Business ProfileforWorldStrides

I paid World Strides for a school trip to ****** for May 2024 for my child and myself. I purchased the extra trip insurance for both of us for $ 400. The trip group did not find out the travel details until about a week before the trip. The flight to ****** was set up as connecting flights from ********* to ******* and then ******* to ******. This caused the group to have to meet in the middle of the night to make the very early morning flight to *******. Late the night before, an hour before we were supposed to meet and board a bus, we found out from our trip leader that all flights to/from ******* were canceled for the next morning. Our trip leader was on the phone with World Strides for over an hour but, unfortunately, World Strides was unable to reschedule the flights without breaking up the group and causing everyone to miss a day of the trip. To our dismay, the trip was canceled and not rescheduled. The group was told that World Strides would refund (even those who did not purchase trip insurance) or allow a credit for next year's school trip to **********. Also, those that wanted a refund would not be refunded any trip insurance fees. I called World Strides and requested the trip insurances fees be refunded also. I was told those fees would not be refunded. After several emails to/from World Strides I was told again those fees would not be refunded. I was also told repeatedly I would be refunded the rest that I paid by July 23 but was not. After many emails from me and excuses and unnecessary delays from World Strides, I was finally refunded the rest in mid/late August. I still feel it was unfair to refund those that didn't purchase trip insurance but not refund those fees to those that paid for it. So, we were all packed and ready to go but didn't even get to go on the trip (mostly due to poor flight scheduling by World Strides) and I lost $ 400. I do not recommend this company.

Dear ******,Thank you for taking the time to share your review with us. We appreciate your honesty and value your feedback. We sincerely apologize that your experience fell short of your expectations. Your comments are essential to our continuous improvement, and we take them seriously.We have reviewed the circumstances that led to the flight delay and the cancellation of your trip. Unfortunately, several aspects were beyond WorldStrides control. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have ********* address this situation, we decided to go beyond our standard policies. We offered a refund to all parents enrolled in the Full Refund Program (FRP), minus the cost of the program itself. For those who did not purchase this protection, we refunded their investment, less a fee equivalent to the cost of the Full Refund Program. We are committed to doing the right thing for all participants. Thank you once again for choosing WorldStrides. We hope to have the opportunity to serve you better in the *********** regards, ****** *****