People have reported scammers pretending to be airline agents. Photo / 123rf
People have reported scammers pretending to be airline agents. Photo / 123rf
Most travellers have felt the urgency of something going wrong and needing a fix urgently.
If you encounter trouble with holiday plans, bookings or flights, it seems logical to hop online and search “airline contact details” to find a phone number you can call.
However, these three words may catch you in a scam that continues to cause nightmares for travellers scammed out of hundreds or thousands of dollars.
The internet can be a wonderful tool and most of the time, a search brings up accurate results, but not always.
Writing on a Reddit thread dedicated to scams, one traveller shared how they’d almost been tricked out of $660 when trying to add their pet to their Delta Airlines booking.
The traveller said it was too difficult to find a real number to call on the official Delta website, so they searched Google for a customer service number and dialled the first search result which appeared to be for reservations.
“I called the ‘Delta Reservations’ line and spoke to a nice man who confirmed my flight info and then told me I needed to pay a ‘one-time animal processing fee’ of US$400,” they wrote.
The traveller was confused as the Delta website said it should only cost US$95. When they began pushing back on the cost, the person hung up. After looking through Delta’s website again, they found the real reservation number and realised they’d called a scam number.
Because people typically use Google to answer a question, the platform often places what it deems “accurate” answers in bold at the top of the search engine results page, or sometimes before you’ve even finished typing your search.
This is helpful as you don’t need to click through the websites listed to find the answer and most of the time, the information is accurate.
When researching Scotland's national animal, Google helpfully provides images and key information to answer my question. And yes, it is correct. Photo / Google
However, scammers have become very talented at manipulating search engines using fake websites to ensure their phone numbers appear at the top of search results, with travellers none the wiser.
When speaking to an official airline or booking agent, one can naturally let their guard down and offer up personal details such as name, reservation number, birthday and, in some cases, credit card information - especially if you request a booking change that involves a fee.
The issue is, many people aren’t speaking with an official airline or booking agent; they’re speaking to a scammer.
This is the same technique used in visa scams. An innocent traveller searches something like “US visa for Kiwi on holiday” and clicks the first link, which takes them to a legitimate-looking website that charges $400 when the actual cost is closer to $40.
Another traveller also shared their experience on Reddit, explaining how they tried to change details on a flight ticket, which they could not do online.
“So I Google ‘[airline] customer desk’ and I click on the first phone number I see,” they wrote earlier this year. This was disconnected, so they moved down the list and clicked on the next result.
A man answers, the traveller explains the situation and he “looks into it” before transferring them to someone else, they said. The second person then asks for their reference number and name and offers to rebook the ticket, so the traveller provides their credit card details.
At this point, the traveller started feeling uncertain and searched the phone number in Google but the airline did not appear in the results.
Spooked, the traveller hangs up and receives a fraud alert from their bank card, which is automatically cancelled. The issue was that someone could access the person’s email address, name, passport number and address using their booking details.
There are no exact numbers on how many people fall for this scam but it’s a common one that is experiencing a resurgence as the Northern Hemisphere kicks into summer and people travel for holidays.
Google told theWashington Post it is “extremely rare” for scam phone numbers to appear when searching for airline customer services but web search experts said Google had the power to ensure this never happens.
There’s also the issue of why so many people google airline phone numbers in the first place; airlines don’t always make it easy to speak to a human, with some airlines only offering chatbots or contact forms.
How to avoid the customer service number scam
If you need to contact an airline, navigate to the airline’s official website and only call phone numbers you find on their pages. Never trust phone numbers you see highlighted or in bold on search platforms or shared on social media, such as Facebook groups, X (formerly Twitter) or Reddit pages.
These days, most airlines have their own phone apps and chatbots you can use to access legitimate information, including contact data. In some cases, it’s faster and easier to find answers or alter bookings via the app or website itself rather than trying to phone someone.
Customer service contact information for major airlines
Air New Zealand’s website has several pages covering key information and common questions. The online chatbot called Oscar is “the fastest way to get help from our customer care team”. Its app also allows customers to access the same information and make changes to bookings.
