Reviews of Golden Rule Travel

Gold Rule Travel rocks! I had a family emergency yesterday and needed to get home ASAP. Hans worked some magic and booked me a ticket when even the airline website said it was too close to departure. Zero chance I would have made the flight without him. I'm forever grateful.

I found myself in a real pickle where I missed my flight from DC to London because of a delayed-canceled too late flight to DC that was purchased separately from Golden Rule. The best remedy was to reschedule the entire itinerary from scratch which at first was going to be costly. But let me tell you, the agents at Golden Rule Travel not only were extremely quick to respond to this missed flight emergency, they found me a completely new itinerary without breaking bank. They were so understanding and kind and helpful which made the whole experience much more easier to bear as anyone who has ever had a canceled flight will tell you, it's not the greatest experience. Highly, highly recommend. Been using them for years and they never fail to rise to the occasion!

A single canceled flight could have been chaos. But, Hans at Golden Rule Travel stepped in after hours and had the entire international trip rebooked for so quickly (maybe an hour). We’re grateful to work with such a skilled group of travel agents! This isn’t the first time they’ve gotten us out of a jam (another agent - Patrick - rebooked a completely canceled flight for us a few years ago, working around covid restrictions on traveler visas) and I’m sure it won’t be the last…since we always book with them for these very reasons! You will be so thankful you booked with them! I know we ALWAYS are.

On June 2nd 2023, a group of four of us travelled to Boston Logan Airport with the intent of travelling to Uganda for a Mission trip. When we arrived at the airport, we were told by Emirates that they could not let us on the airline without the required Uganda visa. We had been to Uganda several times and we always acquired our visa on entry at the Entebbe Airport. We had done our research, and it seemed as though this had not changed on the Ugandan website. Here we were, a few hours away from our flight and were declined to go because “due to Covid,” an emirate official explained “changes had been made in Uganda, and a visa had to be obtained online prior travelling”. We did not know what to do because it was 8 pm on a Sunday night, and we were only 3 hours away from departure! We called Emirates to cancel our tickets but they declined, saying that we had to cancel with our travel agent. We called Wendell Knepp, our travel agent and we got a voice message saying that he was not going to be in the office until July 5th. However, he left an emergency number to call if it was an emergency!! And this was an emergency. We called the emergency number and we were relieved when someone answered our phone on a Sunday night! Anyway, our itineraries for the four of us were cancelled and because of your ingenuity and thoughtfulness, we were able to salvage those tickets. We often ask ourselves, “What would have happened if Wendell had not left an emergency number on his voice message or better still, what if no one had answered that emergency phone call?” After all, it was a holiday weekend, who would have blamed you? It was Hans Mast that answered that phone call and cancelled our itineraries, thank you! The story does not end there, that night we sent our online visa applications and they were approved. Monday morning Justin Yoder rescheduled our itineraries for the next day!! We want to thank the three individuals mentioned and Golden Rule Travel as an organization. Thank you for doing what you do so well, and may God bless you.

Effective and efficient. Thanks much.

I am writing this review with immense joy and gratitude to express my deepest appreciation for the extraordinary help provided by Hans during a time of immense difficulty for my family. Recently, my son found himself stranded in Hong Kong, desperately needing new flight arrangements to Papua New Guinea. The situation was incredibly stressful, and we felt helpless being thousands of miles away. However, Hans stepped in like a true guardian angel and became the beacon of hope for us. His swift actions, resourcefulness, and unwavering determination in finding a solution were nothing short of miraculous. Hans dedication to ensuring my son's (his wife, 4 year old, and infant), safe journey to PNG was truly remarkable. He navigated the complexities of travel logistics with ease and managed to secure a new flight arrangement efficiently. Not only did Hans demonstrate exceptional professionalism, but his compassion and empathy throughout the entire process provided us with much-needed comfort during a challenging time. His reassuring words and continuous updates kept us informed and alleviated our anxieties. Because of Hans invaluable support (working through the night) my son and his family are on their way to PNG safely and without further delay. His efforts went above and beyond any expectations, and we are forever grateful for the kindness and selflessness he demonstrated. I cannot recommend Hans highly enough. He is not only a master problem-solver but also a compassionate soul who truly cares about the well-being of others. His exceptional skills and genuine nature are an asset to his organization. Thank you, Hans, for your incredible support and for making a significant impact on our lives. You are a real-life hero, and we are eternally indebted to you for your assistance in our time of need.

How Hans w/GRT saved my brother $6K! Goodness. This is a long story, but one worth telling. First and foremost, God is good, and I'm especially thankful for that this morning. Second, the rest of the story. My brother, SIL and two girls (4yrs old and 5 months old), from here on out referred to as Nate or ELEN (the first letter of each of their names), used GRT to book their travel from Charlotte (CLT), NC to Port Moresby (POM), Papua New Guinea. Everything was going well until they landed in Hong Kong after a 16-hour flight from JFK. At HK, they had a 110-minute layover which *typically* may be enough time to make the connecting flight (Nate now recommends at least three hours). The issue was that a Cathay Pacific (CX) agent, not knowing the process well enough, told ELEN to exit the airport and re-enter through immigration and customs and all that with 300 lbs of luggage in tow. This was incorrect information because all they really had to do was take a separate path that would have gotten them to where they needed to be within just a few minutes. Because they left the airport though, by the time they got back through everything, they missed their flight. Nate then goes and talks to ticketing to get them to fix it, but they argue with Nate saying 110 minutes was enough time, and that he shouldn't have missed the flight. For whatever reason, they were unsympathetic to the situation despite the wrong guidance from CX. They tell Nate that new tickets and all associated costs will be close to $6K which simply isn't feasible for them. Completely exhausted (they had been up for 40 hours), they get a hotel room and try to go get some rest with the intent of fixing it later. During all this, I called the GRT emergency number and ultimately reached Hans. Hans worked with CX for several hours to finally get a CX rep sympathetic to the issue and even understand that CX should in fact take responsibility. After Hans was able to make progress with CX, we were able to reach back out to Nate who was passed out in the hotel. At the direction of Hans, Nate needed to get back to the airport w/in the hour in order to resolve this with the right (sympathetic) people. I called 20+ times before finally waking him up. Nate was able to get back to the airport, and while it took an hour, CX finally issued new tickets for Friday at no cost to ELEN. As I'm writing this, ELEN is at that gate not having spent an additional dime getting ready to board the plane and head to POM. To Hans and the team at GRT, I want to express my utmost appreciation for the level of service received. On behalf of ELEN and all my family who was frantic, thank you so much for a job incredibly well done!! I 100% support GRT.

The agent worked really hard to find a solution for our team after their flight home was cancelled. This was late on a Saturday night when I wasn’t sure what to do so I was very relieved that he was there and available to help us. Thank you!

Justin Yoder has been an amazing help and support for my husband and I, since 2018. Thank you, Justin, for EVERYTHING! You’ve made our initial transition to Poland, five years ago, easy and well-organized, and you have done the same with our return home to the States, this year. While I know it’s your job, you have gone above and beyond to help ensure that we are comfortable and stress-free in our travels. So, thank you, Justin and thank you, Golden Rule Travel!

Extremely good to work with got us to Alaska and back

Have been customers for many, many years. Wendell Knepp is our hero! Exceptional customer service! Thank you once again Wendell!

They are amazing… got us wonderful prices and refundable fares. When our flight was delayed (which would cause us to miss our connection) they quickly switched us to a different flight even though it was after hours (they have an on-call person always available for emergencies)!