Sellers of travel: travel consolidators: fraud.

Senator Umberg's travel industry consumer protection measure expands California's oversight of travel sales to include consolidators who purchase and resell airline tickets at a discount, while creating new refund requirements when fraud occurs.

The legislation explicitly defines travel consolidators under state law and requires air carriers to provide refunds when three conditions are met: a customer becomes a victim of fraud by a seller of travel, the airline had prior knowledge of the seller's fraudulent practices, and the customer cannot obtain a refund directly from the seller within a reasonable timeframe. The bill also allows customers to void purchases made through unregistered sellers of travel. Courts must award attorney fees and costs to customers who successfully pursue their refund rights.

Under current law, sellers of travel must register annually with the Attorney General and maintain trust accounts for customer payments, with certain exemptions for businesses participating in approved consumer protection programs. The new provisions maintain these baseline requirements while adding specific protections related to consolidator fraud. The measure classifies violations as either misdemeanors or felonies depending on circumstances, expanding the scope of existing criminal penalties in the travel sales industry.