Beware of Athvik Travels

I need to share a really upsetting experience my friends and I had with Athvik Holidays and RedBus, which has left us feeling stranded and frustrated. Here’s what went down:

On October 17th and 18th, we booked 4 seats through RedBus for a Bangalore to Kochi trip on October 30th. We each booked separately to take advantage of the offers and discounts available. Everything seemed fine—we got our confirmations via WhatsApp, email, and SMS, so we didn’t think twice about it.

But today, while trying to get one more ticket for a friend, we noticed something strange: our seats were still showing as available. We were confused and a bit alarmed, so we contacted the bus operator to figure out what was happening. That’s when they casually told us it was a “mistake” on RedBus’s part and we’d have to rebook—at a much higher price.

Feeling frustrated, we asked for more details. The operator then claimed they sold the original bus and replaced it with a new one, which apparently canceled our tickets. What’s worse? They never even bothered to notify us. It honestly feels like they’re using the festive season to jack up prices and take advantage of people just trying to get home.

Now we’re stuck in Bangalore, with no affordable options to visit our families after two long months. To add to our frustration, when we tried reaching out to the bus operator, they were rude, cutting off our calls, and now they’re just ignoring us completely.