STA Travel Deutschland Reviews 670

At the beginning, we were quite satisfied with STA but then ... there was Corona.
Since then we are waiting to get back our money. I don't know how many E-Mails we wrote, how many calls we had, ... After a while we got a E-Mail that we will get the refund within 60 days. Now the 60 days are over. No money.
We will never bock with them again!!!

I booked my flights bevor Covid and recived good customer care. I was really happend. But starting in May nobody responded to me or had no idea about my booking. Email response took a long time.
Then my flights where cancelt and we agreed to the refund. After this nothing from STA anymore. Even there was no notification about the Insolvenz and how it would go on for customers like me. I know this is a difficult situation but a good cutkmer service should inform and update.

We've had the exact same experience... We travelled to New Zealand with sta at the beginning of this year. Our flights home were cancelled and we have been waiting for our refund ever since. Staff at the sta centre in Heidelberg is truly unhelpful. I cannot recommend booking with them.

Wir warten seit Monaten auf die Rückerstattung unserer Flüge, die seitens der Airline storniert wurden. Das Büro in Heidelberg tut nichts. Sehr frustrierend!!

[English below]
In der Vergangenheit bin ich öfters mit STA gereist und war immer sehr zufrieden. Mit meinen aktuellen Erfahrungen kann ich nur jedem davon abraten, bei STA zu buchen.
Von Ende Februar bis Mitte April bin ich mit STA Travel rumgereist. Aufgrund von Corona wurde während der Reise ein Teil der gebuchten Rundreise vom Veranstalter storniert und mein Rückflug gecancelt. Schließlich musste ich mit der Rückholaktion der Bundesregierung zurückgeholt werden.
Aufgrund der europäischen Rechtslage steht mir für all dies eine Rückerstattung zu (schätzungsweise zwischen 1000€ und 1500€), die ich Mitte April bei STA Travel angefordert hatte. Zunächst wurde ich mehrfach vertröstet; mittlerweile werden meine E-Mails vollkommen ignoriert. STA versucht offensichtlich, mich um das Geld zu betrügen. Obwohl mir die Rückerstattung rechtlich zusteht, muss ich mir nun auf eigene Kosten einen Anwalt suchen. Ich finde, STA verhält sich verbrecherisch und ich kann nur jeden davor warnen, bei STA eine Reise zu buchen.

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In the past I have travelled with STA several times and was always very satisfied. With my current experience, I can only advise anyone not to book with STA Travel.
From the end of February until mid-April I travelled with STA. Due to Corona, part of the booked round trip was cancelled by the tour operator during the trip and my return flight was cancelled, too. Finally I had to be brought back with the repatriation flightd of the German government.
Due to the European legal situation I am entitled to a refund for all of this (estimated between 1000€ and 1500€), which I had requested from STA Travel in mid-April. At first I was put off several times; meanwhile my e-mails are completely ignored. STA is obviously trying to cheat me out of the money. Although I am legally entitled to a refund, I now have to find a lawyer at my own expense. I think STA is behaving criminally and I can only warn everyone not to book a trip with STA.

I spent a lot of money for rebooking my flight from NZ- Germany to Australia - Germany and then because of the current situation back to NZ - Germany. Just to get the message that my flight got cancelled. That would be totally fine if I would receive some support from STA Travel. I expect at least the offer of another flight back home. But no. They told me, that because of the current situation nothing is flying internationally from NZ. That's logical for me, but to tell me that I probably don't get my money back for my cancelled flight and I just should book something new with another Airline (via STA...) in 2 months (!!!) is just impertinently.

I would never book my flight with STA again.
(Btw... they need at least one week to answer easy questions. I know that it is a special time at the moment, but its their job to help me. And I cant just wait week after week, because of my visa which is running out.)

Great long term Travel Insurance!
I am always very happy about what's covered and how flexible I am in case the trip lasts longer (or needs to be shortened). Super friendly and super easy to sort out online, via mail or over the phone. Thanks!

I have now booked a trip to Australia, New Zealand and Bali. It's my first time traveling on my own and I thought the whole process was very daunting, from organising the flight tickets with the airlines to organising the right dates and times for me to visit each country.

I phoned the STA travel agency, and my travel agent Hugh, was very patient with me, answered all my queries organised all the dates and times and found me a very good deal for my itinerary, than if I had just booked it myself.

So thank you again!

German site.. horrible customer service with zero engagement and not very helpful. Just a simple "can't help you there" and done is.

Sehr enttäuschend, email Verkehr war kurz angebunden und nicht sehr hilfreich.

Ben (didn't catch his surename) was unbelievably helpful, by far the best customer service I've ever experienced. Ben definitely should be promoted for this as I believe other workers would benefit from his advice.

The reason I haven't given this company 5 stars is because we haven't yet been on our trip.
Our experience so far is that our travel agent (James Gregory in Portsmouth branch) has been reassuring, enthusiastic and professional.
He is relatively new in post but he asks his colleagues when he is unsure of the answer to our queries. He understands what we want out of our trip, and I trust he is offering us the best prices he can find.
He responds to our emails and telephone calls in good time, and we haven't actually had to visit the branch as we are from Wales.
James also took it upon himself to look up a flight change to best suit our plans. We were able to do this as we purchased a flexipass.
So far had a positive experience with flight bookings, and only had to put down a small deposit.

Pity I can give it ZERO
DONT USE THIS COMPANY
TOTAL RIP OFF
On sky scanner price to Bangkok return £759.00 then you go to their site to book suddenly within 30 seconds price goes up to £998.00 because they know you want flight.
I am reporting them to trading standards on Monday and I hope they enforce a order on these rip off merchants.

At first I thought the company was great but after I picked the tip I wanted to go on, although expensive I believed worth it, the price just kept going up and up with add ons. At first it was the flights and a hotel to stay in, they agreed they would pay for the hotel as I spent so much but then just put me on two night flights so there was no hotel. There was no mention of Visa's or anything at point of sale and after going on the website it looks like it is going to cost me hundreds more as I am going to quite a few different countries in Africa. The cost of this trip just seems to go up and up and they haven't really helped with anything seen as this is my first trip by myself. I'm not really impressed with the service, the sales person who sold me the trip has now left and my trip continues to go up in price. Don't think I would travel with the company again