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Anita Alvarez
Cook County State's Attorney
Communications Department
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 603-3423
saomedia@cookcountygov.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 9, 2010

A Chicago travel agency is accused of accepting more than $25,000 from customers seeking to purchase airline tickets for trips to Mexico and Latin America that were never provided to the consumers by the agency, according to a civil lawsuit filed today by the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Named in the suit are Escape Travel and its owners Maribel Diaz and Orlando Diaz both of Chicago. Also named is Elizabeth Gonzalez of Chicago who is an employee of the company.

“The defendants in this case preyed on vulnerable customers who believed they were making a legitimate purchase of airline travel tickets,” said Alvarez.   “This lawsuit seeks restitution for these victims and should send a strong message that this conduct will not be tolerated.”

According to the lawsuit, Escape Travel, located at 1307 N. Ashland, began offering discounted prices on plane tickets to Latin America and Mexico in advertisements beginning in May of this year. Individuals were required to pay the full amount up front and in cash to obtain the discount.

After accepting payments, Escape would make flight reservations for victims but would then fail to pay the airlines for tickets. Several victims showed up at O’Hare anticipating to travel only to learn that their tickets had been canceled.

On several other occasions, Escape representatives booked one-way instead of round trip tickets for customers, causing several to become stranded and unable to return home. In one instance a couple traveling to Cancun learned that Escape had canceled their tickets in the middle of their trip, forcing them to spend over $1,100 for additional lodging and to purchase seats on a return flight.

In total the defendants are alleged to have accepted $25,277 in payments from victims. Those who confronted Escape representatives were given a myriad of excuses and were ultimately rebuffed without refunds or reimbursement for any additional expenses they incurred.

Today’s lawsuit seeks restitution, asks the court to ban the individuals from future work in the travel industry for at least five years and seeks $50,000 in civil penalties from each defendant.

For more information on this lawsuit or to obtain additional information about consumer fraud protections contact the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Consumer Fraud Unit at (312) 603-8700 or visit the State’s Attorney’s website at www.statesattorney.org.

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