Gate 1 TravelReviews of gate1travel.com

A poor customer service experience with Gate 1. My wife and I have been on 8 different Gate 1 trips over the past 20 years that went smoothly. We were to travel for our 10 day tour of Sicily on April 17. On that morning we received an email that our United Airlines plane from Newark to Zurich was canceled. We called Gate 1 and Tina Peterson arrange an alternative earlier flight from JFK, but our return flight would be to Newark. She explained that when we arrived at JFK, to tell United/Swiss Air to book us on their shuttle. When we got to JFK after talking to numerous people, we discovered their was no shuttle. Over the next several days talking with our tour guide, Ahmet and finally Randi at Gate 1, we were told that this was our problem. Randi refused to let us talk to her supervisor. They were unwilling to solve a problem they created. This took many hours, numerous phone calls and intense aggravation, impacting what should have been a pleasant trip. Since Tina told us the wrong information, we think Gate 1 should fix the problem they created. They could have changed our return flight to land at JFK, or at least offered to pay for the $150. cab ride. We will never travel with them again, they can’t be trusted when things go wrong. They are losing a loyal customer for the sake of $150.

They canceled our trip to Peru. We bought insurance and didn't get our flight money or insurance back. Kept getting the run around from Gate one and jet blue. They kept blaming each other. Stay away from these companies they will stick it to you. Our group lost alot of money.

We are a group of four women who wanted to book a 9-day Classic National Parks Tour with Gate 1. We decided on one date to depart and another for a backup. We called late Thursday (4/20/23) evening, no one answered. We called again Friday (4/21/23) at 9:00 a.m. Three of us already had accounts. One one of us did not. The agent had to setup this account twice, as he lost the first one. We also got disconnected from Gate 1 and they called us back. He also read info to us which took up more time. After 45 minutes, I just had to give him my credit card number. When I gave him my info, the agent stated there is only room for two on the bus, not four. He then wanted to know if the two people were willing to tour without the other two. This entire experience was a nightmare! In addition, there wasn't one supervisor available that I could speak to. A supervisor called me three days later saying the agent followed the correct protocol. It appears customer service is non-existent at Gate 1. They are not the only game in town. I will be using other companies for my future trips. There replies are just computer generated. It appears like they are reaching out to customers who are dissatisfied. But, as usual, Gate 1 does nothing to rectify any complaint. How many of you have heard from them since your negative review?

Below is my review of our recent tour with Gate 1: This is their response: $75 pay off for the inconvenience. I’m laughing out loud for the first time since I went through the horrible ordeal in my travel with Gate 1. ————-my review———— My husband and I took two recent trips with Gate 1 Travel, one to Iceland in January and one to Spain and Portugal from March 15 to 25, 2023. The first one, to Iceland, was a wonderful experience in every way. The second, to Spain and Portugal, was an awful experience filled with anxiety and needless difficulties. What was the difference between the two trips? It was the tour managers. Our experience with Nico in Spain and Portugal has convinced us that we cannot count on Gate 1 for any future travel. Here’s an outline of why.  —I have a condition in which I experience extreme nausea sitting in the middle or back of buses. I actually throw up in such situations. This condition is verified by doctors.  —When traveling to Iceland, our tour manager there accommodated my request to sit at the front of the bus throughout the tour. Another member of our group had similar needs and was also accommodated. This accommodation caused no trouble among the rest of the members of our group.  —Because I could see that Gate 1’s written policy states that tour members must rotate in their seats and there are no exceptions to this policy, before our next trip (to Spain and Portugal) I contacted Gate 1 multiple times to check whether accommodations could be made for me to sit in front of the bus. I was told that such decisions are at the discretion of the tour manager, and I understood this to mean that accommodations are possible even if not guaranteed. My further inquiries about this were unanswered.  —At the beginning of our tour in Spain and Portugal, I told Nico of my needs and offered to show him a medical certificate I brought with me. He did not want to see the certificate, and he told me that he was instructed by the home office that he could not make exceptions to the seat rotation rule and that his directive was to maintain harmony among the members of the group. If he was indeed told this by the home office, it indicates a contradictory policy in the company because the directive doesn’t match what I was told earlier that tour managers have discretion.  —In any case, Nico did exercise discretion and did make an exception for me (apparently contradicting the directive he said he was given) and allowed me to sit in the front seat next to him during much of the tour. But he made sure to tell me that he reported the fact that the tour manager in Iceland had made an accommodation for me. Nico told me that that tour manager would be fired for doing so. This caused me great distress and set the tone for the remainder of the tour.  —During the tour, Nico told a tour guide not to answer my questions, saying that I ask too many questions. He told the guide this in Spanish. My husband speaks Spanish and overheard it. On another occasion, Nico told another tour guide, also in Spanish, to be careful what he said because my husband could understand Spanish. The fact that such conversations occurred further damaged our trust.   —In Barcelona, Nico said I would not be able to sit in the front seat with him during the trip to the Gaudi Monuments — the most highlighted and popular attraction in the city — because he would need the space so he could do paperwork during the journey. As a result, I could not ride on the bus for that trip and missed out.  —At another point, we wanted to take a train to a destination but did not want to do so if it would mean taking all of our luggage. Nico told us that he would be able to keep our large luggage on the bus. Because he told us this, we were willing to book the train, and Nico helped us book it. But just before the train trip, Nico told us that he would not be able to keep our luggage for us after all. Later, we met another group that was also on a Gate 1 tour. The members of that group had taken the train to their destination and all of them were able to leave their luggage on a bus. So there was a contradiction between how Nico handled us and how another tour manager handled a separate group.  These are just a few points among several that could be made. I have tried to be brief in my description of what happened, and as a result, the full sense of how unpleasant our experience was may not be completely apparent. But it indeed was. The way Nico dealt with us left us feeling demeaned and relegated to nuisance status.

I took a Gate1 tour, represented as a 15-day tour with a Friday departure, which was January 27, 2023. I also paid for two additional nights at the Frangipani Royal Palace Hotel & Spa for which I was charged $159.00. Because the tour was advertised as beginning on January 27, 2023, it was my expectation that the two additional nights I paid for provided accommodations for January 25 and 26. Even though I requested this in approximately July 2022, I was not told until weeks before the trip (after I made flight reservations) that Gate1 used my money to pay for January 26 and January 27, because Gate1 had not reserved accommodations for the beginning of its own advertised tour. The Frangipani was run down and did not have a spa, as advertised and was extremely overpriced. Because I found out at the last minute that I had no place to stay upon my arrival on January 25 (because Gate1 used my money to pay for January 27 without my consent), I was required to make separate reservations; Frangipani charged me $100. Not only did Gate1 fail to provide accommodations for January 27 (Day 1), there were no activities for January 27, the day the tour was supposed to begin. Additionally, there were no activities scheduled for January 28 (Day 2), the second day of the alleged 15-day tour. There were additional days "at leisure" or pay an additional charge for activities. The alleged 15-day tour was, in fact, only 9 days of scheduled activities. Gate 1 admits that “[f]or any escorted tour, Day One is the date of departure from your gateway city; in this case it would have been January 27[,]” but then makes the incredible claim that I opted to arrive early for two pre-tour nights at the hotel, as if this changed Gate 1’s advertised start date of its tour. Gate1 admits that “[a]t no time, did we book or charge you for the night of January 25," the night for which I paid. EXACTLY! At best this is deceptive advertising. This was my first and last tour with Gate1. Travel with them at your peril. You’ve been warned. If there were minus numbers to rate Gate1, I would give them no less than a -5. I’ve also filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission so, hopefully, if there are enough complaints, it will investigate Gate1.

We have gone on 4 trips and loved them all but we learned the that they own the flight until the flight. If the flight is cancelled, they simply cancel the flights for the entire trip and rebook at last minute rates without any credit for what has already been paid. While in transit, we were denied boarding on our second flight. I called both the US and European "emergency" numbers twice to indicate that we were unable to participate in the tour. NO ONE answered. They are refusing any compensation because I didn't cancel the tour. We couldn't get to the tour; they were unavailable for us to cancel; but they claim they are blameless.

Horiabel can not reach the company.

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.