There was a time when air travel for Guyanese didn’t offer many choices, and even jetways were scarce ‒ on my first trip outside, Toronto didn’t have them; it was come off the plane in sub-zero weather and walk to the terminal ‒ in my case, run. In those early Tradewinds years, one of the problems for Caribbean folks was no genuine pepper sauce available on the aircraft, so we usually travelled with our own. Indeed, we often ran out because passengers sitting near us, alerted by the smell, would plead for some; one insistent passenger even offered money for a taste.
The choices, too, are better. Early on, it was mainly BWIA and despite the frequent jokes ‒Britain’s Worst Investment Abroad – our experience with BWEE was largely positive; we rarely encountered delays and the in-flight service from the mostly Trini staff was superb, but if BWEE was full you stayed home. Now, for a Toronto traveller like me, there are three direct choices: the former BWIA, now Caribbean Airlines, Fly Jamaica and Copa Airlines, with the latter, going through Panama where there are jetways.
