Flight horrors: BWIA tries to mend bridges
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle
December 24, 2004
BRITISH West Indies Airways (BWIA) yesterday apologised to its disgruntled passengers and the public for the recent long flight delays, stranded passengers and missing luggage.
And it has assured that measures are being put in place to avoid a recurrence.
BWIA Area Manager, Mr. Carlton DeFour, said all the remaining luggage left behind at various ports were scheduled to have reached Guyana yesterday afternoon on a specially chartered DHL flight.
More than 1,000 pieces of luggage were flown in on a similar flight on Wednesday, he said.
Angry and tired passengers have for the past five days been going back and forth between the BWIA office in Georgetown and the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri – some 25 miles - trying to locate their baggage.
An official denied that the airport was shut down Wednesday night after tempers flared when angry BWIA passengers were frantically trying to get their luggage which had arrived a few hours earlier.
The official said there were “some misunderstandings” and “arguing” between affected passengers and BWIA officials Wednesday night but that this did not affect the operations of the airport.
At a news conference in Georgetown shortly before noon yesterday, DeFour noted that the recent baggage and other problems have “put the airline in a bad light” and BWIA will have to do “some serious mending of bridges” when these current problems are resolved.
“Our passengers might feel that BWIA did not foresee the incidence of late baggage arrival but I want to assure you that not only did we expect the problem but had put in place contingency measures to alleviate it,” he told reporters.
He pointed out that BWIA “chartered an additional aircraft” for the sole purpose of transporting luggage even before the problem began last Friday. Despite these plans, he said the volume of baggage was compounded by a combination of factors, including resource constraints and regulatory issues related to baggage capacity ratios that apply in wintry conditions.
As a result, BWIA was forced to transport passengers with some and at times none of their bags, he said.
However, DeFour hastened to add that a freighter was put in place almost immediately to transport the “left luggage” into Trinidad and Barbados.
According to the BWIA Area Manager, this system worked and within 24 hours, the bags were in Trinidad.
Unfortunately, at this time all aircraft in the region are being used and BWIA was unable to transport the luggage from Trinidad to Guyana until Wednesday, he explained.
“In order to rectify the situation, BWIA has chartered two additional freighter aircraft to clear excess baggage and to make sure that the luggage is delivered to passengers in time for the holidays,” he assured.
“I wish to assure our customers that their satisfaction and safety are of paramount importance, and we are sorry for this inconvenience (and) rest assured that BWIA is instituting steps to prevent this problem from occurring in the future.”
“We have always felt that the media play an invaluable role in the transmission of information and we have and will continue to work closely with you to ensure that the correct information is given to our valued customers and the public,” he told reporters.
He said he was aware that the media have the interest of the public and BWIA’s customers at heart and as such would like to publicly apologise “most sincerely for the inconvenience caused over the last five days”.
He said there was a lock-jam in Trinidad and the airline could not get a freighter until Wednesday and another one yesterday.
He stressed the importance the airline places on safety of passengers and cited this, and the regulatory issues related to baggage capacity ratios on the aircraft, as major reasons why the BWIA aircraft were not overloaded.
“We have even introduced a measure about two months ago where the airline made a conscious effort and decision to lower the booking capacity on the plane so that we could take the baggage because we (foresaw) the problem,” he asserted.
DeFour also apologised for a seemingly perennial lack of communication between airline officials and passengers.
“At the end of the year, many people are travelling here and our staff - I am not trying to make an excuse here - but they are under stress and some mistakes were made with regards to the communications aspects.”
He also acknowledged that he has received several reports of ‘delayed’ passengers not being treated properly at certain ports.
“I know we have instituted measures whereby each passenger who has been inconvenienced…there is a procedure that must be followed and when those procedures are not properly followed then this is something we need to take up since that is not how it is supposed to be. Every passenger must be taken care of. – be it hotel, transportation or a meal and that is what we go by.”
He noted, too, that Guyana is one of BWIA’s busiest routes. There are about five flights a day from Guyana and all the airline’s major flights to destinations such as Toronto, Miami and New York start from Guyana.
That is good for Guyana, but the downside to it is that if an aircraft is grounded or BWIA encounters problems, then Guyana is going to feel it, he said.
He said about 50 per cent of BWIA passengers have arrived in Guyana over the past week with one or more pieces/baggage left back.
He noted that some of the aircraft were coming to Guyana without any luggage in the hold because of the regulatory problems and the DHL flight yesterday was expected to clear up all the backlogs in Barbados and Trinidad.
DeFour said he can understand the plight of the disgruntled passengers and how they must have felt on reaching Guyana without their baggage since he would have been frustrated too if he was caught in a similar situation.
“I know we are going to get some flak for this...what we need to do now is to try to manage the situation (and) to get everyone here and their luggage for the holidays and then we need to go out and thank people for their patronage, tell them we are sorry and show them we are sorry.”
“I think we need to emphasise that we are sorry and we will try our best to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
He said the airline has already “paid out a lot” to passengers in compensation, adding that more compensation will be forthcoming wherever necessary.