The Turismo Felgueres travel agency left, for now, approximately 200 people without traveling.
As was learned these days through the same travelers and Aviabue (Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies of Buenos Aires), the company sold non-existent tickets to hundreds of people bound for Turkey and Egypt departing on April 7 and 8. .
Several of the victims found out about the situation just hours before the plane's departure, with their bags packed and at the
Ezeiza International Airport
.
It was the Turkish Airlines company that informed these people that their names did not appear in the reservation system.
Others ran with a little more "luck" and did not waste time at the airport because the night before they received an email saying that the
trip was suspended
.
“My mother and two other friends had taken the trip to Turkey and Greece.
The date was initially March, but they told him that the ferries in Greece were not working at that time, then the earthquake in Turkey happened (February 6) so they set the date for Friday, April 7, ”says Raquel
Oyarzabal
in Communication with Clarin.
And he adds: “On Thursday night (April 6) they sent an email saying that the flight was canceled
without giving explanations
.
They proposed to change the departure for 2023 or 2024 or request a
refund
of the money that would be within 120 days and stamps, administrative costs and others would be discounted.
Both in that message and in its Instagram stories, the company announced that it promised to contact those affected on Monday the 10th, but no one has yet received a
response
to all the claims.
Some of those affected went to the Felgueres offices, but they were closed.
Those stranded in Ezeiza were flying to Türkiye.
“From the beginning everything was complicated, they did not pass the itinerary, they had been told that the vouchers were going to be given to them at the last minute.
It was all very cumbersome, ”Oyarzabal recounts her mother's experience with the company and tells that 10 days before the trip the agency contacted us to ask for an
extra 300 dollars
per person for tips.
On the other hand, the two groups that were left without traveling, which, according to the Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies of Buenos Aires (AVIABUE), some were 16-night and air packages for $2,200, are already organized to file a
class
action
lawsuit
.
It is worth clarifying that the company
had a license granted by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports
.
more victims
In addition to the 200 passengers who could not travel this weekend, Felgueres had packages sold until 2024, therefore it is estimated that there could be
more people affected
.
According to Oyarzabal, the company sold several packages for this Sunday, April 16, and the passengers are in a situation of pure
uncertainty
.
Ricardo Del Negro, who is in a Telegram group along with other people who have purchased services with Felgueres for the next few months, spoke with Clarín and confessed that a week before this problem broke out, he began to suspect the
company
.
“In August of last year I took out a package for 4 people, a total of approximately 10,000 dollars, to go to Egypt and Dubai for 11 days.
I wanted to travel this April or May, but in February they contacted me saying that due to the earthquake in Turkey, and since the plane was making a stopover in Istanbul, flights had to be rescheduled and they asked me if we could postpone it to
June
.
I accepted it."
“Ten days ago they contacted me by WhatsApp and email to tell me that they were
rescheduling
all the departures for this semester for the second half of the year and if I could agree to travel in October.
To me, October seemed very far away, I told them that I was stretching until June because I did not want to delay it any longer, it is
a trip for my daughter's 15th birthday
, who also met the pandemic in 2020 ”.
That was the last contact he had with the company.
Felgueres promised to write to him in these days to confirm the departure date, but he still has not received any message.
Dubai was one of the destinations chosen by those affected.
Photo Shutterstock.
Del Negro is a lawyer and is already evaluating the different ways to make the corresponding
legal claims.
“If we can avoid doing all that great.
We fulfilled our part, which was to pay, we want them to fulfill their part and be able to make their
desire to travel
come true ”, he highlights.
Another similar case is that of Cecilia Manzi, who in 2021 bought a package with her husband to go to Russia and Turkey in May 2022. But since the war (Russia-Ukraine) broke out last year, the trip was cut short.
The couple decided to reschedule and trade Russia for Egypt.
The package you paid for in 2021 is 19 days/17 nights for about
$5,000
for two people.
“In January we showed up at the office and Fiorella, an employee, told us that our departure date was going to be April 21.
On February 28 they called me and told me that due to the earthquake in Turkey it was not possible to travel in April, but I saw that other agencies were traveling to Turkey so I went back to Felgueres and there they sent us the new departure date, which is on
May 2
”.
Although with the latest changes in dates, Manzi confesses that he had a presentiment of something bad, he assures that "one trusts because he sees the company everywhere, advertising in magazines, TV, street, influencers and listens to the experience of other people."
look too
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