Windsor woman out thousands of dollars after travel company files for bankruptcy

Expensive trips have been canceled and travelers around the country can’t get thousands of dollars back.

This after Vantage Deluxe World Travel, a Boston-based company, has filed for bankruptcy.

NBC Responds teams around the country have heard from more than a dozen consumers in this mess, including a Windsor woman.

Ellen Messina says she’s received brochures in the mail from Vantage Deluxe World Travel for years. Since the company championed trips for senior citizens and women traveling solo, the recent widow thought the company was perfect to book with, but now she’s out almost $11,000.

“A year ago, March, I lost my husband and we had done some significant traveling and he had said to me, ‘I hope you will continue to travel,’” said Messina during an interview with NBC CT Responds Caitlin Burchill Friday.

Messina wanted to honor her late husband’s wishes, as the pair had made wonderful memories together traveling the world.

“I was traveling with a friend of mine, Kathleen, who lives down in Charlotte, and she had lost her husband quite a while ago, so we decided, let's do this trip together,” said Messina.

The friends separately booked a three-week land and cruise excursion through Vantage to explore countries in central Europe.

They planned to leave August 17, but two months before on June 3, Messina says she learned from the company that their trip was canceled.

She says Vantage gave her an option to rebook or get a refund. She chose a refund, but later learned from the company in an email that she shared with us that there was no timeline for when she’d get her money back.

“At that point, that's why I printed as much as I could from the portfolio because I was suspicious,” she said, referring to her documentation on the company’s website.

Vantage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday. In a message posted on the company’s website, it says another company has agreed to buy it and that details regarding refunds for passengers will be communicated as the case makes its way through the acquisition and court proceedings.

Messina wonders if, and when, she’ll ever get her money back.

“This is in the courts now and I’m sure it will just drag on,” said Messina.

Connecticut-based bankruptcy attorney Myles Alderman is not involved in the case, but he took a look at the filing for NBC CT Responds.

He says based on the court documents, Messina could be one of tens of thousands of creditors. His take from reading the filings is that the company is “severely insolvent.”

In bankruptcy court filings, Vantage asked to sell its assets, including contracts and personally identifiable information of its customers.

Alderman says it’s not clear what that will mean for many customers who paid deposits.

Looking back, Messina wishes she ignored perks offered by Vantage to pay by electronic check and instead she had used a credit card for better protection.

But like so many others in her same boat, she can’t look back and says it was hard for customers to see this coming.

“Who would have thought, I mean, that Vantage would go bankrupt?” said Messina.

“I have traveled enough that and I’ve never had a problem never and I paid via electronic check. In fact, one trip that I was on and paid in full via electronic check and the trip was cancelled by the company because of covid. They refunded every cent,” she continued.

This isn’t the first travel company to go bankrupt recently.

Travel expert “The Points Guy” says even if you use a credit card to pay for a trip, see if yours has bankruptcy protection and perhaps consider travel insurance policies with this coverage, too.

And even then, the expert warns there are caveats, so read the fine print.