A Calgary travel business has closed, leaving customers left to re-pay flights they already booked.
Manpreet and Bina Gill have been trying to reach the company owner since they discovered airline tickets they paid for last year have been cancelled.
Manpreet booked two tickets to India for her brother’s wedding this month, but last week the airline told her the tickets she paid for were cancelled Jan. 14.
Bina Gill’s brother had a flight scheduled Jan. 25 but found out his tickets were cancelled when he got to the airport.
“While they’re checking in the agent there said, ‘oh, the two tickets have been refunded for the boys.’ So the parents had two tickets and the kids didn’t have any booking.”
In both cases, they bought four tickets, but only the ones paid in cash were cancelled.
Tropical Travel World on Westwinds Drive N.E. is closed and a sign on the door lists an emergency number but the voicemail is full.
Global News has learned after clients paid Tropical for their flights, the tickets were booked through another travel agency. But that agency was never paid and cancelled the flights.
Travel agents and agencies in Alberta aren’t regulated like other provinces and don’t have to be licensed.
There is a professional organization which sets standards for the industry and it has been lobbying for more consumer protection.
“There’s no guarantee that you walk into a shop that calls themselves a travel agency, that they have the ability to book tickets for you,” said Barbara Sutherland, the regional director for the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies.
While travel agencies don’t have to be ACTA members, she says consumer should know there are differences.
“If they’re an ACTA agency, the consumer can know that this agency is incorporated, does have business insurance, it does have errors and omission insurance and they are with International Air Transport Association (IATA).”
Both Manpreet and Bina Gill’s brother had to buy new tickets and rebook flights.
They aren’t sure if they’ll ever see their money and plan to use credit cards from now on.