Dear Editor,
In the face of the blizzard that was experienced by the north-eastern US states, many US airlines operating out of JFK advertised that they would reschedule passengers for free. I was scheduled to leave on Wednesday morning at 12.05 am on a Caribbean Airlines flight. I called Caribbean Airlines and requested if they would reschedule my flight; I wanted to avoid the confusion, also the major motivation for coming at this time had fizzled.
The Caribbean Airlines person on the telephone indicated to me that they were not rescheduling flights for free; he also insisted that the flight on which I was booked would not be affected.
Tuesday night I got to the airport within the stipulated booking-in time – 9.10 pm – since the flight was scheduled for 12.05 am. The first appearance of a staff member from Caribbean Airlines was approximately 35 minutes before the flight should have left, and that was to tell us that our flight would be leaving at 11 o’clock the next day. They would book us in, take control of our baggage, and we could return at 9 am. Some people tried to explain that it would be unwise, while for others impossible to leave the airport and return. I fell among those for whom it would have been impossible. In the end it appeared that most people stayed. The booking was terribly slow, for only two persons were present to effect it. In discussions with the personnel I was informed that they had no idea what time the flight would arrive at Timehri. After being booked on the flight I was given a single boarding pass for flight BW 425 JFK to Georgetown.
On completion of that process I sought a corner within the terminal to while away the time until flight time. Some time after 8 am a colleague who was also on the flight indicated that he was told while booking in about 4 am, that our transportation medium would most likely depart some time after 12 noon. It was not until after 1 pm we heard an announcement instructing to proceed to the departure area; there we waited and finally boarded after 2 pm and left about 2.35 pm.
While we were at JFK it was realised that some of us had a different flight from BW 425 out of Trinidad, and those people has a second boarding pass.
We arrived at Trinidad at 9.15 pm, and all of us who had the single boarding pass were invited to deplane. When we enquired why, the cabin crew could not give us an explanation, save to say that we would be changing planes. We asked if the plane that brought us was not BW 425 and whether or not it was going to G/Town; they then simply said they were only following instructions. On the ground we were told that we would be leaving on the 5-2-3, which was interpreted to mean five to three. Demands were made to bring a manager, but instead airport security came and were in a threatening mode. They instructed us to line up and be served or they would advise the airline personnel to abandon us, and should we continue being disorderly some of us would be arrested.
Thereafter I got a new boarding pass, which indicated that my flight would be 12.25 am. We waited, but again Caribbean Airlines did us in. We finally left Piarco at 2.35 am arriving at 3.30 am, some 19 hours later than scheduled.
Over the 30-plus hours from the time I reached the airport in New York to when I touched down at Timehri, Caribbean Airlines treated me to one small cup of orange juice on the Trinidad-Georgetown leg, a small cup of coca-cola, two very small cookies, and a packet of potato chips on the JFK-Piarco leg. There was also a sandwich given on the longer leg, but I am a vegetarian, so I asked the hostess to take it back and give me something made from vegetables. She frowned and said no airline serves vegetables because they spoil easily. I asked her to give me another packet of potato chips, and she said that she could not do so because there were no extras.
I am exasperated with Caribbean Airlines; it is at times like these one is tempted to say to ‘hell’ with Caribbean integration. By the way, I learnt something new on the flight. I am wondering if it is our unique way of saying things. One of the stewardesses said to a passenger, “Sir would you please bring back your seat forward.”
Yours faithfully,
Elton McRae
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Caribbean Airlines for any comment they might wish to make.
