LITHIA SPRINGS, Ga.
-- TransMeridian Airlines, a charter airline that served about a
dozen U.S. cities and about a half-dozen destinations in Mexico and
the Caribbean, abruptly ceased operations Sept. 29 and left tour
operators scrambling to make alternative arrangements.
Customers who booked
TransMeridian for its scheduled charter service were left to make
their own alternative arrangements or seek refunds.
But under Department
of Transportation (DOT) rules, tour operators were obligated to
find alternative flights for their customers, and most seemed to be
doing it without much difficulty.
Vacation Express,
which had a number of Caribbean programs with TransMeridian, ramped
up its contingency plan. Vacation Express turned to Pace Airlines,
Sky King Airlines and Pan Am Clipper Connection to lease planes and
reaccommodate passengers.
Gantt Cookson,
Vacation Express vice president of operations, said his firm
reaccommodated 2,558 passengers between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3 to
Cancun, the Dominican Republic, Aruba and Costa Rica.
Funjet Vacations
customers booked on TransMeridian flights were offered alternative
arrangements.
The shutdown
primarily affected passengers departing from Cleveland, Chicago and
San Antonio, but also from Detroit and Houston.
Funjet works with 20
scheduled and charter lines, so it said the shutdown would have a
limited impact.
Funjet said
TransMeridians demise would not affect its late-January launch of
seasonal nonstop service from Rockford, Ill., to Cancun and Puerto
Vallarta, Mexico. TransMeridian was to be the carrier, but the
operator said it is working to obtain aircraft from other
carriers.
We are looking at
some different aircraft options, seeing whats available and at what
rate, said Tammy Lee, vice president of corporate affairs at the
Mark Travel Corp., which operates Funjet Vacations.
Funjet already had
replaced TransMeridian in all markets other than Rockford for
2006.
TransMeridian, which
began service in 1995, was struggling because of the effects of
high fuel prices and Hurricane Katrina, as well as lower bookings
because operators shifted more of their
business to scheduled-service carriers, said airline spokesman
Frank Fraboni.
TransMeridian said it
shut down and expected to file for Chapter 7 liquidation because it
was unsuccessful in negotiations to restructure its
debt.
The DOT said that
customers who paid by credit card might be able to have the cost of
the ticket credited to their account under the Fair Credit Billing
Act.
Under the law, such
claims must be received by the card issuer no later than 60 days
after the date the customer received the first monthly statement
listing the charge for the TransMeridian flight.
Passengers who paid
by cash or check should make a written request for a refund to that
carriers escrow bank and securer: National City Bank of the
Midwest, 1001 South Worth, Birmingham, MI
48009.
Claims should refer
to TransMeridian Airlines and include the dates and destination of
their flights. Copies of all claims
should be send to TransMeridian at 420 Thornton Road, Suite 101
Lithia Springs, GA 30122.
DOT rules state that
consumers have 60 days after the date their trip would have been
completed to file a claim with the securer.
To contact
reporter Andrew Compart, send e-mail to [email protected].
Kenneth Kiesnoski
and Gay Nagle Myers contributed to this report.