Vantage Travel cancels trips, blames data security incident
BOSTON - Disappointment for a Rhode Island couple who found out their European river cruise was canceled just 48 hours before they were supposed to head to the airport. "I have been looking forward to it for at least two years," said Ileene Chernoff.
Ileene and her husband are big fans of river cruising and have done several trips with Vantage Travel. "It's a good mix of people. The boat is beautiful, the cabins are beautiful," she said.
On Tuesday, she and her husband along with her sister and brother-in-law were due to leave for a cruise to see the tulip festival in Holland. But Ileene sensed there was trouble when she tried to reach out to the company last week to ask a question and their website wasn't working. "They said, 'we are having an outage,'" she recalled noting the telephone was also not working.
She and her sister then checked with Delta Air Lines to check their flight status. "They said we can see the reservation, but no tickets have been issued," Ileene said recalling her conversation with Delta.
Then Sunday they got an email from the company apologizing and that the trip had to be canceled.
We reached out to Vantage Travel and the company issued this statement:
"Vantage Travel wishes to inform its valued customers the company has experienced a data security incident.
We have hired a leading national forensic firm to investigate the incident.
Be assured that Vantage Travel is committed to solving this problem quickly and effectively to ensure the protection and privacy of our valued customers and staff. We understand customers may have questions regarding this incident. We will provide more information as soon as it becomes available."
After spending more than $18,000 on her trip, Ileene hopes the company isn't in financial trouble. "We had a lot of good experiences. I'm hoping that's not the case," she said.
Last week, WBZ reached out to Vantage on behalf of a Florida couple who had a different trip booked that was also canceled. A company representative told us that couple could reschedule or get a full refund.
