Durban agent in deep water

AT LEAST three charges of fraud have
been laid against an independent
travel agent accused of taking clients’
money without actually issuing tickets.
TNW has spoken to two of the affected
clients and it has also emerged that
these allegations are not being made
for the first time.
The charges, two of which have been
laid at Hillcrest police station and one
at Pinetown police station, are still
under investigation.
They come after clients who had
booked air tickets were informed at
check-in that their tickets had already
been used. The clients said the agent,
Sue Cowan of Taking you Places, was
using old tickets and doctoring them to
add new passenger names.
Sue used to ticket through Serendipity
Worldwide Group, but group operations
director, Dinesh Naidoo, says she
was suspended in February this year
and her membership has since been
terminated.
He says the suspension came after
two airlines, Delta and Singapore,
contacted SWG about tickets issued
by Sue. He says in both instances,
passengers were flying on two tickets,
where only one of the tickets had been