lastminute.com Review: Budget Flight Booking With Caveats

lastminute.com legitimacy and licensing

Yes. lastminute.com is the main brand of lastminute.com N.V., a company registered in Amsterdam with headquarters and a new tech hub in Chiasso, Switzerland, listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the ticker LMN. The group employs about 1,700 people and also runs Bravofly, Volagratis, Rumbo, Jetcost, Hotelscan, Wegde and FWD. On October 12, 2026 it announced Ludovic Boisseau as chief financial officer. Its Trustpilot profile has been claimed since May 2014 and shows a 4.0 score on 230,680 reviews.

Two cautions. First, the US presence is thin: the BBB profile for Lastminute.com in San Francisco is rated F, not accredited, with 3 complaints in three years and no listed management, and the US site blocked our attempts to read its terms. Second, a lookalike site at lastminute.ae is not lastminute.com; several Trustpilot reviewers report paying there and receiving nothing. Book only on lastminute.com or its official country sites.

lastminute.com fees and prices explained

lastminute.com is a travel agent, so the airline or hotel sets the base price and the fare rules, and lastminute.com earns commission and can add booking or handling fees. The most common negative theme on Trustpilot is an unexpected fee or a higher price after booking, and reviewers on the separate flights profile describe a handling fee of roughly $118 (€105) charged on a cancellation on top of the airline’s penalty. We could not confirm the current US fee table because us.lastminute.com returned an access block on October 13, 2026; the legacy article’s list of payment methods (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna, Affirm) and its state registrations come from that site and should be re-checked at checkout.

The practical rule: compare the total at the final payment step with the airline’s own price. If the saving is small, book direct and keep the flexibility.

The refund record, including the UK regulator case

Refunds are the issue that put lastminute.com in front of a regulator. On November 27, 2020 it signed undertakings with the UK Competition and Markets Authority to repay more than 9,000 package holiday customers over $9.3 million (£7 million) for trips cancelled during the pandemic, with half due by December 16, 2020 and the rest by January 31, 2021. On February 12, 2021 the CMA sent a letter before action because over $1.3 million (£1 million) was still owed to 2,600 customers, the 14-day refund commitment had been missed, and some customers had been told to chase airlines themselves. The company paid a further $1.3 million (£1 million) by February 26, 2021 and the CMA closed the case on March 9, 2022.

That was a UK package holiday matter, not a US enforcement action, but it explains the pattern in today’s reviews: refunds owed by an airline must pass through the agency, and when they stall there is no US phone line to call. In the US, Department of Transportation rules require refunds when an airline cancels or significantly changes a flight and you decline the alternative, and ticket agents are covered by those rules. Keep the booking reference, every message and screenshots of the original itinerary, and use a credit card so a chargeback is available.

How booking on lastminute.com works

You search flights, hotels or packages, pick a result and pay on the site. Packages bundle a flight and hotel into one price with its own cancellation rules. After payment you receive a lastminute.com booking reference and, separately, the airline’s record locator once the ticket is issued; some reviewers report confirmations being routed through a lastminute.com-generated email address, so log in to your account if nothing arrives. Changes, name corrections and cancellations are requested through lastminute.com and are subject to the airline’s fare rules plus any agency fee. Support is mainly chat; reviewers on the flights profile report no phone number.

Complaints and how to avoid problems

Across 230,680 Trustpilot reviews, 22% are one star. The recurring themes are extra charges or price increases after booking, difficulty reaching support, schedule changes and rejected name corrections, hotels below their listing, and refunds that are slow or refused. The company replies to 63% of negative reviews, typically within 48 hours, and sometimes passes cases to an escalation team. The US BBB profile shows 3 complaints in three years; an F rating usually reflects complaints the business did not answer.

To reduce risk: enter passenger names exactly as on the passport, choose refundable fares if plans could change, screenshot the final price page, and confirm the booking on the airline’s site with the record locator within a day. If a refund is owed and stalls, file a card dispute and, for US flights, a complaint with the Department of Transportation.

Cancellation and changes

Cancellation terms depend on the fare or room rate you chose. Nonrefundable airline fares stay nonrefundable, and lastminute.com may add a handling fee for processing a cancellation or change. The CMA case established that package holiday customers in the UK are owed full refunds within 14 days of a cancellation by the company; US package terms are set in the US conditions we could not access, so read them at checkout. If the airline cancels, you are entitled to a refund from the carrier regardless of fare type; the agency’s role is to pass it on.

Who should skip lastminute.com

Skip it if you may need to change dates or names, want to phone a person when a flight is cancelled, or are booking a high-value trip where a refund delay of weeks would matter. Travelers in the US have less recourse than UK or EU customers, where the CMA and package travel rules apply. If the saving over booking direct is under a few percent, book direct.