Travel deals book direct – three travel agents jailed

You should always book travel deals direct, after three bogus travel agents were sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison yesterday after conning airlines out of flights worth £1.2 million.

Michael Sanchez, 29, and Rashid Hammou, 38, both from Eltham, London, and Paul Kelly, 53, from Lewisham, London, pleaded guilty to the fraud at Southwark Crown Court in July.

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff said: “This was a planned fraud rather than spontaneous. It involved defendants adopting false identities and acting co-operatively to milk creditors and line their pockets. But the balloon had to go up eventually, and it did.”

By booking your travel deals direct. You are not only saving yourself the grief and heartache of being conned by Rogue travel agents but your money is far more secure.

Judge James Wadsworth sentenced Sanchez and Hammou to five years in jail, while Kelly was given three years.

The group bought over the family-run agency Flights International (Southend) in Malden, Essex in June 2007 from Paul McDonald. Over the summer, the new owners forced staff to issue large volumes of high-value flight tickets that the airlines were never paid for.

It emerged that Sanchez and Hammou, who were previously concert promoters, issued tickets for musicians from South America to fly to jazz concerts around the world. Payment for these flights never reached the agency.

A number of the unpaid tickets were also used by the fraudsters, their friends, families and contacts, the court heard.

When IATA did not receive payment for flights, it suspended the agency’s licence and the company went into liquidation in August. The owners disappeared and staff lost their jobs.

He said: “This was a thought out and professionally planned fraud. What you did has affected four groups: the owners of the business, the employees who lost their jobs, the other companies who gave you credit, and of course, the airlines.”

The trio also used Flight International (Southend)’s good credit rating to purchase electrical goods such as fridges and televisions, as well as merchandise for their concert promotion business Adrian Exclusive.

A confiscation hearing will be held in December.