Travel agent Helen Rolton, part of TravelManagers, booked $15,000 flights for a family of six (two adults, four children) from Melbourne to Vietnam when Bamboo Airways was still operating in Australia. At the time, Bamboo Airways was a full-service airline, accredited by IATA, and known for its excellent business class services. Rolton believed paying for the flights upfront was a safe choice, but unfortunately, that was not the case.
“On October 3, 2023, they canceled the clients’ flights,” Rolton told Travel Weekly. “They didn’t offer an alternative, just announced they were pulling out of Melbourne and Australia and advised that refunds would be forthcoming and to submit them as usual.”
Despite submitting the refund request through IATA’s BSP system, Rolton has not received any response from Bamboo Airways. “Our BSP people have been following up, everyone’s been following up, but Bamboo are just ghosting everyone,” she said.
Rolton is not alone in facing this issue. On Facebook, another poster shared that her parents, who booked flights from Sydney to Vietnam in 2023, are still waiting for their refund after Bamboo Airways left Australia.
