To spend a summer vacation in  the Philippines is a vacation that is financially and emotionally loaded. A ticket in the high season ( July till September) easily costs about a €1000, a family vacation of four people is a whooping €4000. Together with the costs of stay in the Philippines- board and lodging, transportation and “public relations”  activities , we have to save for a year or more to be able to finance it. A trip to the Philippines is not just a trip to some touristic haven, it is an emotional trip. We go back to our “roots”; rekindle the bond with our families there; breathe , eat, sleep, laugh,cry the Filipino-way. Remember how we have missed all of these. After 2 years of waiting,  we could finally afford to go to the Philippines.  

March 3-   marks the day when I made the fatal mistake of booking our trip by Mariton Air Travel. Booked  3  return tickets  via Emirates for a trip from July 19 till august 12.

March 22- got an email van Mariton reminding me to pay the tickets  ( was upset since I could pay the ticket till the end of March)

March 29- paid the tickets and got the payment confirmation from Mariton on March 31.

April till May- Made all the other preparations for the trip. Confirmed the hotel bookings, domestic flights, made plans with the whole family and waited for the e-tickets which should be sent 3 weeks before departure.

June 26- e-mailed Mariton to ask about the e-tickets. Got the reply that our reservation has been forwarded to the IATA-agent and Mariton is waiting for the e-tickets. Got a funny feeling in my stomach.

July 9- 15- the funny feeling grew into  queasy  stomach when I began to hear stories about Mariton,  the phone is not being answered  and saw that my reservation was annulled. Went to Rotterdam to confront  Mariton and see if there is still something that could be done to “save” our trip. On July 12, it was clear that there is no vacation anymore. The office of Mariton is closed and an announcement of bankruptcy is pasted on the door.

Since the day, I started a call on the victims to organize ourselves via the Reisforum.nl.  On July 19, the Google group : Mariton Case has been created, made my private email public, and I started documenting the cases. The misery amongst us victims and the need for information fuelled all these activities.  Some good Samaritans made  it easier for me to organize the information dissemination : Munting Nayon website publishes my articles and the comments of readers, Hans B. started making the website, someone from OmroepMax communicated with me.  The stories behind every ticket is a a  life story. Some of which I would like to share in this article. The names of the persons have been camouflaged to protect their privacy.

-----------------------

…..we had bought tickets for 5 persons. Mariton had issued only 3 etickets instead of 5. They have promised to release the remaining 2 tickets in the week of July 3 (all correspondences were documented per email).  The first 3 passengers (including myself) have left Amsterdam last July 5 . The last 2 were supposed to fly on July 25 for a 3-week vacation (for the first time in the Phils). . …they have bought new tickets (borrowed money from friends) to be able to come and visit Philippines.

-------------------------

...Mijn kennis ... zou met een Mariton ticket 9 augustus op vakantie gaan naar haar familie in de Philippijnen.Met lang sparen kreeg ze de 890 euro voor het ticket bijeen, betaalde  en nu hoort ze dat de club failliet is.Zij is er totaal van overstuur. Altijd via Mariton gevlogen , nooit problemen en  nu dit

------------------------

....Wij mijn vrouw en ik zijn ook gedupeerd Wij hadden 2 tickets geboekt en betaald voor 28 oktober met Ethiad. ....

En mijn vrouw zou naar 4 jaar weer haar moeder zien kun je na gaan hoe boos wij waren

------------------------

Mijn vriendin, haar zoon en ik zijn ook gedupeerd door Mariton.

Onbegrijpelijk...omdat mijn vriendin al minstens 10 jaar in goede verstandhouding zaken met hun doen  !!!

Mijn vriendin en de eigenaresse van Mariton komen nog wel van het zelfde eiland......

 

-------------------------

Ik  ben voor 1200 euro gedupeerd ... heb lang moeten sparen voor mijn tickets ... ik vlieg 3 keer per jaar voor 2 maanden dus ben 6 mnd per jaar in de Filipijnen ( omdat mijn vrouw en kind daar nog wonen)

-------------------------

July 28 –August 9  OmroepMax (OM) made the definite decision to send out  the Mariton Case on on their program GROETEN VAN MAX-August 9. There was an  intensive contact between me and the OM editor for the materials which could be used for the broadcast. Many thanks to OM for considering a number of points which I have submitted .



 For those who missed the live broadcast of GROETEN VAN MAX, check out www.groetenvanmax.nl/gemiste uitzendingen (august 9)

Mariton Air Travel wreaked havoc not only on hundreds of passengers ( latest known is +170 who booked by Cathay Pacific and more than 30 by Singapore Airlines..quote Groeten van Max) The other airlines like KLM, Malaysian Air, Etihad, Emirates  are not yet counted.

Those who booked the domestic flights in the Philippines via Mariton are not also known.

The au-pairs and those who have applied as au-pairs  via the Ideal Au-pair agency may turn out  to be even bigger in number and financial consequences  than the victimized travelers.  The magnitude of the effects  of the fall of a small  Filipino-owned company whose offshore activities is quite extensive is difficult to gauge. The only thing definite is that the damage is heart wrenching. This case is BIGGER than a lost summer vacation, it is a case of LOST HOPES and back breaking debts. So, what can we do about these? Can we just  look and walk away? Hint: Click at any image above to display it in its full size. Hover your mouse pointer over the full-size image and then click at any side arrow that appears or rotate your mousewheel to scroll to the next full-size image.