(Trinidad Express) Regional airline REDjet has said that passengers who were displaced because of recent flight cancellations will be refunded for the one-way part of their journey which was affected.
Contacted yesterday in Barbados where REDjet is based, airline communications executive Nyssa Pierre said that there was a certain amount of cash at the airline counters to distribute to affected passengers, but there was a situation where people were coming to claim for the leg of their flight that was not cancelled.
“The refund is for the leg of the flight which was immediately affected,” she said.
She added that passengers were within their rights to demand a refund, and that even though the company has a strict “no refund” policy it will relax the rules given the circumstances.
“We will issue the first portion of the refund at the counter and then customers can call in to our call centres in all territories and we will issue the refund via cheque,” she said.
Yesterday, angry REDjet passengers crowded the airline’s counter at Piarco International Airport to demand refunds.
They complained no one told them REDjet flights were cancelled because of aircraft mechanical problems.
One passenger, Roger Moore, was supposed to be on a flight to Barbados since Sunday, to manage the national badminton team at the Caribbean Regional Badminton Confederation (CAREBACO) championships.
“We didn’t get any sort of warning from REDjet that their flights were going to be cancelled so we came to the airport…Based on the contract, we are supposed to get a full refund. We are here at the airport now and we are hearing we are going to get a partial refund and they will decide how much they are going to give us. What they are doing is wrong. They should at least lease a jet like what other airlines do, and not just have their passengers stranded like this,” he said.
Chris Soler, a Venezuelan national living in Trinidad, said he booked tickets for his family, who flew in from Venezuela, weeks ago, but got an e-mail notification on Sunday at 11 p.m. that his flight, scheduled for 5 p.m. yesterday, was cancelled.
“I did not receive any call today and couldn’t get them on the phone to find out what was going on. What if I didn’t have Internet?” he said. “It’s terrible. I feel like they are treating us like we are not proper tourists.”
REDjet flies on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The company advised that it will resume regular service tomorrow.
