Major online airline ticket agency Sindbad suspended operations on August 23, with only customer support contact information remaining on its website, Interfax reports.
The service's support service was unable to inform the Interfax-Tourism portal when the site will resume operations. "The site is experiencing technical difficulties. I can't say exactly when it will resume operations," said a service employee.
Jānis Dzenis, PR director for travel service Aviasales, told Interfax-Tourism that Sindbad stopped responding to the service's search queries on Thursday morning, causing it to shut down automatically. "This is a standard procedure in the event of a partner experiencing technical issues. As of August 24, the agency's offers are no longer in Aviasales' search results," he said.
Yakov Dzenis added that there had been no previous indications that the company might cease operations. "The advice I can give to passengers is to check their reservations on the airline's website by entering the reservation number and last name in English in the appropriate fields," he noted.
In the spring and early summer, tourists repeatedly complained on social media about Sindbad's delays in refunding their airline tickets. "Two months have passed since I filed my involuntary refund request. Where's the money? People who bought tickets for the same flight directly from the airline received their refunds within a day of filing their request. And yes, you've stopped responding to emails," wrote one customer.
According to an agency representative on social media, they immediately transfer the money received for tickets to the airlines, so in the event of a cancellation, a refund can only be issued to the client after mutual settlement with the carrier.
"You're the only intermediary dragging their feet on refunds. The airline shouldn't be blamed; they were very prompt in their refunds. I don't think it's normal to get a refund two months after the purchase," another customer complained.
The liabilities of the online travel agency Sindbad, which has suspended its operations, to airlines may reach $10 million.
Source: trn-news.ru