Key Travel 61-95 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 6EJ

"Possibly the most hopeless travel agency ever! Not sure how they even have 3 stars. They are basically using Expedia in the most rudimentary form possible. Complete disaster! If you are a student, you are better off booking through google flights."

"If the system followed no stars at all I would've given no stars. I don't understand where the positive rating comes from at all. It is impossible to cancel a booking with them in the refundable time frame once booking is made, impossible to speak to someone who can do more than just passing on the request, impossible to raise a complaint. If you are also forced to use this agency by your university, expect to be put on hold for 2 hours and then got hung up on, expect to be put on mute when you request to raise a complaint. Be prepared for getting extremely frustrated and time and money wasted!"

"Possibly as useless as the tories and certainly as overpriced! I have no idea why they claim to be first class and award winning. About as useful as a chocolate teapot. Website is clunky and limited in options, if you call for assistance you will spend an hour on hold and be promised calls back that never arrive. I’ve wasted literal hours trying to book through this poor excuse for a company and only half of the arrangements are sorted. I could have booked my trip direct in a matter of minutes. For the love of god - companies please never use this company. Ever."

"Absolutely atrocious service. I am trying to change a flight and have been on the phone for several hours. I have been put on different waiting list to speak with more senior advisors, given no case number, contradicting information, and dealing with employees who admit that they are temp workers and very inexperienced. It seems impossible to get someone on the line who is competent and can make actual bookings."

"I'm flabbergasted by how painful it's been to deal with Key Travel. In two instances, I've needed to get in contact with an agent—in the first case, I spent 2h30 hours on hold, and in the second one, I'm spent no less than 5h45 on hold without ever successfully reaching someone. The hold process is made even more excruciating by the prerecorded message saying to use their online booking tool playing every 17 seconds. Yes, I timed it. There are few if any alternatives to waiting this out: their twitter is only sporadically active, there's no webchat, and the one time I tried to use their travel enquiry form, I never heard back at all. The second star is for the friendliness of the agents (once you've managed to get ahold of one), who were kind and patient with an understandably irate customer (Dominic and Carole, specifically). Nonetheless, for a company whose mission includes "simplifying travel complexity", it boggles the mind. I'm both angry with my university for forcing me to use Key Travel, and with Key Travel themselves for operating a business that is clearly woefully understaffed."