Agency leaves
travelers hanging

Jimmy's Travel has
shut down without
warning

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Telephones are going unanswered at a Honolulu travel agency specializing in Las Vegas junkets and hundreds of local residents are wondering how to get back the money they paid for trips that have been canceled.

Customers of Jimmy's Travel said they paid for trips and their checks were cashed but they couldn't get their tickets.

The company stopped answering the phone over the weekend and its owner, James K.S. Lee, could not be reached for comment. A state complaints office says it hasn't been able to find him either and that the travel office at 1314 S. King St. is closed.

American International Airways, the charter airline that carried the agency's passengers, said it won't fly any future flights booked by Jimmy's Travel because it failed to pay.

"No payment, no service," said Beth Montalvo, communications manager at AIA headquarters in Kitty Hawk, Mich.

She said a flight returning from Las Vegas today would fly because the agency has paid for it.

"People are showing up at the airport and finding tickets not available or charters canceled," said Cynthia Nakamura, a state consumer protection attorney.

She said the state is watching the situation but for victims of travel agency failures, so Jimmy's Travel customers may have no recourse but lawsuits.

"If they paid by credit card, all the better. They can contact the card company and reverse the charges. If they paid by check, they can stop it at the bank," she said.

The state consumer complaints office, 587-3222, is gathering information on the case.