Shame on you, LIAT!

Tue Aug 13, 2013

Editor: My name is Joanne Otey and I buried my grandmother in Barbados on August 6, not a pleasant reason to travel home, but a necessary one.{{more}}

I was scheduled to depart Barbados on August 7 at 9.10 a.m. on LIAT 560. Upon check-in I was told that there was a problem with the flight and I was put on flight 362 to Dominica. I arrived in Dominica shortly after 9 a.m. with my six-year-old daughter in tow, with the expectation that I would reach my destination promptly, especially considering that my alternate flight departed an hour earlier than the one I was originally booked on.

Seven hours later, the passengers of flight 560 were still here in Dominica, and the day was horrid. The passengers, who were all scheduled to arrive in Puerto Rico at 12.25 p.m. on flight 560 from Dominica, were neglected, subjected to great discomfort and stress, not adequately updated on the status, progress, or lack thereof, of their flight, and left to languish in the heat of Dominica’s airport.

The last of two passenger forced “updates” informed the passengers that we would possibly be transported to Antigua, on an alternate flight, where we could spend the night and hopefully board another flight to San Juan the next morning. The majority of the passengers were scheduled to make connections in Puerto Rico and therefore missed them all, the inconvenience of which is much greater than I can express right now.

I was under the impression that LIAT “placed great importance on their customers” according to their website…I can count a room full of people who would laugh heartily and probably swear right now if I uttered this line of LIAT ‘s out loud right now. What a deplorable display and abuse of people’s time, and the trust that they have placed in LIAT by choosing to spend their hard-earned money with you.

Apparently we’ll be sitting, standing, pacing, crowding electrical outlets and waiting for many more hours, and spending (and losing) untold sums of money, since LIAT seems hesitant to be responsible for many of the missed flights and chaos caused today (August 7). Perhaps LIAT should understand that ‘time is money’ and stop wasting it. Further, for all the tourists stuck in this mess, who had thought about doing some ‘island hopping’ on their next trip to the Caribbean, or Caricom nationals intersted in enjoying their sister islands, know that your abuse of them has has done well to ensure that does not become a reality.

Shame on LIAT !

Joanne Charisse Otey