Is Booking.com Legit for Flights? A Deep Dive Review

Is Booking.com legit for flights? Yes, Booking.com is a legit way to book flights, and I’ve personally successfully flown on flights booked through Booking.com (in fact, I even got a free upgrade to Business class!). However, getting customer service help or your money back is where things get tricky.

I’m a professional journalist and travel writer, and in this article I’m sharing a deep dive into booking flights through Booking.com, explaining how it works, red flags to watch out for, and everything else you need to know.

Let’s get to it!

Is Booking.com Legit for Flights? (Yes, But That’s Not the Right Question)

Yes, you can book flights through Booking.com. It’s legit, and not a scam. If you didn’t know, Booking.com is actually the largest online travel provider in the world. Yes, it beats out companies like Airbnb, Marriott, and Hilton!

However, just because you can book flights on Booking.com doesn’t mean you should. 

The potential problem is that if something goes wrong, they may not be able to help. Or at least, they could make it really difficult for you.

Even though I’ve personally had a positive experience with Booking.com flights, there are still many reports of difficulty getting customer service or refunds if something goes wrong.

There are also some reports of people booking flights through Booking.com, but when they go to check in to their flight, the airline never received their reservation.

But, just because this happened to some people, doesn’t mean it will definitely happen to you.

My goal with this article is to offer a balanced review. Below, I explain how Booking.com actually operates when it comes to flights, so you can make an informed decision. 

How Booking.com Flights Operates: Understanding the Behind-the-Scenes Operations

We all know and love Booking.com for booking hotels, but they’re less well-known for their flight booking capabilities. However, booking flights through Booking.com works in a similar way to booking hotels.

Booking.com essentially acts as a flight aggregator, scouring available airlines and third party booking platforms to show you flight options.

In this way, it’s similar to SkyScanner (although, in my experience, SkyScanner is a way better flight search platform because they scan a wider array of flight options).

A key difference between Booking.com and Skyscanner is that you can then actually book the flight directly on Booking.com. And, in some cases, these flights are the best available price (this is the only situation in which you should consider booking a flight through them, in my opinion—more on this below).

Another important layer to Booking.com’s operation is that they partner with a third party flight booking platform called Gotogate, owned by eTraveli Group (more about their partnership here). Similarly to Booking.com, Gotogate has its own controversial reviews.

What does this mean for you, though? There’s a chance that when you book a flight on Booking.com, there are actually three degrees of separation between you and the airline. You → Booking.com → Gotogate → Airline. This is what can make customer service and refunds such a pain!

Now that you understand more about the behind-the-scenes operations, I’ll share my personal (surprisingly positive!) review, and red flags to watch out for.

My Personal Review of Booking a Flight Through Booking.com

My initial experience probably sounds similar to yours. I was searching for flights on Skyscanner, and a flight route with Booking.com popped up. It was £500 (per person!) cheaper than the flights available directly with the airline. The times were also preferable—I couldn’t even find those same times available through the airline.

Trust me, I was nervous that this was a scam. Especially after getting overwhelmed by all of the negative, one-star reviews I found online of booking a flight through Booking.com. 

But, due to the great price, I took a risk and ended up booking the flight anyway. In fact, it was a multi-flight roundtrip journey of six flights in total, up to the remote Lofoten Islands. I had multiple layovers, so plenty of opportunities for things to go wrong. But, I ended up having a positive experience!

In fact, this was perhaps my best flight experience to date! When I checked in for the first leg of our journey, I saw that we were allocated business class seats and lounge access, despite having booked in economy! (I’ll explain how and why that may happen when booking flights through Booking.com further on in this article).

I’m completely aware my personal experience is just that: personal. The same goes for all of the horror stories you read in forums online. My goal in sharing this is just to offer an alternative perspective. After all, human psychology is that we’re way more likely to post a review of a negative experience than a positive or normal one.

How to Avoid Getting Scammed by Booking.com Flights (Red Flags to Watch Out For)

If you do choose to book your flights through Booking.com, then I have some advice so you can lower your chances of having a bad experience. 

Check your Booking Reference is Valid Early On 

The absolute worst reviews I’ve seen of Booking.com flights are from people whose bookings didn’t transfer to the airline. Meaning, the airline had no record of their reservation.

To offset the chance of this happening to you, I recommend checking your booking reference code is valid early on.

Then, go to your airline’s website (usually this section is called “My Trips”) and paste in your booking reference and last name.

This should then populate with your flight information. If it’s still not showing by a couple days after booking, then I recommend calling the airline and contacting Booking.com to sort this out. The sooner you do this, the more pain-free it will be.

To do this, click on the link in your email confirmation from Booking.com, and go to your booking details page. This should list your booking reference code, which your airline should recognize.

Book Special Meals or Accommodations Directly With the Airline

Once you have your booking reference from Booking.com, you can manage your flight directly with the airline, rather than going through Booking.com. 

For example, since I have celiac disease, I always have to manually reserve a gluten free meal. This was easy to do directly on our airline’s website, and I didn’t have to do anything through Booking.com.

I think that some people get confused and frustrated because they mistake Booking.com for having the role of the airline. In reality, they merely act as a travel agency. Anything like booking a special meal, mobility accommodations, reserving seats, etc. should be done through the airline.

Check In and Communicate Through the Airline

Carrying on from the above, when it’s time to check in for your flight, you will do this directly through the airline and not through Booking.com.

To do this, just use that same booking reference from the confirmation email (discussed above).

The airline should also have your contact information, received from Booking.com, but inputting this early on in the airline’s portal doesn’t hurt.

For example, one of our flights got delayed by 30 minutes, and our airline sent us an email notification. I didn’t get any correspondence from Booking.com.

This is totally normal and to be expected. Again, Booking.com is just an aggregator and booking platform, and as such it won’t take on the full role that you’d expect from the airline.

Customer Service: The Big Hangup

The major problem with booking flights through Booking.com is that if something goes wrong and you require a refund, this is reportedly very difficult to receive due to poor customer service.

Personally, I’ve had good experiences in the past with the hotels side of Booking.com’s customer service. After a few easy messages, they immediately gave me a full refund for a hotel I didn’t feel safe staying at, even though I was outside the normal cancellation policy and the hotel disagreed. However, I don’t have personal experience with their flight-related customer service.

And the people who do, well, they don’t have good things to say (at least, on the internet). According to reviews, it can be challenging to process a refund for a canceled flight through Booking.com customer service.

To get your refund, you’ll have to go through Booking.com, since they’re who you paid. But Booking.com will have to liaise with the airline to get that money back. That’s where things can get stuck.

Things get even worse in instances where Booking.com actually booked the flight through another third party like Gotogate. This creates a game of “telephone” and multiple barriers between you, your money, and the airline. 

Some people report months before they’re able to get their money back. One potential solution is, if you paid on credit card, to contact your bank about a refund. In some cases this may be an option.

In any case, this is definitely a risk when you book a flight through Booking.com. It’s something you should take into consideration.

Why You Could Get Upgraded When Booking Flights Through Booking.com

As I mentioned, I booked economy flights through Booking.com. However, my husband and I both got upgraded to business class for three out of our six flights. How did this happen, and could it happen to you?

The explanation is pretty simple. Sometimes, the booking codes that travel agencies use for airlines don’t match up to what the airlines actually use. (In this case, Booking.com is acting as a travel agency). So, Booking.com might sell you a ticket that they think is economy or premium economy, but then ends up getting coded into business.

I don’t have any formal confirmation from Booking.com or SAS (the actual airline we flew with) to confirm this was the case, but it’s likely what happened.

The Bottom Line: Is Booking.com Reliable for Flights?

You are taking a risk when you book a flight through Booking.com, the same way you are when booking flights through any third party platform. The safest option is always to book directly with the airline.

However, sometimes that’s not possible. For example, flights through the airline might be sold out, or have super high prices compared to what’s available on Booking.com.

In those cases, it’s up to your own risk tolerance whether you feel comfortable booking your flight through Booking.com. 

There are a lot of horror stories out there, but personally I had an extremely positive experience flying six flights that I booked through Booking.com. Our flight reservation went through to the airline correctly, and once the flight was booked I was able to use my reference code to manage the flight directly with our airline (for instance, reserving my gluten free meal, checking in, getting notified of a delay, etc). And as I mentioned, we even got a free business class upgrade.

It’s quite possible that I would not be reporting such a glowing review if anything had gone wrong with our flights, or if we’d needed to get a refund. That usually seems to be the sticking point in negative reviews that are posted online.

For me, the £1,000 savings (for two passengers booked on our route through Booking.com, compared to the prices available directly through the airline) felt like it was worth taking that risk.

You will have to make your own decision based on the information available to you.

I hope that this deep dive was helpful, and if you have any questions, comments, or reviews of your own experience booking a flight through Booking.com, then please leave a comment below!