SERENDIPITY Worldwide
Group has suspended
the account of ITC
Elize Raath of Elize Travel
and Sport, who allegedly
scammed a group of 30
schoolchildren in Krugersdorp
who had booked their dream
trip to Europe with the agent.
The group collectively paid
Elize R330 000 for their
flights but on the day of
travel discovered the airline
had never been paid and the
trip had been cancelled.
Dinesh Naidoo, group
operations director of SWG,
told TNW that although Elize
was an SWG ITC, she did
not book the tickets for this
particular trip through the
group. Elize was immediately
suspended and is no longer
trading as an SWG ITC, he
added.
Otto de Vries, Asata ceo,
says Asata has been working
closely with SWG to ensure
that its ITCs are compliant
with Asata’s constitution
and Code of Conduct, paving
the way for them to apply
for Asata membership. Elize
Travel and Sport was not an
Asata member, he adds. “It’s
imperative that all our ITC
groupings apply Asata criteria
as part of their vetting
processes, before accepting
ITC membership to their
group.”
Some ITCs are ‘double
dipping’, meaning they
try to join a number of
consortiums, says Cathie
Bester, national sales
manager of World Leisure
Holidays. “We ‘red flag’
this to all parties involved
as we need to ensure that
we allocate sales to the
correct consortium. When an
agency does this, they are
normally trying to issue air
tickets through a number of
channels and this can be a
very dangerous practice.”
These rogue ITCs give the
entire travel industry a bad
name, Cathie adds. “The
sad part is that this agent
belonged to a consortium
and was registered as an ITC;
she had been in business for
a number of years and was
well known in the industry,”
she says.
This story, though, has a
happy ending. Liz Budge,
manager of XL Oceanair
Travel, made headlines in
The Star after she came to
the rescue and managed to
rebook the students on their
trip. “The main problem was
that all flights to Europe were
full and it was a challenge
to get even one ticket at a
decent fare,” says Liz, adding
that her entire team had
sacrificed personal time and
called in favours to get the
job done. She said some
clients and suppliers donated
money to ensure the trip
went ahead.
According to The Star,
Elize’s husband had already
paid the school R150 000
and promised to pay the
balance. It was believed
that Elize had a nervous
breakdown and was in
hospital, the article said.
