gate1travel.com

Would rather their guest risk death instead of accommodate unforeseen medical emergencies

My parents used Gate1Travel to book their honeymoon and had a wonderful experience. On 7/10/25, we booked a Father/Daughter trip to Greece and are scheduled to leave 10/7/25. We paid the trip in full at the time of the reservation. On 8/26/25, my Father had to undergo a cardiac catheterization after some abnormal testing results received last week. We were told that he needs a quadruple bypass and is not medically cleared to leave the state and our trip should be postponed 3 months. I called gate1 and advised them of the medical emergency and that we wished to change our reservation to the Jan date that was available when we booked it. They advised since it was passed the final payment date and 40 days before travel we could only cancel it with cancelation fees for both airline and land. The cancelation penalties are roughly 75% of the total trip. I asked if there could be an exception as this was a medical emergency not a voluntary decision and was willing to provide medical documentation. They informed me there are no exceptions and they will follow their policy. I further asked if the trip was booked under 90 days from travel and paid in full how could they say we were beyond the window. They could not provide a response and asked if I wanted to cancel one or both passengers. I asked if the reservation could be canceled with penalties but be offered a discount to rebook the same trip under the circumstances. They advised they would not provide any discount. I asked if there is anyway to rebook the same trip but try and minimalize some of the loss as they were keeping 75% of the money paid. I again advised this is an involuntary cancelation and due to the severe blockage to my father's heart is not allowed to travel without serious risks. They could give two shits and basically told me to kick rocks. Is it partly our fault because we did not opt for insurance, yes. But you would hope that there would be some compassion and empathy for the situation. We weren't looking for a full refund with no penalties. Hell, I would have even been willing to still pay some penalties if they would just reschedule the trip for the OTHER AVAILABLE DATES for the same trip. They didn't even express condolences for the situation. All this company cares about is your money and once they have it don't expect ANYTHING from them.

Date of experience: Aug 27, 2025