Goway

UPDATED 4/20/2020:
On April 16, 2020, GoWay Travel told us that they talked to the Philippines Airlines and the Airlines agreed to refund directly to our credit card the amount paid for the flights they had to cancel because of the ban travel by the Philippines government.

We take GoWay Travel's words on its face value.

We have not heard/received any document from the Philippines Airlines about their agreement of direct refund.

We are now waiting for the refund.

Until then, we continue to GoWay Travel responsible, as the Travel Agent, to represent us to get the refund from the cancelled flights because we paid the air tickets to GoWay Travel, not to the Airlines.

Will update this post when we receive the refund

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Original post in March:

Questionable Action by GoWay in flights cancelled by the Airline

We contacted GoWay in October 2019 for a trip to Malaysia and Singapore on March 09, 2020.
Received the quote 538109 of US$18,232.84.
First payment made in November 2019 for the land deposit and air tickets.
We received The Booking Status Summary with errors of passenger names, birth dates and addresses despite our correct information was sent both in email and fax. It took two more versions before the information in the Booking Status Summary are correctly corrected (meaning there were still errors in the subsequent versions !!!)
Final payment on January 06, 2020.
After we received the Fully-PAID BOOKING STATUS SUMMARY in January 2020 from GoWay, we could not log in the airline website using the Airline Locator given in the BOOKING STATUS SUMMARY for selecting seats, upgrades, and check in. Contacted GoWay on January 19, 2020 of the problem and was told that it should be working and it is the airline problem, not GoWay's problem.We NEVER HAVE that problems with ALL the airlines that we have used, either booked on our own or booked by the travel agencies. The airline told us to contact GoWay with we want to upgrade our seats. GoWay never responded to our request (phone and email) on seat upgrades. (Very strange to me at that time because GoWay would make more with our seat upgrade of more than US$4,000.00)

On February 07, 2020, (beyond the 30 days window of the Travel date of March 09, 2020, we contacted Goway about the option of rescheduling (NOT CANCELLING) the trip because we saw the coming problem with COVID-19.
GoWay did not respond until we were in the 30 days window with the statement: (quoted)"With that being said, full cancellation fees unfortunately do apply, even if you want to move to another date. The fee right now is 100% for all arrangements. "(quoted)
We DID NOT ask for CANCELLATION. We want to reschedule the trip to a future date once the COVID-19 is over. GoWay did not respond until we were in the under-30-day period !!!
On March 09, we did not take the trip and we DID NOT CANCEL THE TRIP. We want to keep the air tickets OPEN.
On March 22, 2020 the airlines CANCELLED our return flights to comply to the new travel ban order from the government. The Airline offers the voucher for future use for passengers of those specific cancelled flight. The airline told us to contact GoWay because GoWay booked the flights.

We contacted GoWay asking GoWay to contact the airline, ON OUR BEHALF, about the offer made for passengers of those cancelled flights.

GoWay responded that, requoted below:
"When you chose to not go on your trip, the airline was flying as normal and there were NO travel advisories for Singapore and Malaysia. Normal airline fare rules applied.
When choosing to not fly, that is your choice and again, all fare rules apply accordingly.
I am not able to get you a credit or monies for the flights not taken as this was your choice not to travel – there is nothing to refund or credit."

That response is a very twisted response:
We never ask for any refunds from GoWay. We asked GoWay to do their contractual responsibility of an Agent representing their client to contact the airline.
On March 22, 2020, the airline CANCELLED the flights and they offer options for passengers of those specific flights. Our not taking the departure flights on March 09, 2020 is irrelevant to the tickets for the flights on March 22, 2020.

I started searching on the web and saw this review website.
Will search for all customers who have the same problems with GoWay.

No one is perfect, errors are made sometimes, BUT I want to customer of GoWay to be aware of these pitfalls::
1. NOT RESPONDING until the NON-CANCELLATION time window goes to effect.
2. RESPONDING with confusing message, non relevant to the issue raised.

Using their purchased mileages to pay for our air tickets??? NO UPGRADES, NO ONLINE UPGRADE, SEAT SELECTION ?????

If you're fortunate enough to be assigned the GoWay representative (his name is Michael) that I deal with, rest assured you are in good hands. Michael is attentive to detail, cost, weather and to informing you about available options that you might want to experience. I have found that GoWay's attention to design guarantee that you feel safe and can count on your dream vacations going as you planned. They are always in touch and take care of any unexpected turn of events. If I am going to invest thousands of dollar in a dream vacation I want to be assured that I am going to get the quality I paid for. GoWay is that company!

I recently sent a note of THANKS to Michael Rigillo for his guidance. Here's the letter sharing my feelings and heartfelt gratitude:

Hello Michael (Rigillo)!

I wanted to take a moment to send a formal THANK-YOU for guiding us through this difficult time of re-arranging our travel plans due to the current public health crisis. Speaking on behalf of our group of four travelers, scheduled for a trip to Scandinavia mid-May we have been the beneficiaries of your continued service as you help us through various options….it certainly has been an ever-changing landscape of information. We appreciate your diligent efforts to walk us through our options, timing for cancellation of airlines and going forward with future plans. As always, you are OUTSTANDING!

While every company/representative is navigating uncharted decisions for business practices, what I value most is the ongoing communication you maintain. When a question arises, I don’t hesitate to email you and you respond! I feel you are always monitoring your ‘Inbox’ and responding in a timely fashion. This sets a positive tone for your customers who are struggling to make the right choices. We know GOWAY is a great choice and cannot wait to begin traveling again….planning to make up for any lost time in 2020!

Through the years with a history of 4 trips + 2 more in-process, your advice has been excellent from selecting hotels to creating an itinerary that fits our needs! The process of planning is always seamless. I never hesitate to share your contact information with fellow colleagues—I know they will be pleased with your knowledge and services!

I hope in the days, months and years ahead GOWAY will continue to be my partner in travel! As I mentioned to you the other day—we will get through this pandemic and my optimistic new mantra is….”I haven’t been everywhere, but it is on my list!!”

THANK-YOU again and again Michael (Rigillo) for sharing your expertise to make every trip a wonderful adventure!

Take care—Smiles,
Donna Homenko

I have used your service for 14 years, for 14 trips to New Zealand. Our agent has always been Carolyn Bell. I saw some of these negative reviews and had to jump in and say that the service has always been fantastic. They were fabulous in getting us out of Christchurch after the 2010 earthquake.

Every time I have contacted them they been responsive and kind. I have never had any serious issues with a hotel. Yes, some may have had the odd stain on the carpet, but I don’t expect them to redecorate after every stay!! They clean, safe in decent areas of whatever town were visiting.

Every time I ask for something (like extra time between flights) Caroline does what she can. If something can’t be done , she explains why. I’ve always had great communication with Goway.

While it looks like we won’t be able to get to New Zealand this year, as soon as we are allowed to, we’ll be contacting Goway and Carolyn again!!

Thanks, Lisa

We spent approx two weeks with Goway's local tour leader in Morocco (Feb 23-Mar 9), Cynab Voyages. They did a fantastic job, from arrival to departure. Our driver Hicham was fantastic. He toured us around most of the country, over the Atlas Mountains, to the Sahara to the Atlantic. He ensured we were safely in the hands of every riad and hotel we stayed in. He connected us up to the best local guides and we had many fascinating conversations. The quality of the riads and the hotel were very good overall, and we loved the desert camp overnight in a berber tent.

We had a seamless vacation thanks to GOWAY...Our accommodations and excursions were top notch...There were no glitches between our expectations and our experience...Our initial agent (Paula) left GOWAY for whatever reason during our planning stage and that was a good thing...It was evident that she was not on top of things...Everything from that point was quite good...We plan to book through GOWAY for our next vacation to Finland or Iceland.

My wife and I booked a month long trip to Australia and New Zealand in October-November 2019 through Goway. Most of the trip was very nice but one of the tours cancelled due to lack of sign ups. We were advised to contact GoWay for a refund which we did, several times. Still have not heard from GoWay and still have not received a refund. Emails are ignored.

Follow up: This review finally got Goway's attention. Apparently I did get a partial refund which was posted to my account on December 12, 2019 and which I did not notice until Goway pointed it out to me in its response to this review. However, we were charged $198 for the tour while the refund was $110. In the initial message to Goway I also inquired about a partial refund for the early return of a rental vehicle.
I'm not sure whether the refund was for the rental vehicle or the tour because my messages were not returned. These are minor but annoying failures on the part of Goway which otherwise was very easy and pleasant to work with.

My wife and I just want to express our thanks and gratitude to Goway/Asia World Tours for their help with planning our ten-day 25th anniversary trip to Bangkok and Phuket Thailand in late February-early March. 2020. Our Goway Asia Tour agent Lyla Berlanga in Glendale, California, worked tirelessly with us revising travel proposals over several months as we considered where to go and what to do. She never failed to promptly respond to my emails. Thank you so very much Lyla. English-speaking tour guide AIR in Bangkok was a rare treasure. She was personable, talkative, experienced, concerned and knowledgeable. We love her. During our 3 days in Bangkok, AIR and driver Patoon picked us up at the airport, drove us around to the hotel and to all our planned tours (to the Grand Palace and Temple, Thai Cultural Center, and Chinatown walking street food tours), drove us back to the airport, and did not say goodbye until after we had our booking passes for the plane to Phuket. The trip was great and the weather perfect. Few masks and few cancellations (except the ban on Chinese citizens traveling) were yet in place at the time due to the virus. What great service. We were very pleased.

Joanne Palanuik was our personal planner and she did a magnificent job. My wife and I were always met by representatives that she arranged. The hotels expected us and were prepared. The airlines had us booked in all cases. The excursions were arranged as we discussed and all were completed as advertised. The only glitches we experienced during a multi-city trip were not Joanne's fault, but the fault of the tour operators themselves. And the glitches were rare. I would grade the entire package as an A+.

We did the Hoi An half day walking tour We were so fortunate to have Trang as our guide. She picked up promptly at the hotel with a warm smile. Within minutes were were all laughing together. The city walking tour is good exercise but not too much. We saw many of the historical sites but also visited the markets and enjoyed the wonderful food. We learned about the history and way of life of the Vietnamese people. We really enjoyed this time
Trang went way out of her way to make our tour and our stay in Hoi An enjoyable she took us to a place that I wanted to buy some suits. She waited a long time for us because I got a bit carried away. She even took me back later for a second fitting.
She was very knowledgeable about the history of Vietnam and was patient with our many many questions
This has been an incredible trip for us. We have travelled around the world. This is a beautiful country. The people are very friendly It is safe. Treat yourself and come to Vietnam and Hoi An.

The El President gets 4 !/2stars and its dining room gets 5 stars.
The Mawamba Lodge gets 3 stars and its dining room gets 1 star for poor prep of the food at hand.
Because of the heat and humidity and excessive travel times to and from I would eliminate Tertoguero from the tour and add a day each to San Jose and Monteverde for more touring time at those venues.
Our party of 4 were 77 t0 80 but were in condition for the walks and hikes but others of our age may not be but that is a choice. What was not a choice was having elevators in only the El Presidente and being on the 3rd floor at both Trapp and Diria that should emphasized prior to the trip.
Again we were able to cope with the climbs but others of our age may not.
Trapp Lodge, 4 1/2 stars both hotel and dining room.
Manoa, 4 1/2 stars for both
Diaria 4 1/2 for both. great ocean front views from our balcony on the 3rd floor
The tours at Arenal and Monteverde were all very good.

GoWay was very helpful in managing our add-on days to a 15-day cruise departing from Buenos Aires. We began with a week in Colombia, and left wanting more. Three days in Bogota and another three in Cartagena were a good introduction to South America, with an extreme contrast between sea-level and way up in the clouds. We were sorry to have missed other parts of Colombia, as we had no idea of the land and water differences across mountains and plateaus. The hotel in Bogota (B.O.G.) was in a convenient location and we were able to walk to shopping malls, restaurant districts, and night-life. The room itself was small with little or no storage, even for hanging up toiletries cases and towels. But it was new, and the staff were helpful. The breakfasts were excellent, combining buffet and specific orders. Cartagena was beautiful, and again we wished we had a few more days to walk on the walls and see more of the street life and markets. We got nowhere near a beach. The hotel was lovely -- a historic building in the Old City with a courtyard for breakfasts and a good diningroom for dinners. The planned excursions in both places were interesting, with reliable guides and drivers.

Our first hotel in Buenos Aires was close to the port for convenience, and we arrived late -- bedtime. But we did have a walk on one of the main boulevards in the morning, struck by how French everything looked, before we were dropped off at our ship for the cruise. On our return to BA, our guide was late arriving (20 minutes at least) and the driver had trouble pulling in for our luggage. The hotel for our last 4 days was more upscale, close to Recoleta cemetery, which astonished us, and a good mix of shopping, restaurants, and sights within a 4 block area. Our first excursion, however, was very poorly managed; the mini-bus (not the private tour we expected) showed up at 9:30 am for a 1:30 pickup. The schedules had been messed up, and when we waited for the 1:30 pickup, no one came. I had to email our Toronto agent to sort it out. The guide on that excursion was terrible. She couldn't answer any questions, and just rattled off some prepared material in a singsong voice. I have no idea what she said. The fact that my partner has a disability made no difference to her: he had forgotten his cane, she wouldn't wait for him to pick it up, and at the end of the excursion, after lying about how much walking he'd have to do, dropped us about 8 blocks from our hotel (she said it was 3-4 blocks, which he could have managed). It took a lot stops for coffee and browsing in shops before we could make it back to the hotel.

That night, we were picked up on time for Tango dinner and show; the steaks were enormous, and not cooked to order! I asked for medium rare, and got medium (it was OK) but my partner asked for medium rare and got VERY rare instead. When I realized he wasn't eating, I switch steaks with him, because I don't mind rare, although raw is sort of disgusting. We had enough leftovers to feed two more people. But the tango artists themselves were very good, as were the musicians and singers. We enjoyed the performances a lot.

The next day was the tour to the Tigre Delta, with an excellent guide, who explained many things we saw, talked about politics, real estate, and whatever else anyone wanted to hear about. The Tigre area was quite amazing, because people were living in what seemed to be a remote area of cottages (some old wrecks, and some quite fancy and new) and rivers, but was actually still part of greater BA!

Altogether, the trip was a success, in that we had a good experience over all with the GoWay arrangements, and learned a lot, but if we ever go again, we'll do more research ourselves before we go. My big disappointment was missing the Botero Museum in Bogota. I didn't know it was there (my poor research) and somehow we ended up with only one museum visit for the whole trip. Next time, galleries will have a higher priority.

Barbara was an excellent representative - she was always there to answer our questions via e-mail or phone. We had a few concerns regarding the fire situation in Australia, Barbara provided valuable info. and links to keep us aware of all conditions. We are happy to report everything went smoothly. Recommendations - The package was good, we could have spent an extra night in Sydney and Cairns, 2 nights were not enough, so much to see. I think 3 nights in Sydney and Cairns would be better. Loved the outback experience.
Accommodations were very good, arranged pick ups a great help - always on time. We talked to a couple in Cairns and they had paid $80 for a taxi from the airport to the city in Sydney we were glad our airport transfers were included in our tour price. Would recommend Goway to our friends.

Again, great experience -
Kathleen and Brendan Buckley

I used Goway for the land portion of my land/cruise holiday, i.e. 3 nights in Santiago and 2 nights in Buenos Aires. My comments are as follows:
1. The quality of the hotels (Sheraton in Santiago and Pestana in Buenos Aires was reasonable. The Pestana had a lower luxury rating but was better located.
2. The quality of the guided tours was average. Our best guide was Claudia who did the City Highlights tour in Buenos Aires. Proficiency in English was a problem for all the guides (except Claudia). The itineraries were somewhat hurried and sketchy. The shared tour to the Tigre in Buenos Aires ended with my wife and I being dropped off 4 blocks from our hotel for no valid reason. This inconvenienced my wife who uses a cane to walk. The guide who picked us up at the Buenos Aires' cruise terminal and dropped us off at the airport 2 days later was late both times.
3. Overall, our experience with Goway on this tour was not as memorable as earlier ones we did with them to South Africa and Peru/Brazil and value added (compared to what we could have done on our own) was minimal.

My wife and I went to the Cook Islands for a week, and we had a great time. The islanders are so friendly, and we felt welcome from the moment we stepped out of the plane.

Rarotonga is a great place to relax from the seemingly never ending demands of work - and to get a break from winter! And while it was overcast most of the time, the air and water temperatures are just about perfect. Beware though that the sun is powerful even when it's overcast: if not used to the sun and if of fair skin, one will get a sunburn even under these conditions. A real surprise was the quality of the food. I love fish and seafood, and it was amazing! Overall, our expectations were more than met and we hope to return sooner rather than later for a longer time.

What I enjoyed the most was the snorkeling - I have never seen so many fish in one place. Bring a waterproof camera! Biking too is easy on the island. We didn't rent a car but took the bus which couldn't be easier.

We usually make our own travel arrangements, but to leave it all in the hands of a very competent travel agent has its benefits! We will certainly book with Goway Travel again. Thank you, Dori.

our 9 senior citizens group from Seal Beach CA gave Goway Travel our 14day itinerary of what we would like to see within that time frame the islands of the Philippines. Susan Moore of Goway in Vancouver and her team in Manila gave us the ultimate tour, day tours sightseeing, hands on experiences, varied hotels and resorts, meals, perfect airline schedules to Palawan, Cebu, Bohol, Boracay back to Manila. Learning and enjoying the Philippine style of life was live enriching. We are grateful to Susan and Goway for our perfect documents. Salamut is Thank you in Filipino.

The trip was to Egypt in February. Excellent experience ...guides were great, accommodations were great!! No complaints. We were in Cairo for 4 nites and on a River cruise for 4 nites. I will book Go Way again. We booked w them last year to New Zealand... also a perfect trip!!

We had Michael Rigillo organise our Quark expedition to Antarctica and an add on trip to Patagonia. Mike was great and very patient with our questions and very flexible with our itineraries.
His service was excellent and I know as we travel very often and worked with many agents. I look forward to working with him again in future travels .

Dealing with Leo from Goway has been another pleasure since he helped me out 4 years ago. He made many suggestions as to our itinerary and it couldn't have been better!! From every flight, transfer, tour booking, hotel and adventure to the whole trip wrapped up with a bow, he did it all so well!! Including a last-minute flight change with all that's going on in the world. Would definitely recommend Leo AND Goway and will use them again in the future! Thank you Goway and Leo

My daughter and I booked a 10 day trip from California to Rwanda and South Africa with Gina Dorey at Goway travel. It was truly an amazing trip. The travel itself was long (22 hrs) and involved a few transfer along the way, but we were so graciously taken care of by agents such as Derek from Thompson’s travel who meet up at 3am in the Johannesburg airport to make sure we got to our next connecting flight or our amazing driver from Primate Safaris in Rwanda, Aimoble, who drove us hundreds of miles in three days. All set up through Gina.

We can’t say enough about the beautiful place we stayed in Rwanda, the Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge. It went beyond our expectations and we will never forget the lodge, the people, the food and most of all the, the Silverback Gorilla’s.
Goway and their international partners took very good care of us!