MIAMI (CNN) -- Pan Am Corp.'s two main airline subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy protection and temporarily shut down Thursday, leaving thousands of passengers holding potentially worthless tickets. According to a Pan Am press release, the airline has asked other airlines to honor its tickets, but those airlines have no obligation to do so.

The airline has established a toll free number -- 800-359-7262 -- for travelers who need ticket refund information. In a list of frequently asked questions published on its Web page, the company included some instructions for passengers holding Pan Am tickets:

• Ticket holders who purchased their tickets from a travel agent should contact the agent for instructions
• For tickets purchased directly from Pan Am and paid for by credit card, ticket holders should contact the credit card company for a credit
• For tickets purchased directly from Pan Am and paid for by cash or check, ticket holders should send the unused portion of the ticket to Pan Am, 9300 N.W. 36th St., Miami, FL 33178, ATTN: Refund Accounting
• Ticket holders who bought their Pan Am ticket through another airline should contact that airline for a refund.

The airline warned passengers that it could not guarantee when, if at all, it would be back in the air, and said it could not make travel arrangements on other airlines for its passengers.

The current incarnation of the airline is not the original Pan Am, which filed for bankruptcy in 1991 following the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Pan Am returned to the skies in September 1996 when a former company executive led an investor group that purchased the name and familiar blue globe logo. Flying as a low-fare carrier, the airline was unable to compete with larger, more established airlines on its routes.

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• Pan Am back in flight - September 25, 1996

Related sites:

• Pan Am news
• Pan American World Airways (heritage Web site)

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