The return home for the golden jubilee independence celebrations has so far been testing for some Guyanese travellers, who are angry at the LIAT airline for what they describe as an unreasonably long delay in the arrival of their luggage.
These passengers include Vanessa Moses and her husband, who arrived in Guyana from the United Kingdom last Sunday, as well as Paula (only name given), who arrived at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport, Ogle, yesterday afternoon.
When contacted for a comment on the situation, Stabroek News was told that LIAT’s manager was unavailable.
A frustrated Moses told Stabroek News that after more than 24 hours of travelling, both she and her husband arrived in Guyana on Sunday evening. However, much to their surprise, they were told that their luggage, which consisted of two suitcases, had not arrived in the Guyana.
She explained that they were not the only ones whose luggage did not arrive as none of the luggage belonging to the other passengers on their flight had arrived either.
In light of this, Moses stated that they were all given lost luggage claim forms to fill out and were told that they would be notified when their luggage arrives in Guyana. Almost two days later, Moses and her husband have not received their luggage or any word on the status of their belongings.
“On Sunday, they told us that when the luggage comes they’d call us but Sunday came and no luggage came. We came yesterday and were told that we shouldn’t fatigue ourselves to come to the airport because they are going to call us, but [we] have called them several times and got no answer,” the woman lamented.
As a result, they decided to make another visit to the LIAT office at the airport yesterday and were met with the same situation from Sunday–their luggage had not yet arrived.
Moses said that to her knowledge, at least three other LIAT flights have arrived in Guyana and those passengers are experiencing the same problem. “Now they tell my husband that they are going to ensure that the suitcases get here tomorrow (today) but they haven’t been very forthcoming with any information regarding the suitcases. They keep saying that, “we don’t have the suitcases here, when they get here we’ll call you or we are going to send it out to you,” Moses said.
She went on to say that her frustration is fuelled by the fact that she came to Guyana for three weeks, during which the plan was to partake in as many jubilee activities as possible.
Instead, the lack of luggage is preventing them from enjoying the celebrations since they are exhausting both their time and finances trying to secure their belongings.
The woman registered her disappointment with the situation as she lamented that she has never experienced such a situation in her 12 years of international travel.
“Tomorrow when we come again, it might be something else. We came for three weeks, we come to participate in every single activity for the jubilee but now we have to be staying at home because we don’t have any clothes to wear,” her husband chimed in.
Similar sentiments were shared by Paula, who had arrived in Guyana from Barbados aboard a LIAT flight a few hours prior to speaking with this newspaper.
“I’m living in Barbados for the past 26 years but I came back to Guyana to celebrate our independence and I hope to head back to Barbados in time for theirs, but to my disappointment I have to deal with this,” she related.
Paula explained that upon her arrival at the airport, she was informed that none of her suitcases had arrived. She added that attempts to secure some form of compensation from the airline to purchase a change of clothes were unsuccessful. “I came in on LIAT flight today from Barbados, didn’t get any of my luggage other than my hand luggage. All I am asking for is compensation… but down to that I can’t get,” she related.
Paula went on to say that this is not the first time LIAT has put her in such a situation as she was faced with a similar dilemma last December, when she travelled to Guyana for a relative’s wedding.
“This is what people who are coming home for jubilee with LIAT are faced with. There are persons who have been away for 20 odd years and are coming back but this is what LIAT is doing,” Moses’ husband said.
