Dear Editor,

Mr. Joel Drakes in his letter captioned "Let us look at the other routes Mr. Gaul can use" [ please note: link provided by LOSP web site ] (2l.3.2002) made a feeble attempt at diverting the real issue at hand, as well as trivialised the true plight of the Guyanese traveling public. It is incumbent upon all airline personnel to ensure that their customers are treated in a satisfactory manner, so as to ensure their comfort, irrespective of September 11, 2001. I have on several occasions traveled on the same schedule BWIA flight from Barbados as Mr. Gaul, and because I had an economy class ticket, like I believe he had, I was made to enter the aircraft from the rear. The entire unpleasant situation could have been avoided if the agent at the boarding gate, in Barbados, had addressed Mr. Gaul's initial objection by explaining the reason why he had to enter the aircraft from the rear while at the same time asking one of his/her colleagues to assist Mr. Gaul with his hand luggage and sick son to their seats. Secondly, for Mr. Drakes' edification, all the international carriers that "dump Guyanese in Barbados", fly into this and other Caribbean territories because they transport mostly tourists and do not depend on the large amounts of returning nationals, like the few airlines that fly into Guyana. Further, the airlines calculate airfare based on air miles between origin and destination, operational costs, competition on the route and the ability of passengers to pay the fare, which is determined based on the economy-of-scale in a particular country. So it doesn"t take a genius to figure out which routes the airlines will most likely ply. Therefore, Mr. Drakes, the airlines you listed that either came and went, or refused to come altogether, do not do so because Guyana has nothing to offer them. By the way Mr. Drakes, international artistes frequent other Caribbean countries because of the ability of patrons to pay more than their Guyanese counterparts.