Safety measures to avoid false Hajj agents

Posted by Ady Grewal on August 28th, 2019

It is usually noticed that pilgrims who go for Hajj performing come with crying due to bad amenities from the false tour operators and this thing has become common in our community to be lied to before you travel. As the visit to major pilgrimage (Hajj) is one of the greatest congregation, so there are plenty of chances of deceiving. That is why stunt being tour operators take advantages to earn the money in fraud ways. They promise Hajj pilgrims to provide the exceptional facilities but as pilgrims reach their destination they found themselves in a filthy environment.

There are several tales of deceiving by Hajj agents in which one of them is Ahmed Ali Minhas from Coventry who was promised four-star lodging, but he was cheated by agents and what he got was a far cry from that. He says that he paid £12,000 for himself, his wife and their son to visit Mecca and was promised four-star hotel accommodation but they themselves in unclean conditions and far off distance from the Grand Mosque than promised.

He adds that the tour operator rented rumpled buses to shuttle them to other places. They were waiting three hours in the Jeddah streets in the coach with no water and food, and there was no proper place to offer prayer. The flights home included a 17-hour stopover in Beirut, for which they had been promised hotel rooms. But when they arrived they didn’t have anything. They were forced to just wait in the airport where the shops would only take US dollars, and they had none, and no way of getting any. When they decided to return after performing the Hajj the things were same.

Khalid Pervez, the head of Association of British pilgrims the UK says many of those making the trip are being denied the basic consumer and travel protections to which they are entitled – and that the authorities have shown little interest in tackling the problem.

However, before hiring any Hajj agent, pilgrims should keep above deceiving tale and take each step carefully. The following guidelines regarding safety measures might be helpful, so follow each bit of instruction.

Any pilgrims who want booking flight-based hajj packages should make sure that the travel company which he is traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj is Atol-protected traveling agency by the Civil Aviation Authority. A valid Atol logo contains a four- or a five-digit number and can be checked online at www.islamictravel.co.uk 

Atol is basically standing for Air Travel Organizer’s License under the protection of a government-backed scheme which refers that if your travel company flops while you are in Saudi Arabia busy in your religious obligation, so you will be exiled at no further cost.

Pilgrims should never deal with an agent that won’t put everything in writing. Make sure what you are buying by exploring via an internet search of the firm before handing over any cash. Be suspicious of using traders or lone agents.

Pilgrims must try to claim on paying at least £100 of the cost using a credit card so that they can possibly gain section 75 protection in the event of something going wrong.