‘Jerking Us Around’: Georgia Woman Outraged As Travel Agency Abruptly Closed with Her Nearly $11K Already Paid for Dubai Trip, Told to File Insurance Claim for Refund

Virginia Gasber is supposed to be on the vacation of her dreams. She saved $11,000 for a group trip with other Black women to Dubai, planned by a Georgia-based travel agency. Instead, she’s home in Chicago, her vacation canceled and her money gone. “I’m at the point of life, spending this type of money, where my next expense is going to be a wheelchair,” Gasber said. Beachwear woman tourist with straw sun hat and beach bag walking on tropical summer vacation wearing sunhat and red tunic dress cover-up relaxing on travel holidays from behind. (Photo: Maridav / iStock / Getty Images Plus) Ladies and Luggage Travel Group for Black Women, based in Douglas County, just west of Atlanta, announced it was no longer in business in a Facebook video dated Oct. 19. Vacations the agency had taken money for and allegedly planned were abruptly canceled. A direct link to the video is no longer available. Just nine days earlier, Ladies and Luggage was promoting trips to Nashville, Los Cabos and Egypt. So what happened? Dacia Woods, the owner of Ladies and Luggage, said she was met with “barrier after barrier” in her efforts to receive traditional funding. There were few...