A Copa Airlines passenger is facing threats of a lawsuit in his home country of the Netherlands after he was stuck in Guyana and missed his already paid for performance dates, a delay he blames on the airline for its “incompetence” for saying it could not find his name in the system.
The 50-year-old artiste, Elmer (Andy) Ninvalle, said that not only was he denied entry on Panama’s Copa Airlines to his home for two successive days but the attitude of the staff towards him was disgraceful.
“After making me miss two flights, for two successive days, no one from Copa reached out to me. Had it not been for the goodness of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, God knows how much longer I would have been stuck,” Ninvalle told Stabroek News in an interview.
“My story is a nightmare and shows how much more we as Guyanese have to go in terms of attitudes and service. The treatment I received at the airport was unbelievable and you would have thought I was begging for a flight when I had a paid ticket home. I missed my shows and my agent is annoyed with me and I don’t know if I will be taken to court,” he added.
This newspaper reached out to Copa for a response to the allegations, through its public relations representative Chris Chapwanya. He explained that he would forward the concerns to the Panama office for comment and anticipated a reply sometime last week. As at Friday, he said that while he had sent the complaints for response and had spoken to Copa Country Manager a “Ms. Oudkerk”, he did not receive any replies.
Ninvalle said that he too had spoken to Oudkerk and she promised to investigate and have the issue resolved but he is still faced with a harrowing experience that had he not had relatives here would have seen him “stuck, hungry and homeless in another country”.
“(Last week) I arrived at the airport around 1pm for a flight which was scheduled to leave at around 2:50. I only had hand luggage. When I arrived, there was no one from Copa at any of the check-in counters and the security told me there was no flight going to Panama that day. I had confirmation with an itinerary so I looked at him confused. I was told to go to the Copa office and I went in there. A woman, who gave her name as Ms. Bacchus, dealt with me and she seemed totally uninterested with my problem. During our interaction, she never once took the time to tell me that there was a flight and it was cancelled. I told her of my booking and she said ‘well there is no flight’. I showed her my itinerary and she was dismissive again saying, ‘don’t you see there is no flight’. I looked on the monitor and indeed there was a flight and I told her. I asked her what will happen how and will I get home. I told her I need to get to Amsterdam because I had shows lined up for me. The lady rolled her eyes. The effort I had to use with this lady, I started getting dizzy trying to contain myself,” he said. “After all that time, she still never say that your flight is cancelled but checked her system and told me that there would be a flight for today [Sunday]. She showed me the screen and she said I am on that flight. After what happened, I asked for official confirmation. She subsequently made a print and it was in the shape of a ticket. When I looked at what she gave me it was the flight with today’s date. It is a good thing my brother did not go away and leave me but stayed. After that I left with him,” he added. But when Ninvalle returned the next day, he was met with further disappointment as the check-in representative informed him that his name could not be found in the system. She had collected my passport and she started calling her colleague and she said to me ‘we cannot find your booking’. I showed her what Ms. Bacchus had given to me and told her that I had met with Ms. Bacchus and I didn’t have a really nice time with her. She looked at me and said ‘Well Ms. Bacchus is not here and we need to move forward’. I could not believe this was happening again. While they were looking, I went on my mobile and I got on to KLM and they said you have a confirmed booking and sent that email confirmation to me, which I showed them,” he said.
“To make a long story short, they told me they still could not access my information and that I could not be put on the flight. I had to spend another day and when I tried to get a new booking, the cost was over US$3000. I could not afford that and was contemplating my options. I called KLM, and because I am a silver card member, they gave me a free ticket with Caribbean Airlines and routed through Curacao and that is how I got home. Nothing from Copa”, he said.
Ninvalle said that he wants to bring his story to the public’s attention because he does not want anyone else to have to endure what he experienced.
“We are saying that we are preparing for tourism and all of this but the attitudes of some are just unbelievable. Just imagine if I did not have money for my taxi or hotel…I don’t want anyone else to have to suffer what I have endured,” he said.
