7 Day Classic Kenya

We loved Gate1 until our flight that we booked through them was cancelled. We have gone on 5 trips and loved them all but we learned the hard way about their policy. They own the flight until the flight. If flight is cancelled, they simply cancel the flights for the entire trip and rebook at last minute rates. They called us to tell us it would be $2200 more and we would need to arrive a day early (meaning lose another day of work) and pay an additional $220 for hotel. This became no longer an Affordable Trip to Italy. You will be sitting in the last row of airplane next to the bathrooms if Gate 1 books your flight.

One of the best !!!!
We have been traveling with Gate1Travel many times and always enjoyed its tour guides. Not always the cheapest but the best customer service! Henry Maaravi (Israel tour guide) was the best so far! We also know many others have traveled with Gate1Travel and were impressed with the quality of the resources provided.

Horiabel can not reach the company.

I’ve taken many trips over the years with Gate 1 prior to Covid. All were exquisitely memorable and wonderful experiences! However I booked one trip where they paid for my travel because it was included. I learned from that one experience to always book my own travel. Fortunately I chose to book different return flights from China. My travel partner was stuck 3 days in the airport while I had the best experiences getting to my destination even though my flight cancelled due to a flat tire, the airline placed us in two hotels with meals and arrived in less than two days. I also learned never book travel insurance through Gate1 the hard way. Note that even if you use outside insurance they give you a hard time providing documentation. Post Covid our flights cancelled to Fiji due to a cyclone. Our travel insurance company paid us in full after 30 days. Do your homework. Protect yourself while traveling.

We planned two trips with Gate1, but never left our house neither time. It is a chaotic experience.

Our first mishap was a trip planned to Portugal with a non-stop flight from Newark, New Jersey to Portugal. The airlines pulled the plug on the direct flight and Gate1 found another flight with stopover in Germany before traveling on to Portugal. I avoid any stops when traveling overseas. It increases the chance of being stuck in a country where you change planes, so I refused the offer of a trip around the world before reaching Portugal. Gate1 did not find another direct flight for me and told me my money was NON-REFUNDABLE. To avoid losing my money I booked a trip to Ecuador instead.

Gate1 charged me an additional $100 to book the trip to Ecuador because it was to a different destination. After booking to Ecuador, 2 days before departure, an earthquake shook Ecuador. Gate1 did not send out any information to let us know what the status of the trip was, total silence on their part. The earthquake occurred on a Saturday and the departure date is on a Monday.

We were leaving our house on Sunday to fly to Miami a day before our flight to Ecuador. I received no communications from them on what the status of the trip was in light of the earthquake. W didn't now whether to proceed or stay home.

We called Gate1and found lines busy multiple times with high call volume. In the absence of any communication from Gate1 we cancelled our flights to Miami. We paid for airfare from North Carolina and booked a hotel in Miami.

We lost money on the hotel reservation and had to pay for the stay anyway. I finally got Gate1 on the phone Sunday noon only to find out that the trip was still on as far as they were concerned. They could/should have communicated that to us without our having to call them to find out. We had cancelled the flight to Miami and the hotel by now. My husband and I discussed the safety concerns and decided to cancel.

Gate 1 suggested I rebook our flight to Miami on the same day of travel. There was no way we could make it to Charlotte, NC. (2.5-hour drive from our house) and get to the airport in time to catch the last flight to Miami. Gate1 then tried to convince me to book a flight from Asheville to Miami with a 2.5-hour layover in Atlanta arriving in Miami at 1 AM in the morning. I do not have any faith in making connecting flights on time with airlines anymore. A million things can go wrong and prevent a connection. Not to mention that the airfare would have cost us over $1,200.00 to book at the last minute. We had already spent $897.00 for airfare.

The agent then told me if I could find and book a flight by 5:30 she would hold our trip. I called back at 5:07 pm and Gate1 was closed. I decided the situation could not be salvaged and cancelled the trip. You may get your money back if Gate1 cancels the trip. You get nothing if you cancel the trip close to the departure date.

Gate1 told me that my money for the trip is non-refundable because I cancelled the trip. Ok. I get that. However, Gate1 was very lax in communicating with customers in an emergency where a natural disaster has occurred in a country, they planned to take customers to. Had they sent out an email regarding the status of the trip, we could have made a more informed decision, but we were left in the dark to speculate the worst and made our decision based on lack of information from Gate1

After Gate1’s failure to communicate promptly about the situation in Ecuador, they put all the responsibility and stress on me to rectify the problem. They waited until the last minute to say whether the trip was a go and left us hanging on wondering what was happening, and what to do.

I am done with Gate1. I will never use their service or recommend them to anyone. If things go well, you can probably have a good experience, but when things go wrong, their systems are designed to protect them, not you. They need to do a better job of communicating with customers at every juncture of the trip, especially when natural disasters occur in the area where they will be traveling to. Gate1 told me they had people on the ground in Ecuador who were keeping them informed of the situation. It would be nice if Gate1 can do the same for their customers

Very poor customer service of 4 trips with Gate 1, two resulted in canceled return flights, stranded in Ecuador and again in africa. While travel agencies have no control over airline cancelations, they should at least help to get another flight. Both times i was stranded, no one from Gate 1 would assist. I had to find my own last minute flight home, pay for transportation to airport, etc. All my original flights were booked thru and by Gate 1. They have ZERO customer service and do not care if you cannot get home. Burned twice by Gate 1.