Travel is one of the very few things people routinely pay for months before they receive it. That single fact is what makes the industry attractive to operators who should not be in it — and it is why a little diligence before you transfer money is worth far more than any amount of complaining afterwards.
None of what follows takes long. Most of it takes ten minutes.
1. Ask for the government licence number
Every legitimate travel agency in Pakistan holds one. It should appear on the agency’s documentation and website. Ask for it, and note the reaction as much as the answer — an agency that is vague about its licence has told you what you need to know.
2. Visit the office
A permanent, physical office you can walk into is a stronger signal than any website, Facebook page or number of followers. Go and see it before you pay anything substantial. Notice whether there are other customers, whether staff are dealing with real bookings, and whether it looks like a business that will still be there in six months.
3. Check how long they have been trading
Under the same name, at the same address. Travel is a business where reputation compounds, and operators who take money and disappear rarely last a decade.
4. Get the inclusions and exclusions in writing
Not a verbal summary. A written list of what is in the price and — more importantly — what is not. Airfare, visa fees, meals, transfers, entrance tickets and taxes are the usual places where a “cheap” package quietly turns out not to be.
5. For Umrah and Ziyarat, ask for hotel name and distance
In writing, before you pay. “Near the Haram” is not a distance. A package that puts you three kilometres away and relies on shuttle buses is a fundamentally different product from one that puts you a seven-minute walk away, and the price difference between them is entirely rational.
6. Never pay into a personal account
Pay the company, into a company account, and be extremely wary of any request to transfer to an individual’s name “because the company account is having a problem”. This is the single most common feature of travel fraud in Pakistan.
7. Get a receipt every time
For every payment, including cash, including small ones. Keep them together. A business that does not issue receipts as a matter of course is not keeping proper books, which should worry you for reasons beyond your own booking.
8. Be suspicious of prices far below the market
Airline seats and hotel rooms cost what they cost. If one quote is dramatically below the others for what appears to be the same package, something has been removed — usually the hotel distance, the airfare, or the group leader. Ask precisely what is different.
9. Ask who travels with the group
On religious and group travel this matters enormously. Is there a leader from the agency accompanying the group, or are you met at the airport by a local agent and left to it? An accompanying leader is a real cost that cheaper operators simply do not carry.
10. Understand the cancellation terms before you pay
Not after. Ask what happens if you cancel at sixty days, at thirty, at ten. A straightforward agency will give you the numbers without hesitation, because they have thought about it. An evasive answer means you will be finding out at the worst possible moment.
11. Check they will tell you no
This sounds odd, but it is one of the better tests. Ask about something that will not work — an unrealistic visa timeline, an itinerary that cannot be done in the days available. An agency that says “yes, no problem” to everything is either not listening or not being straight with you.
12. Ask how you contact them while you are travelling
A named person and a working WhatsApp number, not a general office line that closes at eight. Things go wrong on trips at inconvenient hours; what matters is whether anyone answers.
A note on the other side of it
None of this means you should treat every agency as a suspect. The great majority of operators in Karachi are honest people running small businesses on thin margins. But the diligence above costs you nothing and protects you against the minority, and any decent agency will be entirely comfortable with all twelve questions.
For the record: Saify Travels has traded under the same name since 2004, holds Government Licence G.L. # 2145, operates from a permanent office in Saddar, issues a receipt for every payment, sends a group leader with every departure, and will happily answer all twelve of the above before you pay us anything.