Leaving TT after Carnival a breeze...for most

The majority of visitors leaving TT on Ash Wednesday had smooth departures. But some less lucky passengers had a rougher ride.

Most of the passengers at Piarco Airport were patiently waiting for their flights to be called or to check in. They said there had been no issues and their flights were on time. Some were travelling with their headpieces and other costume pieces as mementos of their Carnival experience.

Counter staff at JetBlue said their flights for Wednesday were running on schedule. Caribbean Airlines said its BW520 flight to New York, which was scheduled to leave at 12.35am, did not leave until 7.45am, but the rest of its scheduled flights were running on time.

Liat Airlines counter staff said there had been no problems overnight and into the morning shift.

However, there were a few passengers whose experience was not so smooth.

Marise James of St Vincent said she and her two travelling companions arrived at the Liat counter at 3am to be told by one agent that their flight was cancelled, then that it was delayed by another agent. They were told that something was wrong with the aeroplane and the airline was waiting on the next flight to fix it.

At 6am, they were told to return at 10am to be put on the 1 pm flight, but when they did so, they were told they had missed their flight.

They said they never left the airport and no announcement had been made as to when the flight was leaving.

James said she found out that other people who were also on their flight were told to stay near the counter, but she and her companions were not told this, and the others were put on another flight.

One of the travellers said there was no communication from the airline, or between the different shifts, as the staff who came on during the morning did not seem to be aware of their problem. She said the agents took their flight, passport amd contact information, but had not contacted them.

James was close to tears as she said she'd been told she could possibly be accommodated on a 3.45pm flight, and the other women said they were to be put on standby. The other two women, who were en route to JFK and declined to give their names, said they were in danger of losing their jobs if they did not make it back to the US by Thursday morning.

Air Canada also came in for some flak, as passengers Gillian Niles and Osman Kassim, who were taking flight 7674 to Toronto, en route to Boston, Massachusetts, said they arrived at 6am for what their itinerary said was an 8.45am flight, but were told the flight was leaving at 7.45am.

They were asked to fill out an ETA form, which delayed them to the point that the staff closed the counter and they missed the flight altogether.

They said they were told they might have to wait until Friday for another flight to Toronto.

Kassim said missing the flight meant he would not be able to pick his daughter up from school or to go to work on Wednesday evening.

They said the customer attendants were rude and aggressive. Niles, who is from TT, said she was disgusted and embarrassed by the treatment and the lack of customer service.

She said she was having to face buying two tickets for US$1,000 each to get back home. She said she had always heard about other people having these experiences but having happened to her, it hit close to home.

Newsday sent an e-mail to Liat's corporate communications manager Shavar Maloney requesting a comment on this incident, but had received no response up to press time.