, even though I'm calling a local Argentinian number from Argentina and have minutes in my plan.

We are not in the 2000s; the support should be free

I just found out that this company has a complete disregard for the people who naively try to book their vacation plans through them. We had a family trip to celebrate our beloved Grandma's 96 year old birthday in Punta Cana on December 24, 2025 that these crooks blatantly canceled with no explanation whatsoever. On top of that, we're are losing around 3K we had already prepaid for aquatic activities we were going to perform there. We're extremely disappointed and frustrated 😠 😡 I strongly recommend never booking anything though these bunch of criminals. If we all unite against these types of fraudsters, we can protect ourselves from being abusively ripped off.

Disgusting time with this people. Please avoid them.

Bot unable to answer a question correctly OR connect me to a customer service agent.
Called the customer support telephone, but was answered by a recording referring me back to the Bot.

In other words, no way to reach customer service. Horrible experience, would not use despegar.com again.

We made a hotel reservation, Next day they cancelled it. When contacted them to refund the money, they said that it will take 30 to 60 days to get the money back even though they cancelled our reservation. DO NOT USE this company for your bookings. They are a FRAUD!

They changed my flight without my consent to depart from a different city, now I can’t add luggage, and it’s impossible to reach a human for help. Calls go unanswered, WhatsApp is just a useless bot, and emails get ignored. Terrible service, avoid this company and book directly with the airline instead or a different third party company.

I can’t understand complaints. I bought my tickets there. No problems at all. Hmm starange

After 1 year and 6 months that Despegar cancelled my "purchase", I have NEVER RECEIVED MY REFUND. I have talked to the credit card bank, they confirmed Despegar has never given the refund. Never ever.

Purchased tickets for my teenager daughter exchange program, filtering the shortest travel time due to her inexperience. The return scheduled for July 18 from Malta through ITA Airlines. On June 3rd they notified a change in flight with 10 hours connection in Rio de Janeiro, which we promptly did not accept. From there, a series (over 20) of contacts were made through e-mail, phone and whattsapp, and basicaly they have the same default response for attendant or AI. “We understand your frustation”, “we have contacted the airline” “72 for out reply”, so it has been a series of 72 hour and not a single reply over the past 43 days. Three weeks ago I searched a series of options in ITA’s booking site and informed them after they gave me the default answer, in a call I managed the attendant to look at such options with a manager or booking dept. After over an hour call, she took note of the options and again asked for 72 hours for the airline reply. No answer and upon next contact the attendant informed they were waiting the airline as we did not accept their options (not one was ever given by them, indeed I took the time to look for them what should have been their job) I have contacted ITA directly and they inform there were no response whatsoever in their system from the agency (Despegar), not even the initial decline. My daughter should be returning in 3 days and no solution or even a response from Despegar!!!

Rating: 0/5 – Fraudulent Practices and Unacceptable Service

This company is completely fraudulent and should be avoided at all costs.

I purchased a flight ticket through their platform, but the ticket was never issued. Despite this, my credit card was charged twice, and no refund has been provided to date. Customer service was unhelpful and refused to reverse the charges.

This business clearly does not know what it’s doing and operates in a manner that raises serious concerns about fraud. I strongly urge others not to purchase anything from this company.

Report them to the appropriate authorities if you’ve experienced similar issues.

Do not use this company at all, avoid at all costs. Booked a ticket from Cusco to lima and Lima to Jauja for my elderly mother in-law.

On arriving at Lima she was informed that no plane was flying to Jauja. No contact from the company at all and had to arrange a bus at additional cost.

The ticket we paid for cost
S/. 340... No offer of refund for the second flight she couldn't even take or compensation for the bus journey that we had to purchase also.

When we asked for a refund in writing, after 30 days they sent S/.32. A complete joke. Stick to trusted companies like Latam & avoid this one that is basically stealing customers money.

Worst customer service in the market hands down.
They arent responsible for anything and only facilitate between airlines and users, roviding the worts, and down right negligent, servicer to ever exsist

Same situation with refund scam! At web site it says 96 hours. It’s been a week, and I didn’t get my refund.

I canceled the flight at the same day that I made the reservation due to poorly costumer service, at website- I wasn’t able to add my baby when booking online. I tried over the phone, even worse they barely spoke english. And so I cancelled.

Now I can’t get my money back.
I called, I received useless emails, and nothing is solved.

I used their WhatsApp chatbot since it was the only option available. After waiting for a long time finally a real agent showed up and asked for my name. I answered immediately but then the chatbot closed my session stating I was not there and the waiting time was over.
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Su chatbot de WhatsApp es una pérdida absoluta de tiempo. Después de esperar mucho tiempo un agente me preguntó mi nombre, respondí inmediatamente y aún así cerraron mi sesión diciendo que no ya no estaba en el chat y había terminado su tiempo de espera. Pésimo servicio.

Despegar’s refund policy is a lie. Nearly 6 months later we are still waiting and calling them and trying to resolve it.

They will not return our money that is rightfully ours. We cancelled well within their acceptable timeframe.

We’ve given them every document and file they’ve asked for, we’ve waited much longer than they’ve asked us to wait for.

We’re getting fobbed off at every turn, being told we’ll be emailed with more information - nothing. That it should be in our account within 3 days - that’s long gone.

By the looks of things this isn’t a one time thing, just look at the scores of bad reviews all over the internet telling how Despegar steal your money. Their business practices are criminal. The fact that this is allowed to continue is criminal. They conduct false advertising, lies and actively try to scam people out of their money.
Stay away and warn others!

Don't trust this company. They cancel your reservations with no reason and don't refund your money

I could give this agency a zero if there was an option, they are a bunch of thief, I mad a reservation and they change the time of my flight, I din't even had the chance to do anything about it because it was already confirmed when I got the email, I called to try to change it, but the useless of the man kept saying that I would have to pay the fee if I want to change it, what isn't fair since it was my fault, so I lost $160 for those bunch of thief, I will never book anything with them again. STAY WAY FROM THIS PLACE, THEY WILL ROB YOU.