Some delegates for the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting (CFMM) have found themselves without their luggage after arriving here on LIAT flights.

Guyana will be hosting at least 44 Commonwealth nations at the CFMM which begins on Monday and ends on Wednesday.

A LIAT clerk, who declined to state her name, told this newspaper yesterday that passengers were given the airline’s numbers to call and had taken the phone numbers of passengers who had their luggage delayed and as soon as the luggage arrives they will be contacted. The clerk could not say when the luggage would arrive. She said that some persons would have received their luggage yesterday from a flight that came in at 1:30 pm.

Yesterday Stabroek News spoke to participants in the CFMM from Antigua and Barbuda, Uganda and the United Kingdom who reported that they were without their luggage after arriving on LIAT flights.

The passenger from Antigua told Stabroek News “I have got basically nothing.” She arrived in the country at 1:30 pm yesterday and said that a number of other persons on the same flight had not received their luggage.

“Thankfully I have the things I need to do my job,” she said, speaking about her work at the CFMM.

Another passenger from Uganda also did not have his luggage after arriving on Thursday. When this newspaper spoke with this LIAT passenger he was still in his clothing from Thursday and he was making plans to purchase clothing. All his personal effects were in his suitcase and yesterday he was hoping to receive his baggage. But as of late yesterday this passenger along with others were still waiting.

The UK passenger who was still in his travelling gear, after arriving on Thursday said that apart from a t-shirt he bought upon his arrival, he had no other clothing. The man said that after arriving from London in Barbados he checked in his luggage at the LIAT counter and does not understand why the luggage did not arrive on the flight with him. He described the situation as “ridiculous.”

Yesterday, he made checks at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri after information from the airline that the luggage was expected to be on an afternoon flight but got nothing.

Stabroek News was told that a number of persons from the Swaziland delegation which arrived on Thursday were without their luggage. The Swaziland delegation was set to attend the Macro Economic Financial Management Institution of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI) that began yesterday at the Buddy’s International Hotel at Providence.

It is not clear how many other delegations would have been affected by the delayed luggage on the LIAT flights. Over the past weeks a number of passengers have complained about LIAT’s service and in particular missing luggage.

(Nicosia Smith)