Travel Company Repeats Charges Against Flight

The University Travel Co. recently reiterated a charge that Victor R. Besso '57, director of last summer's Harvard-Rad-cliffe charter flight to Europe, mishandled funds and violated Civil Aeronautics Board regulations in organizing the flight.

Edward Bloomberg, president of the company, originally filed the complaint with the C.A.B. last August, urging that the return flight from Europe be cancelled. At that time the complaint was rejected, but Bloomberg refiled it a few weeks ago. He charged that Besso collected $1200 more than the cost of the trip from last year's passengers and that he has never refunded this excess. According to C.A.B. regulations, such flights must be non-profit. Besso, however, claimed yesterday that he had sent out refunds last month, too recently to have been discovered in Bloomberg's investigations.

Bloomberg also stated that more than ten per cent of last year's passengers were ineligible, being neither Harvard nor Radcliffe students or faculty nor their immediate families. Besso denied this, also.

Both Bloomberg and Stephen R. Salomon '58, director of this summer's flight, pointed out last night that the charge concerned Besso only, and, even if acted upon, would have no direct effect on the 1958 plane trip, for which Salomon has made a separate application to the C.A.B.

There has apparently been hard feeling, however, between the University Travel Co. and Salomon since the latter declined earlier this year to promote a second student flight this summer in a plane chartered by University Travel. "Bloomberg made it pretty clear he would try to make trouble for us," Salomon said last night.

Bloomberg suggested yesterday that there might be some business connection between Besso and Salomon, in which case he said his complaint would apply to both.