Published: Tuesday | September 6, 2011
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I chose to delay the writing of this letter, allowing a few days from the experience so that my perspective and objectivity would be sharper.
The performance of Caribbean Airlines after Hurricane Irene convinced me and many others that it is not yet ready for the big league. I found many of their personnel to be unprofessional and not straightforward with their passengers. My family and I were among the unfortunate travellers stranded at JFK in New York after Hurricane Irene.
Caribbean Airlines made no contingency plans to accommodate its passengers. Everybody knew a difficult situation would present itself, with airlines having to cancel flights. The storm was still active on Sunday, August 28. Passengers accepted the fact that Monday flights might not have departed on time.
Originally, flights were scheduled for Port-of-Spain, Montego Bay and Kingston. After much confusion and near chaos, two flights left for Kingston and two for Port-of-Spain. No flight(s) left for Montego Bay. The departures for Kingston and Port-of-Spain hardly put a dent in the hundreds of people in that terminal. Why none for Montego Bay? I suppose only Caribbean Airlines had the answer. I and a few hundred others were going to Montego Bay.
The flights that left were not announced on the PA system. Only when they were about to take off were the announcements made.
Mixed signals
At first, we were told that the head office in Port-of-Spain did not (would not) authorise extra aircraft being put into service. Later on, we were told we should be getting other planes to pick up the slack. That information was not given on the PA system either. In our quest for information, personnel told us.
From Monday morning, long lines formed at the ticket counters. So many of us were given false hope. We were each subjected to a very lengthy processing exercise, then given boarding passes and told we were on standby. We knew that the hundreds could not be accommodated unless additional aircraft were activated.
I, like many others, was at Terminal 4 at JFK from Monday morning, August 29. All hopes were dashed when on Tuesday, August 30, just before 8 a.m., we were told we didn't make the cut. Again, another unannounced flight left for Montego Bay.
Nasty Clash
The airline personnel had few answers. They didn't seem to know what was happening. Some were downright rude. One agent got into a nasty confrontation with a passenger. A passenger was taking photos with a camera phone, to which the agent took exception. It was quite a scene.
As further evidence of Caribbean Airlines' mishandling the situation, by 8 a.m. Tuesday, all the passengers of the many other airlines at Terminal 4 were on planes and going to their respective destinations.
The storm affected everybody, yet at that time there were still planeloads of Caribbean Airlines customers in the building.
There was a unanimous sentiment among Caribbean Airlines passengers: "This is the last time I'm travelling with Caribbean Air."
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