BWIA bags blues continue
By Mark Ramotar
Guyana Chronicle
December 29, 2004
ALMOST two weeks after arriving in Guyana for the Christmas holidays, angry and frustrated BWIA passengers were yesterday still in long queues outside the airline’s Georgetown office awaiting their left behind luggage.
Some were trying to locate and collect their missing baggage and others were awaiting some form of compensation for broached bags and suitcases.
Passengers who arrived here some 11 ago on a BWIA flight were yesterday still waiting to see/collect their luggage. Some who finally got theirs found that some had been tampered with and items stolen.
Others have no baggage to collect since some pieces were reportedly destroyed in Trinidad after perishable items in them rotted and started to give off foul smells.
Scores of passengers who came here to spend Christmas with relatives were unable to do so, compliments of the luggage and other problems associated with BWIA.
Some angry passengers vented their frustrations on the few BWIA staffers on hand who seemed unable to deal with their problems expeditiously.
One passenger told the Chronicle that he went to Trinidad specially to buy clothes for his daughter’s wedding this weekend. He said he had bought a lovely wedding dress for her but when he finally received his tampered suitcase a few days after returning to Guyana, the wedding dress and other pieces of clothing were gone.
Another angry passenger, Delon Hyman, said one of his five pieces that he came to Guyana with was broached and items stolen. He said he left Barbados on December 19 for Guyana with five pieces of baggage. When he arrived here the next day he got only three of those pieces of luggage, he said.
He said that when he received the remaining two pieces on Christmas Eve Day, he discovered that one of the bags was tampered with and among the items lost were two pairs of expensive ‘Timberland’ boots.
Several passengers yesterday said they were contemplating suing the airline and one indicated that she had already consulted her lawyer seeking legal advice on the way forward.
All the passengers this newspaper spoke to yesterday admitted that due to BWIA, their Christmas holiday here was a total wreck.
Some lamented that although they would prefer not to travel with BWIA, they have no choice since it is the only airline here that flies certain routes.
BWIA Area Manager, Mr. Carlton DeFour admitted that a few pieces of luggage had to be destroyed because items inside had become rotten and the stench was foul.
Some passengers had packed ham and turkey and other perishables in their luggage.
DeFour noted that these passengers will be compensated but hastened to add that all were told not to put perishables in their baggage and this will be taken into consideration when the compensation is computed
He also assured that BWIA was getting back to “where we are supposed to be”.
“Officially, all of the delayed baggage that was lying in Trinidad has been cleared and are in Guyana (and) we are in the process of informing passengers that their baggage is at Timehri and they should collect them.”
“The people who have pilfered baggage and baggage that were damaged, we have special forms for that since it is an insurance issue and we are filling those up and sending them to Trinidad for processing; (but) right now, we are trying to compensate everyone who made a claim to get their money,” he said.