Air travelers going to Super Bowl XXXIX this year should be aware
that not all tour packages include a ticket to the Feb. 6 game in
Jacksonville, Florida.

U.S. Department of Transportation consumer protection rules require
any operator marketing a Super Bowl air package that is promoted as
including game tickets to have the tickets in hand or have a written
contract for the tickets before the operator does any advertising.

The Department cautions travelers that if a game ticket is not
specifically mentioned in newspaper advertisements or other
solicitation material or listed as a tour feature, the ticket is
probably not included.

Starting in December 1994, the rules covering Super Bowl tours were
extended to all air tours organized for the purpose of attending any
sporting, social, religious, educational, cultural, political or other
event of a special nature and limited duration, and for which admission
to the event is advertised as part of the tour.

The Department’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division has been
monitoring Super Bowl activities covered by these rules, as well as
issuing consumer advisories, for over a decade. There has been little
evidence of misrepresentation by Super Bowl air tour operators in
recent years concerning the availability and inclusion in the tour
package of game tickets or other features.

Nevertheless, before purchasing a Super Bowl package, consumers should:

• Read carefully the tour brochure and any other solicitation material;
• Consider paying by credit card, where possible, which provides some degree of protection under fair credit practice laws.

The Department’s “Truth in Ticketing” rules state that if a tour was
described as including a game ticket and you do not receive one, you
are entitled to a full refund of the entire package price upon your
return.

If the tour operator increases your price by more than 10 percent
beyond what you originally agreed to pay, you have the right to cancel
and receive a full refund. No price increases are permitted during the
last ten days before departure.<

They dove through motel trash bins, searching for shreds of receipts bearing motel guests’ credit card numbers.

Then they used that information to illegally buy and sell at
least 10 Super Bowl tickets in Pinellas County in the last week,
according to sheriff’s investigators. The scheme was one leg of an
elaborate set of scams investigators say was performed by a group of
out-of-state con artists.

Detectives on Wednesday arrested two of the group at a motel
in Indian Rocks Beach. A third person remained at large late Thursday.

Investigators said the group used the stolen credit card
numbers to buy at least 10 Super Bowl tickets at $1,700 a pop from
brokers. They sold six of the tickets this week for $1,000 each at
Gators Cafe and Saloon on Treasure Island, and probably have hawked
more, investigators said.

Detectives said they believe the group ran a similar scam in
Nashville around the time of an NFL playoff game there Jan. 7. The FBI
has expressed interest in the case, and investigators expect the NFL
will be calling soon, sheriff’s spokesman Greg Tita said.

Donald Stenger, 37, of Peoria, Ill., and his girlfriend,
Christina Atkinson, 23, a Canadian, were being held at the Pinellas
County jail Thursday evening. Stenger is charged with grand theft and
credit card fraud, while Atkinson is charged with being a principle to
those crimes.

Stenger’s brother, Michael Stenger, 50, bolted in a 1982 beige
Oldsmobile Toronado with a Nevada tag soon after his brother was
arrested. Detectives are seeking an arrest warrant and suspect he is
heading to Key West, Tita said.

Tita said the Super Bowl tickets are legitimate, but the
sheriff’s office is asking people who bought them from the Stenger
brothers to come forward.

The buyers “are not in any trouble,” Tita said.

The victims in this case are the brokers who are out $1,700 per
ticket. None of the ripped-off brokers had been identified as of late
Thursday, he said.

The probe into the tickets sprouted from another investigation into the group that involved motorized scooters.

After the trio came to Pinellas County about 10 days ago, they
stole the credit card numbers from the trash at area motels and used
them to order scooters over the phone from distributors across the
country, Tita said.

They had the scooters, valued at about $1,500 each, delivered
to local motels, then sold them at local motel parking lots and shops
for about $500 each, said investigators, who are asking anyone who
bought a scooter from the group to come forward.

“They had a pretty elaborate scheme,” Tita said.

The brothers sold at least 50 scooters before a distributor in
Tacoma, Wash., received an order from Pinellas County and noticed the
credit card number was unauthorized. The distributor called
authorities.

The order was to be delivered to Emerald Shores Inn, 1912 Gulf Blvd. in Indian Rocks Beach.

Detectives in Tacoma contacted investigators here. The
distributor in Tacoma agreed to ship empty boxes to the Indian Rocks
hotel, and detectives decided they would set up a sting, Tita said.

Meanwhile, Emerald Shores Inn owner Debbie Becker received a
phone call from a man who identified himself as Bobby Watson, an alias
Tita said the Stenger brothers used during their schemes.

The man told Becker that his boss had accidentally shipped
packages to her motel, and he wondered if she could sign for them.
Becker, thinking the man was legitimate, agreed.

“He said “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry, my boss got the wrong address,” Becker said Thursday. “He was real nice.”

An hour later, a detective came to her motel and told her about
the scam. Becker agreed to cooperate with investigators and sign for
the boxes the next day.

The empty boxes arrived at the motel about 9:45 a.m.
Wednesday. The Stenger brothers arrived about 12:30 p.m. and were
greeted by two detectives, Becker said.

“They tried to run, but the office is kind of small and they didn’t get too far,” Becker said.

Detectives searched Atkinson’s room at Skyline Motel and
Apartments in Madeira Beach, where they found stacks of credit card
information and reservation receipts, along with Super Bowl and
motorized scooter information from the Internet, Tita said.

That’s when they learned of the Super Bowl connection, he said.

Tita said detectives didn’t have enough evidence to arrest
Michael Stenger until they found the evidence in Atkinson’s motel room.
By that time he was gone.

The total number of victims is unknown. .

“I saw a stack of stuff in the room,” he said. “This could be big.”