BEWARE: Cathay Pacific India — Payment Deducted, No Ticket, Appalling Customer Service
On 2nd May 2026, I booked a flight directly on Cathay Pacific's official website as a guest user. I paid ₹90,458 via UPI through HDFC Bank. My Google Pay receipt clearly shows three green confirmations — Payment started, Payment received by Cathay Pacific Airlines, and Purchase confirmed. UPI Transaction ID: [protected].
Despite the payment going through successfully, I never received a ticket or booking confirmation email.
What followed was an absolute nightmare:
1. DEFLECTION TO THIRD PARTY: Multiple agents on WhatsApp kept telling me to contact a travel agency called eTraveli. I never saw eTraveli mentioned anywhere on Cathay Pacific's website. I never agreed to book through a third party. I paid Cathay Pacific directly. When I pointed this out, agents continued to deflect. It is completely unacceptable to secretly use a backend travel agency without informing customers and then blame them for it.
2. CONTRADICTORY INFORMATION: Different agents told me completely different things — some said contact eTraveli, some said payment is floating, one eventually admitted it was a website timeout/maintenance issue and that a refund would be processed within 7 days. No two agents gave the same answer.
3. REFUSAL TO PROVIDE WRITTEN CONFIRMATION: Despite admitting fault, Cathay Pacific agents refused to send any confirmation email about the refund. They claimed emails are 'system generated only.' They also refused to provide any refund reference number or ARN tracking number.
4. MENTAL AGONY: I spent an entire night — over 23 hours after the transaction — chasing agents on WhatsApp, getting deflected, contradicted and gaslit. ₹90,458 is not a small amount. The stress caused was immense.
I have now escalated to HDFC Bank, HDFC Escalation Team, and NPCI. I have full WhatsApp chat screenshots and UPI payment proof.
Cathay Pacific's website has a known technical issue with payment timeouts — they are aware of it — yet they continue to deflect customers instead of proactively resolving it. This is a systemic failure and a consumer rights violation.
I urge other customers to be extremely careful booking on Cathay Pacific's website in India, especially via UPI.
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