Traveltriangle — forced travel during pandemic and inhuman behaviour

Address:	Devngar, Jalpaiguri
Website:	www.traveltriangle.com

I'm writing this to you to share my worst travel experience so far and the inhuman treatment i got from travel triangle for my honeymoon tour to bali.

I had made a booking for honeymoon bali trip from mumbai from march 16th to 22nd, 2020 through flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited agency tied up with travel triangle. I had made full advance payment of rs. 63, 100/ by february 10, 2020 in 4 installments.
My honeymoon destination and the entire itinerary was surprise for my wife.

Seeing the severity of the coronavirus - covid 19 outbreak which was unexpected to spread and, become pandemic in such a short time and the instructions of indian government to refrain from travel and various new actions being taken each day to curb the spread of virus in india, i had requested both traveltriangle and flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited to postpone my trip a week before the departure i. E. On 9th march 2020. Till then i hadn't received any booking vouchers from travel triangle. I had received booking vouchers on 11th & 12th march 2020 at 10:04 pm.

Travel triangle wasn't even bothered to respond to the messages sent through their mobile app and their appointed travel triangle trip executive i. E. Pooja gautam had resigned from the organisation and was not reachable on the call (I got to know about her resignation on 13th march 2020 when she messaged me on whatsapp).

Hence, i had to contact the agent flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited executive i. E. Mr. Indranil, who said that we won't be able to postpone the tour on such a short notice as there is no harm in traveling to bali as it is not affected by virus nor any ban is imposed to travel to bali. Hence, it's your choice to travel or not, we can't postpone or cancel the tour. Thus, i was forcefully traveling to bali as i was not getting any refund nor my tour was being postponed due to pandemic.

2 days before the departure i. E. On 15th march 2020, i again tried to contact travel triangle (For call back as assigned executive i. E. Pooja gautam was not responding) and flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited to postpone my tour as government of india started imposing ban on travel departure and arrival in and from various countries. That time flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited executive mr. Indranil said we could have postponed the tour one week before, which i had asked him to do earlier on 9th march 2020.

With no choice left i took the risk to travel to bali for honeymoon with a fear of coronavirus and anytime imposement on travel by bali or indian government.

On the very first day i. E. 16th march 2020 when we were taken to rhadana hotel i was asked to wait in lobby for 2 hours as the check-in time was 2 pm and we were informed in the itinerary that check in time was at 12 noon (Which is the check-out time of the hotel). We rested for the day after waiting for 2 hours in the lobby.

On the second day i. E. 17th march 2020 we traveled for sightseeing as per the itinerary.

On the third day i. E. 18th march 2020, indian government imposed ban on travelers coming from or via kuala lumpur and hence our return flight mh 194 (Booking id: nn[protected] with malaysia airlines on 22nd march got cancelled and then the entire breakdown of the tour started, as this is what we were predicting to happen and discussed with mr. Indranil.
We informed mr. Indranil about the scenario of ban on travel and flight cancelation. Upon that he asked us to check return flights first and then focus on tour. As per itinerary we went for water sports hardly for 2 hours, hurriedly completed it (We wanted to do few extra activities which i had discussed with mr. Indranil before the tour as we won't be coming to bali any time sooner which we couldn't do).
Then we were taken to airport to check on flights, and there was no response at airport due to all flights grounded and huge number of indians stuck there. Hence, we went to malaysia airline office raised a complaint and then we went for cruise sunset dinner in hurry.in this entire mess we didn't get time to have lunch.
On cruise i was busy checking flights and news from india and couldn't enjoy a bit of the cruise with my wife. Entire day was wasted and i was in tension. While i was on cruise, the flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited team asked us to catch first flight to india next day and get out of bali as they got the news that bali government is also going to impose travel and hence we should leave bali on immediate basis. These all predictions we had discussed with mr. Indranil who smartly avoided them and made us travel and got us stuck in nowhere.

On fourth day i. E. 19th march 2020 we checked out of rhadana hotel at 8:30 am on just breakfast, went to airport to check for available flights which were scoot airlines (Only online booking option available and there was no surety on online booking as it would get canceled anytime which flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited team informed us) or singapore airline (Which was charging heavy rates which was not affordable for us). With no help at airport we went to indian embassy where we were again asked to leave bali on immediate basis as indian government had declared full lockdown from 21st midnight and starting of 22nd march 2020. This is what we were worried and had discussed with mr. Indranil when he denied to postpone the tour.
Hence, our this day was occupied and wasted on checking tickets at domestic & international airport as half of the airline offices were based on either of the airports and embassy. My wife was getting ill due to all running over the place in bali with empty stomach and scorching heat over the head. At this point at 2 pm i gave up on any flight booking via airport, hence, thought to go to hotel and check in and have some rest and relax and check for online ticket available at the risk of getting canceled at any moment.
At this point i had a call with mr. Indranil where we had a fight. He was rude saying that i was more concerned about completing and enjoying the tour. This is what he said - mein dekh raha 2 din se aapko tour jyaada important hai. Aapko return nahi jaana. Sab samaj raha hai mujhe. Being his customer is this the way he should talk when i have booked the tour, i am in problem and stuck stranded because he denied to postpone the tour, i am running everywhere to get out of bali and was tired because of all this mess and wanted to rest for sometime. And i hung up the call.
Later he again called and asked to go for spa and again go to airport and check for tickets. I don't understand when i already went and checked at airport why i was forced to go there and direct instructions were given to driver to take us to airport only. I had to force him to let me go to hotel and check-in, i will book flight online and leave bali and then mr. Indranil agreed.
We reached amatara abirama villa after having spa (Out of the entire day itinerary) at 6.30 pm. We went into the room and by 7:30 pm we got call from the reception to go and get health certificate from clinic that we are fit and fine to stay and travel anywhere which costed is additional rs. 3, 312/- which could have been avoided if the tour was postponed. We had our dinner and left for clinic informed by the hotel at 9 pm on bike given by hotel with unfamiliar dark roads, with no traffic on road and surrounded by thick dense forest which was risky. We got checked by doctor, paid the amount and got certificate, simultaneously we booked tickets, reached hotel submitted the health certificate and packed our bags we had to check out from hotel at 7:15 am to reach airport well in time as there might be rush for departure.

On fifth day i. E. 20th march 2020 we left for airport early morning and our next 3 days itinerary was wasted with ambiguity on refund on the canceled days. I tried to understand from the flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited team on the refund for the remaining days and all the canceled itineraries to which they said we are not sure, right now you book flights and get out of bali, refund can be checked later if possible.

Hence, my entire surprise honeymoon tour for my wife was spoiled and ruined because of travel triangle and flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited.

Inspite of them, having the information about the pandemic outbreak, travel tirangle and flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited team insisted that we travel or nothing would be refunded. This kind of behavior by the company is in-human. Also the indian government had already given travel advisory wherein they had mentioned clearly to refrain from travel.
Inspite of knowing all the above facts, they have been terming it as willful cancellation and no refund will be given if we don't turn up. Kindly let me know cancelling a trip to a region when there is a pandemic outbreak and when the government of india has asked not the travel is "will full cancellation"?

I suppose that travel triangle is fraud and they squeeze money from customers and not even respond to them.

Travel triangle and its agent flytrail backpackers tour travel opc private limited denied to postpone the tour.
Hence, i didn't complete my tour and didn't enjoy the tour. Instead i faced mental stress and trauma and also had to pay additional charges for doctor visit, new return flight booking and various other things.

I am expecting travel triangle to give me full refund of my honeymoon tour to bali (Booking id: 6297356) with all the additional payments made by me of rs. 3, 312/- for doctor's health certificate and return flight charges of rs. 57, 689/- which i had to pay because of your mistakes and denial to postpone the tour.

I would like to bring to travel triangle notice that we have booked sri lanka tour through you, where your agent agreed to postpone the tour without any additional charges considering the pandemic outbreak. Hope you consider this and check in your records for the same.

I also checked with other tour operators if any guidelines or advisory was shared by government of india from refraining travel to any countries for their clients and i got to know that government had share a notification. While we were in bali, news was shared with us by tour operator about a notice issued by bali government on travel impose. Most of the tour operators had agreed to postpone tours of their clients by charging same amount or by additional difference amount which i had agreed to do but i wasn't given that option at any point.