Leno Travel Agency in ticket row

Leno International Travel Agency, a private airline business in Monrovia owned by Ms Jackie Perkins, is in a row with a Liberian business woman over ticket bought from the Agency for a business trip to Accra, Ghana.

According to Madam Antoinette N. Mulbah, she bought a Kenya Airway’s Economy Class ticket for US$690 from Leno on August 31, 2015 for a scheduled flight for September 8, 2015 to Accra, Ghana via the Roberts International Airport in Margibi County, but her name was not included on the flight list for unexplained reasons.

She complained that her trip was due for September 8, 2015 and had been expected to return to Liberia on September 16, 2015. Madam Mulbah narrated: “It is not my first time going with the Agency; I went in February and again May of this year, but was unfortunate with her by selling me a wrong ticket and embarrassed me at the airport.”

Explaining her ordeal to reporters on Wednesday, 9 September in Monrovia, she said that Tuesday morning, before leaving for the RIA, Jackie called her and inquired whether she (Antoinette N. Mulbah) was still making the trip, but did not mention anything about the trip being cancelled due to wrong ticketing.

She continued that upon her arrival at the airport and filling the Ebola and Immigration forms, her name was not registered as a passenger for Kenya Airway Flight KQ/2C92KR. “I called Jackie and she refused to answer my call; I tried calling her on another woman’s phone; when she heard my voice; she cut the phone off. I later used a paid phone and called her, and when she finally decided to talk to me, I told her what happened.She (Jackie) started shouting and said to me that my trip was planned for September 12, 2015, and I was making it with confusion.”

However, Madam Mulbah added that Jackie called her later and assured that she could link her to another airline, but she (Antoinette N. Mulbah) will have to pay a difference of US$310, something, which she said she refused.

According to her, the Agency has caused serious setback and damage to her business, adding that she had her business partners waiting for her in Ghana. When The NewDawn visited the Leno International Travel Agency Wednesday on Broad Street in Monrovia for comment, the proprietor, Ms Jackie Perkins, was not available. Several phone calls made, including text messages forwarded on the issue, yielded no result.

But sources at the Agency confirmed the transaction and confided in this paper that on Tuesday, 8 September Madam Mulbah was scheduled to travel, but Jackie called and informed her that the flight was cancelled, and that Leno had booked another flight for her, which is due for September 12, 2015.

They disclosed that Kenya Airways has increased ticket fairs, but Jackie took the US$690 from Madam Mulbah because they are good friends. According to the sources, after Jackie informed her that the trip was cancelled, Antoinette did not return to the Agency, but instead,proceeded directly to the RIA and when she was denied, she called Jackie and allegedly rained insults, threatening to take legal action for damages sustained as a result of cancellation of her trip at the eleventh hour.

By Ethel A. Tweh – Editing by Jonathan Browne