Is Kiwi.com legit and safe for Booking Flights?

A man has a laptop open on a travel search page & a sign that says 'should you book flights on kiwi.com. What are the dangers

Wondering if that online booking site Kiwi.com that sells cheaper air tickets is legit and safe for booking?

While booking flights with kiwi.com is generally safe, the reliability and trustworthiness of kiwi flights varies. If you want to go straight to the dangers of booking with kiwi.com , here is the link.

However, if you follow my trick and you plan to keep your flight, kiwi flights could provide the best value. This is especially true for light travelers without checked bags.

This article will explore all aspects of booking with kiwi .com, and the risks and benefits. These reviews of booking with Kiwi.com. reflect my personal experience and kiwi scams I was subjected to.

I also provide tips on how to avoid the bloated final price (luggage included) and secure the best deal (it's possible).

Updated February 25th, 2024

Hello, I’m Tatiana. I’ like learning about best deals and finding best places in Europe to go.

Let's connect on social media!

Alonga Travel the author smiles and offers to connect on social media

What is Kiwi.com?

Kiwi.com or Kiwi flights, is a search engine owned by a Czech company since 2012, that helps you find cheap flights and buy cheap air tickets.

Is kiwi.com legit?

Kiwi.com or Kiwi flights, a Czech-based online travel agency, is a legitimate company. However, they have some borderline legitimate practices you should be aware of.

Read on to find out when you can trust them and when you should exercise caution.

is Kiwi.com safe to book flights?

Kiwi.com is safe in the sense that it is a legitimate company that sells flight tickets and uses secure payment methods to protect your personal and financial data. But they will try to hike up the price if you have checked luggage, and it doesn't feel very nice.

Booking with Kiwi.com can also be unsafe if you need a refund but canceled your trip yourself, even if you bought the trip guarantee through them!

Why is kiwi.com cheaper?

Kiwi.com is usually cheaper than many other places to finds cheap flights. How does this company do that?

how kiwi.com finds cheaper air price

Kiwi.com uses unique algorithm to find the cheapest flights for you. It lets you book flights with multiple carriers all in one trip for a cheaper price.

Kiwi flights can do this because it combines tickets from different airlines that might not normally work together.

This lets Kiwi find cheap flights and flight combinations that most other websites and booking apps just can't.

The unique proprietary algorithm kiwi flights use is called Virtual Interlining.

The reason some airline don't normally work together is because they may not have codeshare agreements. But it doesn't matter to Kiwi. The company buys the tickets and then resell them to you in any combination it wants.

So, great, right? Not so fast. First, let's address the trust issue some people are having with kiwi.com (myself including).

An open laptop with a sign on the screen saying 'Why kiwi.com is cheaper?'

Is Kiwi.com trustworthy?

The question of whether Kiwi.com can be trusted can only be answered with -- it depends.

You can trust them with certain aspects of booking, such as trip support and check-in. However, they're safe only if both you and the airline won't change your flight.

There are also some borderline legal areas to be aware of, which I will explain in this post.

Kiwi.com claims to offer cheaper prices compared to booking directly with the airline, but this can be misleading. Booking directly with the airline can be cheaper than using Kiwi.com, especially if you have luggage.

The Kiwi.com guarantee policy is also rather misleading, giving you a false impression of coverage when you may not be fully protected. You need to read the Guarantee policy thoroughly to understand exactly what you are buying, but I highlight the dangers in this post.

So, let's examine all possible scenarios to determine when Kiwi.com can be trusted and when it was not trustworthy based on my own experience, which could happen to you as well.

If Kiwi.com didn't have any positive aspects, I would advise avoiding them completely. However, Kiwi flights have some attractive features for booking cheap flights and can save you money. So, if you're a savvy traveler, read on.

Is kiwi.com reliable?

Kiwi.com is reliable in their automated e-mail support after you bought a ticket from them.

So, it's reliable in a sense it provides you with all the information and instructions you need to complete your trip.

It provides you with automatic check in, boarding passes, confirmation codes, terminal numbers, etc.

You can access them through the Kiwi.com website or app. Though many complained about having a hard time contacting kiwi.com representatives.

But are they reliable about refunding money to you if the trip is canceled? It depends. Read about it below.

Booking a flight with kiwi.com

Kiwi flights: when it's good to use it for booking

Booking a flight with kiwi.com only makes sense for a budget traveler or anyone who doesn't want to overpay for his flight, if they are planning to buy a cheap ticket.

Booking a more expensive flight, & buying the cheapest ticket option on kiwi.com ( the Saver Ticket) will result in a 10 euros refund, if you cancel your flight. Keep this in mind, and read about it in the "negatives" section.

Positive aspects of buying with kiwi.com:

Search Radius: You can no longer search for flights to or from a specific city or country by drawing a circle on the map, but you can do the same by choosing the '250 km from "your city" option.'
Fly Anywhere: You can enter “anywhere” as your destination and see the cheapest flights to various places around the world.
Instead of 'anywhere' you again can add "250 km from "this city" option.'
Kiwi price lock. Kiwi flights let you use ‘lock in the cheap price’ you found for 3 days (cost- €10), if you need more time to pay.
Multi-city Feature: You can plan complex trips with multiple stops and destinations with ease.
Date Range: You can search for flights within a flexible time frame and see the best prices for each day, or by adding '-/+5 days'
Nomad future. This feature, when chosen, shuffles the destinations to create an itinerary for you: you suggest cities, it chooses the best days for the flights. It also offers to combine flights, buses, and trains.
Price Alert: You can set up notifications for when the price of your desired flight drops or rises.

However, watch out for 3 scams below kiwi might employ, but you can prevent them if you know about kiwi scams in advance.

A custom round sign on green background that says 'Booking a flight with kiwi.com: the advantages'

Negatives of booking flights with Kiwi.com

Booking with kiwi.com carries some risks that you should be aware of, such as:

Flight Changes or Cancellations: If your flight is changed or canceled by the airline, kiwi.com may not be able to offer you a suitable alternative or a full refund. You may have to pay extra fees or accept vouchers instead of cash. You may also have to deal with poor customer service and long waiting times to resolve your issue.
Missed Connections: If you miss your connecting flight due to delays, bad weather, or other reasons, Kiwi.com may not be responsible for rebooking you on another flight or covering your expenses. You may have to buy a new ticket yourself or rely on the Kiwi.com Guarantee if it applies.
Extra Costs: Booking with kiwi flight may involve extra costs that are not included in the initial price, such as baggage fees. You may also have to pay more taxes or fees if you book flights in a different currency or country than your own.

Now, it’s reasonable to expect that baggage fees might be extra, and no one argues with that. However, Kiwi.com also uses some questionable practices lately, that I want you to be aware of.

A round custom sign on a background with shadows that says 'Booking a flight with kiwi: the negative

What is the Kiwi.com Guarantee?

The Kiwi.com Guarantee is a service that covers you in case of flight changes or cancellations by the airline, or missed connections due to delays of more than 1 hour. It only applies if you book all your flights under one itinerary with Kiwi flights.

A warning, this Kiwi.com Guarantee is not much different from the guarantees you get from the airline directly! Read below what Kiwi com guarantee covers and what it doesn't.

is Kiwi.com Guarantee worth it?

Below is a thorough analysis of all cancellation options available to you if either you or the airline cancels your flight.

This analysis will help you determine if the Kiwi Guarantee is worth it.

I will uncover everything that you might miss on the Kiwi website about the Kiwi Guarantee if you are not paying specific attention to it.

This is easy to do when Kiwi company refers to some of its rules with statements like: You’ll find the details of your purchased cancellation policy in section 5 of our Terms & Conditions. And then go to subsection 5ii to read the rest of the conditions...

Okay, I am just kidding, there is no subsection to section 5, they only ask you to read the well-hidden section 5! ;)

Warning! Having kiwi Guarantee does not guarantee you a refund (above €10) if you cancel the trip yourself. The Kiwi Guarantee mainly provides coverage for trip disruptions caused by the carrier.

Can I get a full refund from Kiwi com?

If you bought the Kiwi Guarantee when booking your flight, you will receive a full refund only if it was the airline's fault!

If it was due to personal reasons, force majeure, or misconduct, the Kiwi flights company won't pay you.

If you do not have the Kiwi Guarantee and your flight was canceled by your carrier, you have a chance to receive either a full or partial refund.

The link to claim your refund through kiwi.com can be found here.

If you cancel your trip

You can cancel up to 48 hours before departure and be eligible for a refund, but the refund amount depends on the ticket type you chose when booking, here is a link to more information.

Keep in mind, you will end up with €10 credit for your next booking on a €500 ( or a $1000) ticket you already bought, if you bought the cheapest saver ticket! Having Kiwi guarantee won’t change that!

If the flight was canceled by the carrier

If you have the Kiwi.com Guarantee, you’ll get a full refund for the unused parts of your trip, either in Kiwi Credit or back to your original payment method. However, you would get the same protection, without buying any guarantee polices, if you booked directly with the airline.
Without the Kiwi.com Guarantee, Kiwi travel will request a refund from the carrier on your behalf, but they state that a refund might not always be possible, as some carriers only refund in vouchers, or they don’t refund at all.
Keep in mind, it will take them up to 6 months to refund your money!
If you choose to cancel directly through the carrier, the refund amount can’t be guaranteed by kiwi.com ( presumably, because airline policies vary, but this is a grey area!). Kiwi states that the airline might send the refund to you or to Kiwi.com ( with the possibility for them to hold your money longer than necessary).

So, what was the point of buying Kiwi com Guarantee? A good question many people ask themselves. So, my verdict is - no, buying kiwi.com guarantee is not worth it. I never buy it myself when booking with kiwi flights.

Read here in more details about everything Kiwi.com Guarantee covers. It’s not much at all if you canceled the trip yourself! You might end up with $10 only and in a form of a credit for the next flight!

I don’t know about you, but it sounds quite sketchy, unless you are buying a very cheap $20 ticket. I still use their services for these kind of tickets, as the risk is low.

But kiwi flights “sweetens the deal” by advising that adding a travel insurance (in addition to their kiwi guarantee) will cover your expenses if you can’t travel due to medical reasons. Duh…

What does kiwi.com GUARANTEE cover

Kiwi.com Guarantee offers you the following benefits:

Alternative Flight: Kiwi.com will try to find and book you an alternative flight to your destination as soon as possible, at no extra cost to you.
Accommodation: Kiwi.com will cover the cost of accommodation for up to 2 nights if you have to wait for your alternative flight for more than 8 hours during the day or 4 hours during the night.
Food and Drink: Kiwi.com will cover the cost of food and drink for up to 3 meals per day if you have to wait for your alternative flight for more than 4 hours.
Transport: Kiwi.com will cover the cost of transport between the airport and your accommodation, or between different airports if needed.
Refund: Kiwi.com will refund you the full price of your original ticket if you decide not to take the alternative flight offered by them.

The Kiwi.com Guarantee does not cover you in case of:

Personal Reasons: If you cancel or change your flight due to personal reasons, such as illness, injury, death, etc., you will have to follow the cancellation or change policy of the airline and pay any fees or penalties that apply.
Force Majeure: If your flight is affected by force majeure events, such as natural disasters, wars, strikes, etc., you will have to follow the policy of the airline and Kiwi.com will not be liable for any compensation or assistance.
Fraud or Misconduct: If you provide false or misleading information, misuse or abuse the service, or violate any terms and conditions of Kiwi.com or the airline, you will lose the benefits of the Kiwi.com Guarantee and may face legal action.

Take a note, these are a lot of cases you would not be covered by the Guarantee, even though you have paid for it!

For more information, you can visit Kiwi.com Guarantee page.

How to Claim the Kiwi.com Guarantee?

If you need to claim the Kiwi.com Guarantee, you should contact Kiwi.com as soon as possible through their website or app. You will need to provide your booking number, flight details, and proof of your expenses (such as receipts or invoices).

Don't bother looking for kiwi.com phone number: it's impossible to find.

Kiwi.com will review your claim and process it. But it may take up to 6 months for you to get that refund in your bank. ( if your claim approved).

KIWI.COM SCAMS

I have already mentioned borderline legitimate practices of Kiwi com guarantee. I will also discuss here all the complaints they got for not issuing the refund.

But that's not the only way they will try to scam you.

They’ll try also try to scam you by charging 2-3 times more ( compared to the airline) for an extra baggage if you need it. Or, will forget to acknowledge you already paid for your bag.

KIWI SCAM #1 - OVERCHARGING FOR BAGGAGE

How does Kiwi.com attempt to overcharge you? They offer a complimentary service of automatically checking you in 3 days before your flight. Shortly after booking or purchasing the ticket, they will send you an email offering to manage your booking.

If you wish to add an extra bag, they will charge you €59 for checking your bag or one extra cabin bag, giving you no other option but to agree.

I fell victim to this scheme twice (that I am aware of) before deciding to investigate and compare the cost of adding the bag directly from the EasyJet website.

I do not know if it was intentional or not, but it took EasyJet a considerable amount of time to locate my reservation using the reference numbers provided by the Kiwi website.

I was informed by EasyJet that they could not find my flight, and if I had purchased my air ticket from a third-party site (such as Kiwi), I would need to manage my trip through there.

However, I persisted by clicking on different links until I finally managed to make EasyJet locate my flight.

Upon accessing the EasyJet website, the first offer presented to me was an Extra Leg Space ticket for €27. This ticket includes additional space for legroom, the option to choose a seat for free, and the ability to bring a large carry-on in addition to the one offered for free without any extra charges.

All of these extra perks are available for €27, or alternatively, for €24, you can opt for an Up Front ticket on EasyJet, which includes all the mentioned above benefits except for the extra legroom.

EaseJet offering 27 euro for Extra Legroom ticket

Extra Legroom offering by Easy Jet for 27 euro

In comparison, Kiwi.com was asking for €59 for just one extra bag without offering any additional perks. This meant that Kiwi.com was attempting to charge me €35 more (more than twice the amount) than what I would pay on the airline's official website.

However, this is not the only way in which they try to deceive you...

A screenshot of baggage bundles offered for Alonga Travel author during ticket purchase on kiwi.com

A screenshot of baggage bundles offered for Alonga Travel, the author, during the ticket purchase on Kiwi flights.

Notice how they offered a 15 kg checked bag for a €59 fee? Compare the picture below with the same bag offered for €24 on EasyJet.

Kiwi.com scam #2.

Another scam by Kiwi agency involves not displaying the paid bags on your phone app, leading you to pay for them again.

After automatically checking you in, Kiwi.com will send you an email that only lists your one free small cabin bag.

The extra bag I had already paid for during the ticket purchase process through them was not included in the email.

Now, if you had purchased your air ticket in advance, do you remember if you had already paid for the extra bag you intend to check in? In my case, I did not remember and ended up paying for the bag again.

Only after I paid for the same bag again, Kiwi sent me a new email indicating that I have two paid bags to check in when I only needed one.

By this point, it is too late to do anything as I have already made the payment.

Good luck to you, attempting to contact them to demand a refund.

A screenshot of no paid checked bag shown on their email confirmation to me 3 days before my flight, even though I had already paid for one checked bag during the initial booking 3 months ago (and forgot about).

Kiwi. com scam #3

Kiwi.com not refunding you money that the airline paid them when they cancel your flight. Or, taking their sweet time (6 months) to do so. Or, only refunding $11 from an expensive ticket.

This is a highly questionable practice of kiwi.com!

If your flight was canceled by the airline, you’re entitled to a full refund or a choice of a different flight. The airline refunds the 3rd party booking agency, Kiwi in our case, the money. They are supposed to refund you that funds immediately.

Except, that doesn't always happen!

Read through kiwi.com reviews.

Kiwi.com reviews flights

There are so many complaints about that and many bad reviews about kiwi.com! In fact, kiwi.com was rated only 1.7 starts on Trustpilot.

TripAdvisor also has over 6,000 complains about Kiwi dot com.

That is because while air ticket purchases on kiwi.com supposedly come with 24/7 customer support & the Kiwi Guarantee, but it seems it's not always the case.

Now, the disclaimer. I, personally, never had to claim a refund with Kiwi.com. I am only aware of this problem that some people were having from their numerous reviews.

But I did thoroughly analyzed all kiwi website posts on all the scenarios they will issue a refund, and all guarantee terms and conditions, and it's pretty sketchy.

But I had a firsthand experience with the 1st, and the 2nd scam.

So, above are the 3 scams by Kiwi flights to watch out for

Do your math! I did mine. While I might still purchase air tickets from Kiwi com in the future if I find a great deal on a one-way ticket (without the extra bag during the ticket purchase), I will ensure to visit the EasyJet (or whichever airline) website 30 days before a flight and add some extra perks, such as paid baggage.