Marta Jasek figured a cheap, direct flight to Poland was too good to pass up.
Now, the Thorold woman has learned herFlyCentralEurope.com vacation was too good to be true.
She paid $1,177 two months ago for an early June return flight from Hamilton International Airport to Krakow, Poland. The new local, direct-flight service was pioneered by St. Catharines-based Panorama Travel & Tours, which announced its partnership with the airport and carrier Air Italy Group in January.
On Tuesday, though, the airport posted a website notice announcing the new service, scheduled to begin May 27, was "suspended."
"Maybe I should have known. When I booked, I was surprised it wasn't a special discount or something," Jasek said. "I didn't know anything about(FlyCentralEurope.com). Only that it was new."
Jasek is one of at least 1,500 Canadian customers who booked direct flights to Krakow, Budapest and Prague through the new website, or other travel agencies, said Michael Pepper, president of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario.
Pepper said the flights were grounded after TICO, the industry-led regulator, suspended the registrations for Panorama's retail and wholesale operations Monday, which meant the travel agency couldn't operate or accept new bookings.
He said the council grounded the travel agency "to protect the interests" of people who have booked — or were considering booking — flights through the service.
"We have concerns that if (the service) started, it wouldn't be financially viable," he said in a phone interview Tuesday. "My concern is if those passengers go out, are they going to get back?"
Pepper said the FlyCentralEurope.com travel service had about 2,500 bookings — about 1,000 for flights out of Chicago and 1,500 Canadian customers likely travelling out of Hamilton.
Jasek was scrambling to reach Panorama Tuesday — and to find another flight to Krakow.
"It's too bad. I would have thought there is a big demand for that type of flight," said Jasek, who has family near the border of Poland and the Czech Republic and travels to the area each year.
"There are hardly ever any direct flights from here (southern Ontario) to Krakow or Prague."
Panorama was counting on that demand to make the direct flight service a success, said Ziggy Kucharski, vice-president of the family-owned travel agency that has operated in Niagara for 20 years.
"We expected a big year, a beautiful year of travel to eastern Europe in 2011," he said. "It didn't happen … and (TICO) pulled the plug on us."
Kucharski said "sales were slow" in recent months, thanks in part to a hefty fuel surcharge on flights.
He said he's braced for an angry reaction from would-be flyers, but said his company is "trying to do what's best" for customers. He noted Panorama "voluntarily terminated" its registration, rather than appealing the council suspension, clearing the way for customers to apply to make a claim against TICO's travel compensation fund.
That also means Panorama, based on Niagara St., has stopped operating as a travel agency and can't make any decisions or provide information to former clients, he said. The company is referring all calls to TICO.
Most customers who bought tickets through Panorama or another registered Ontario travel agency should get their money back, Pepper said.
The company posted a special notice to FlyCentralEurope.com customers outlining their options for pursuing a refund. If you bought tickets with a credit card, "your first call should be to your credit card company," Pepper said, explaining it's possible in some cases for the company to provide a chargeback.
Customers can also apply to make a claim against the council's compensation fund, to a maximum of $5,000, Pepper said. Only customers who bought tickets through an unregistered travel agency or one located outside Ontario won't qualify for compensation.
He also said the council was "making arrangements" for the relatively few customers who had purchased other travel services, like bus tours, from Panorama.
The direct flights to eastern Europe were supposed to begin May 27, with several flights per week scheduled through September.
Pepper said all the FlyCentralEurope.com bookings together would only have filled about 10 planes.
Spokeswoman Karen Medweth said airport officials were "disappointed" about the suspension of the service, which was supposed to funnel thousands of new passengers through the Hamilton airport.
"It's too bad. … It wasn't our call," she said.
