Dear Editor,
On Thursday January 3, 2008 the suitcases for a passenger travelling on Travelspan flight #TS53 bound for JFK was checked in at 7:30 am.
The counter clerk asked me to give the passenger (a ten year old boy) to the travel agency clerk at 9:30 am. The flight was scheduled to depart Cheddi Jagan Int. airport at 10:45, however, it was announced that the flight would now arrive at Cheddi Jagan Int. airport at 10:15 am I took the child and handed him over to the Travelspan Clerk in the office at 10.30 am, although the aircraft had not arrived as yet.
At 2:00 pm I called the office at Timehri and enquired if the flight had left; the clerk informed me that the flight would arrive at JFK at 4:45 pm instead of 3:30 pm.
The passenger’s parent called Guyana at 7.00 pm (6:00 pm NY) asking for the flight # as a Travelspan flight had arrived, but the child was not on the flight. I immediately called the airport manager at Timehri who said to me that the flight was three hours late, but was scheduled to arrive at 4.45 pm.
The parent called back at 9.00 pm to inform me that the flight was diverted to Miami and she was informed that it would now arrive JFK at 2.30a.m.
Apparently, the aircraft developed problems and was forced to land at Miami.
The passengers were flown to JFK via another carrier and arrived at JFK Friday morning at 2.30 am Unfortunately, my grandson received no suitcases. The parent was informed that the luggage would come later. They toiled back to JFK on Friday evening and no luggage came.
On Monday, January 7, 2008, I called the Travelspan office in Georgetown and spoke with the manager, who advised that the parent in New York call the office in Manhattan and speak with Nirmala Sankar (the manager). This was done but no action was taken by Travelspan. The authorities in Miami called the parent and informed her that the child’s suitcases were at the airport. She relayed this information to Nirmala.
Between the 8 – 10 January, 2008, the parent was unavailable and could not make contact with Nirmala.
On Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 2.30 pm (NY) the parent called me frantically saying that Nirmala called to inform her that the suitcases were disposed of and could not tell her the reason why.
I immediately contacted the manager in Georgetown who expressed shock but told me NY would have to deal with the matter.
On Friday, January 11, 2008 the parent decided to visit the office in Manhattan and demanded to have her child’s suitcases. The manager told her again that the suitcases were disposed of and the compensation would be US $400 or a round trip.
She told them she wanted no compensation but the suitcases. The manager then said that the suitcases became smelly and were disposed off. The parent called me and I informed her that I did not put any item that would spoil in the suitcases.
After sitting in that office for the entire day, the manager spoke with Miami and told the parent that the suitcases would be delivered to her home on Saturday, January 12, 2008.
The parents had paid an extra cost for air hostess service for the child. The air hostess did not ensure that the suitcases got on board the other carrier. Only the kids who travelled suffered this problem.
If the parent was not determined, she would have lost all her child’s clothing and valuables which US$400 could not have compensated.
I leave the readers to judge the quality of service offered by Travelspan.
Yours faithfully,
(name and address supplied)
Editor’s Note
We sent a copy of this letter to Ms Karen Whitehead the General Manager of Travelspan GT Inc for her comments and received the following statement in response:
“A call was received on January 4th, 2008 from the child’s guardian who related that the bags belonging to the child had not arrived. A baggage report was filed on arrival at John F. Kennedy International which related the child’s name, tags to the missing pieces and supporting information required to complete a search.
While the possibility of bags becoming misplaced on any carrier is sometimes an unavoidable occurrence, all assurance was given from Travelspan to the guardian that all measures would be taken to ensure the safe delivery of the bags to their place of stay or compensation for the loss in accordance with carrier’s limitation on liability.
In an effort to assist further, correspondence continued with the guardian who related that calls were being received from personnel at Miami Airport stating the bags were on hand and urgent forwarding information was required to be rushed to John F. Kennedy International, due to perishables being contained.
This was mainly due to the contact information being shown on the bags being held at Miami International. The contact numbers given by Miami personnel were taken from guardian and numerous messages were left in efforts to assist. Forwarding information was received from Travelspan baggage department at John F. Kennedy International stating the child’s pieces were meant to be rushed to New York via Miami Air on January 9th 2008.
We later learned that Miami Air was unable to accept.
Travelspan continued to make efforts to speak with agents at Miami International.
At no point in time did Travelspan advise the guardian that the bags would be destroyed, this information was relayed by agents at Miami who are not affiliated with Travelspan and were in contact with the child’s guardian in New York.
The guardian visited Travelspan’s corporate office on January 10th 2007, to discuss the matter further. Efforts were made to attain the attention of agents in Miami.
During her visit to Travelspan’s office a call was received from agents in Miami and a request was made to speak with them. I Nirmala Sankar took the opportunity to relate the urgency in returning the bags to New York in care of the child in question. Travelspan related account numbers to provide express delivery to the guardian’s place of stay the following day.
The air way bill and tracking numbers were given to the guardian for follow up. We were also able to assure her that further assistance would be rendered towards the delayed status of the bags.
A call was received from the child’s mother on January 11th 2008 stating that the bags were received in good order and that she was very thankful for the assistance.
Travelspan takes every opportunity to assist our affected passengers and while we are unable to control the irregularities that are present in today’s travels we are committed to our passenger’s satisfaction.”