Kiwi.com is an online travel agency that was launched in 2012. The company was initially known as SkyPicker.com but it later changed its name to Kiwi.com. This travel agency is currently headquartered in the Czech Republic (Brno, precisely) but it offers services to users in different parts of the world. It also has offices and partners in so many countries, including the United States, so that it will be closer to its users. This is to say that no matter where you are reading this Kiwi.com review, you can visit the travel agency right now and open an account with it.
Kiwi.com is basically known for selling air tickets. That is, you can buy your flight tickets through the agency’s website or its mobile app. However, as a result of its partnership with other providers, you can also enjoy other services, such as accommodation booking and car rental, through the company.
But, is Kiwi.com legit? Does it offer what it promises? Can it be trusted? What do people say about the online travel agency?
These are some of the questions we are going to answer in this Kiwi.com review. Here, we will give you a glimpse of what we know about this online travel agency so you can decide whether you should trust it enough to use it to book services for your next trip or not. Well, let’s start this journey around Kiwi.com to know what it has to offer you.
How Does Kiwi.com Work?
Kiwi.com is a travel agency that helps travelers to find cheap flights, hotel accommodations, and car rentals for their trips. The agency does not own any of the airlines or hotels it publishes on its website. What it does is it uses A1 to find available flights and accommodations that match what a user requested. When it does that, it will help the user to book flights or accommodation through its site. But then, if the user prefers to book directly from the airline or hotel owner, he is free to do that. But he should not go through the Kiwi.com website for that.
But if you want to book a hotel room through Kiwi.com, you will have to pay for the service through its site or mobile app. If you’re visiting the site to book accommodation, you may find hotels that will allow you to pay on site. This means you can reserve a room through Kiwi.com and then pay for it when you finally arrive at your destination. However, if you’re visiting the site to book a flight, you must pay for your ticket through the travel agency.
So, in summary, Kiwi.com will allow you to book flights and hotel rooms as well as rent cars through its website or mobile app. Remember that none of the services you pay for through Kiwi.com is offered by the travel agency. Its job is just to search through the internet for deals and offers from different airlines, hotels, car rentals, and service companies and then bring whatever it finds to you. So, you have to be sure of the company you’re contracting to provide you with the best services during your trip. That is, you have to do a little background check on the providers you found in Kiwi.com’s search results before booking their services.
Is Kiwi.com Legit or a Scam?
Of course, Kiwi.com is legit. In the first place, it is a travel agency that is duly registered with the government of Czech Republic. In addition to that, it has offices and partners in different parts of the world. If Kiwi.com is a scam, it will not be able to find reputable partners in countries, such as the United States, or be allowed to operate in many others.
Another thing that can tell you that Kiwi.com is not a scam is that it has been operating since 2012, when it was launched. If it has been defrauding its users, it would have been shut down a long time ago. This would have happened after a lot of Kiwi.com reviews surface online and warned people to stay away from the agency. But that hasn’t happened so far.
So, to answer this question, “Is Kiwi.com legit?” we will like to say that Kiwi.com is a legitimate online travel agency that helps its users in different parts of the world to plan their trips according to their budgets. It helps them to find affordable flights to and accommodations in their destinations. So, if you’re considering using the agency to plan your next trip, you may be making a good decision.
Subscription and Subscription Plans at Kiwi.com
Kiwi.com doesn’t have a paid subscription plan. You can open an account with the site right now and use it to search for flights or any other services it can help you to obtain. You can also search for flights and accommodation as well as pay for them through the site as a guest. However, if you have an account with the site, it will be easier and faster for you to process your bookings and ask for refunds. So, if you know you might need the services of this online travel agency, you can as well open an account with it right now.
Services Provided by Kiwi.com
As of the time of writing this Kiwi.com review, this travel agency offers three major services to its customers or users. Basically, the major service the agency handles is flight booking. But then, you can also book accommodation and rent cars through the Kiwi.com website. Well, we will use this section of the Kiwi.com review to find out more about these services and how they work.
Flights
As of the time of writing this Kiwi.com review, you can book flights to different parts of the world through the agency’s website or mobile app. The good thing about this agency is that it uses artificial intelligence to find cheap flights that will take you to your destination and then bring them to you. It even boasts of seeing cheap flights that are hidden from other online travel agencies. Whether this is true or not is unknown to us but we can guarantee that the site can help you to find flights that suit your specifications and also give you the window for booking your tickets through its platform. This will make things easier for you as you plan your trip.
If you don’t want to book your flight through the agency’s website or mobile app, you can use it to search for available flights to your destination. When you find what you are looking for, you can then visit the airline’s website directly and purchase a ticket. But if you do not buy your flight tickets through Kiwi.com, you will not contact its customer support team if you have issues with your reservation. For instance, if you decide to cancel your trip, or you find yourself in an unfortunate situation because the airline canceled or rescheduled your trip to a date that isn’t convenient, you can’t contact Kiwi.com to follow up on your refund application because you didn’t buy your flight ticket through the agency.
Nevertheless, in this section of the Kiwi.com review, we are going to assume that you are going to buy your flight ticket through the site or the Kiwi.com mobile app. So, whenever you want to find and book a flight through this online travel agency, you should bear the following tips in mind:
- First of all, you have to log into your Kiwi.com account to start searching for flights. This is not to say that you can’t search for flights if you didn’t log into your account or even have an account with the site. However, you have a lot to benefit from the agency if you search for flights through your Kiwi.com account. So, if you don’t have a Kiwi.com account currently, you should do your best to open one today.
- On the homepage of the Kiwi.com website, you will find a box that will collect some information about your trip. That is where you are going to state your destination, departure station, number and age of individuals traveling, the type of ticket you want, and so on. Please, provide accurate information in the box because that will help you to find the right airlines for your trip.
- Kiwi.com will use A1 to find the best deals from airlines that match your specifications. When it gathers them, it will publish the list for you to view and make a choice. You should remember to relax and go through the list one after the other to find the best deal. You should check the given ticket prices, deals for bags and baggage, and the terms and conditions attached to the tickets. In fact, you need to click on each of the airlines you feel may be the real deal to find out whether it is truly what you should go for. If you finally decide to settle for one, you can go ahead and complete the booking process.
- Remember to provide the correct name or names of the individuals that will use the tickets. You may not be able to correct them afterward.
Accommodations
You can also book accommodations through Kiwi.com. Actually, you will be redirected to the Booking.com website to book your accommodation when you click “Rooms” on the main menu of the Kiwi.com website. This is to say that Kiwi.com isn’t the agency that will manage your accommodation booking even though it has the service option on its homepage main menu. However, the two agencies seem to be in a sort of partnership that allows them to provide accommodation services to their users.
When you want to search for rooms through Kiwi.com (Booking.com actually), you will be asked to provide the destination, check-in date and check-out date, the number of adults and children that will use the accommodation as well as the number of rooms you are going to reserve. With this information, Kiwi.com will publish a list of hotels and serviced apartments that have the kind of rooms that meet your specification.
Remember to go through the order page of the rooms Kiwi.com brought to you before you settle for one. You will find a lot of information about the accommodation and the policies guiding the hotel. If you like what you found on the order page of any room, you can go ahead and book it. Otherwise, you should continue your search until you get the right place that will give you what you want for the trip.
Car Renting
As of the time of writing this Kiwi.com review, you can rent cars through the agency. So far, the leading car rental brands you may find at the site are Hertz, Europcar, Avis, Alamo, Thrifty, Budget, National, and Dollar. You can begin the process of booking this service by clicking “Car” on the main menu of the Kiwi.com website.
Payment Methods and Accepted Currencies at Kiwi.com
As of the time of writing this Kiwi.com review, you can use your local currency to pay for services and flights. Well, it all depends on where you’re booking the services from. However, currently, the agency accepts a lot of currencies for payment. These include US Dollars, Euro, Pound Sterling, Canadian Dollars, New Zealand Dollars, and many others. You should check the main menu of the site’s homepage for the list of accepted currencies. If yours is there, you should select it when you want to pay for a service. You can select it before searching for flights or accommodations so you can see prices in your local currency. That way, you will be able to select what meets your budget.
Currently, Kiwi.com accepts payments made through different kinds of cards. These include the commonly used credit and debit cards, especially Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, JCB, Diner Club International, American Express, Discover, and Mir.
If you have an account with Kiwi.com, you can use your account credit to pay for booked services. The Kiwi.com Credits may be funded in different ways, the commonest being through refunds.
You can also pay for booked services with PayPal, China UnionPay, and Alipay. Note that as of the time of writing this Kiwi.com review, the online travel agency does not accept checks (cheques), bank transfers, and any other payment option that isn’t mentioned above.
Does Kiwi.Com Have a Mobile App?
Yes, Kiwi.Com has a mobile app that is compatible with Android and iOS operating systems. The app can help you to search and book cheap flights, reserve accommodations, or rent cars through the travel agency. You can also use the app to receive notifications about any updates the site has for you. This means you can use your iPhone, iPad, Android smartphone, or tablet to access Kiwi.com and use it to plan your trip.
If you want to download Kiwi.com mobile app, you should search for it on Google Play Store or Apple App Store, depending on the type of phone you’re using. Alternatively, you should visit the Kiwi.com website and use the link for downloading this app.
Refunds, Cancellations, and Changing Bookings at Kiwi.com
One of the questions and complaints people raised in several Kiwi.com reviews border around the agency’s cancellation and refund policies. Well, to make things clear here, Kiwi.com has a refund policy that is fair to its customers as well as the service providers (usually the airlines). Well, without wasting much time, here are some terms and conditions guiding cancellation and refunds as of the time of writing this Kiwi.com review.
- First of all, you need to know that you can only be refunded if the carrier cancels your trip. This is also possible if the flight isn’t rescheduled. So, your chance of receiving a refund when you cancel your trip is very slim.
- If you cancel your trip at least 48 hours before the departure time, you are likely going to receive a refund. However, the type of ticket you bought will determine whether you will receive a full refund or not. Here are some of the things we discovered in the case of ticket types and refunds:
- If you purchase the Saver Ticket, you may not receive a full refund when you cancel your trip.
- If you opt for the Standard Ticket, you may receive a part of the money you paid for the ticket.
- If you buy the Flexi Ticket, you will receive 90% of the amount you paid as a refund if you cancel your trip 48 hours before departure.
- Kiwi.com has a unique service it calls Kiwi.com Guarantee. You can pay for this service while booking your flights. When this Kiwi.com Guarantee is added and activated in your booking arrangement, you will receive your full refund if you cancel your trip at least 48 hours before departure.
How to Obtain Support at Kiwi.com
You can contact the Kiwi.com customer support team through live chat and email. But before doing that, you should first go through the Frequently Asked Questions page of the site to be sure the question you have hasn’t been answered there.
What Do People Say About Kiwi.Com?
We searched through several Kiwi.com reviews to find out what people are saying about the travel agency. From what we could see, Kiwi.com is not doing badly even though it has room for improvement. One of the key areas it needs to look into is the refunding process. A lot of people complained that they did not receive their money after canceling their flights. This to say that you have to remember the policies guiding refunds and stick to them to avoid making mistakes or losing your money. The good thing here is that this Kiwi.com review has shown you the refund terms and conditions of this agency so you will know what to do before booking any services through the agency.
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Let’s Wrap It Up
This Kiwi.com review must have shown you what this travel agency offers. You must have also discovered how to book services through its site or mobile app. Another thing here is that we brought what we discovered about the agency from other Kiwi.com reviews so you can determine whether you should trust the online agency to take care of travelling arrangements or not. Well, as you can see, Kiwi.com is legit and should be trusted. So, go ahead and make your reservations through the site.