Airline travellers to Guyana –whose numbers continue to increase at an exponential rate with the highly anticipated forthcoming oil and gas industry – over the past four decades were exposed to and suffered from extremely poor service provided by international carriers – including the now defunct former national airline, Guyana Airways.
The list of woes was long and never ending, and the quality of service and care extended to travellers to Guyana- the vast majority of whom were and continue to be holders of Guyana passports – could best be described as second class. Overbooking, late and cancelled flights, non-arrival of, and quite often lost luggage, pilfering of suitcases and their contents, and poor standards of in-flight service (especially meals) were the order of the day. The prohibitive cost of the day then, which continues onto the present time, was another layer of misery piled on to the backs of Guyana-bound passengers.
The ordeal of travel to the land of their birth ‘back in the day’ approached such levels of despair that the main subject of conversation among complete strangers in the departure lounge at Timehri International Airport was whether they could endure the tribulations associated with another airline trip to Guyana. It can safely be assumed that only the passing of an immediate family member would have driven travellers to undertake the precarious expedition.
The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and local airline enthusiasts would probably have to carry out ardent research to come up with a comprehensive list of carriers whose services were offered to, or should we say, levied on, Guyanese during this period. Through it all, only one carrier has managed to provide continuous service to Guyanese, or, as the more frequent travellers deem it, “hold us to ransom.”
British West Indian Airways (BWIA), the national airline of Trinidad and Tobago, which was replaced by Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) on the 1st January, 2007, has been flying to Guyana since the 1940s. Still popularly referred to by the older folks as’ BeeWee’, the standard of service it provides to Guyana in recent times has seen much improvement in the areas of punctuality and baggage handling, allowing the Trinidadian picong handles of “But Will It Arrive?” and “Better Walk If Able” that were often applied to its acronym, to be dropped from the local dialect.
One enduring area of major concern – (high cost of tickets and poor quality of in-flight service are subjects for later discussion) that remains, is the treatment of passengers who are in-transit, to and from North America, at Piarco International Airport, in Trinidad. Gone, thankfully, are the horror stories of passengers stranded for hours, even overnight, with no word from the airline of their impending departure, only to be replaced now by having to remain on the aircraft for anywhere from one and a half to two hours. In some instances, this period of waiting is sometimes extended even further, as with two cases last week, when the presence of heavy fog at Timehri delayed the departure of flights from Piarco.
In the second instance, passengers travelling from Toronto to Georgetown, had to remain on the aircraft from 4:15 am to approximately 6:30 am whilst awaiting departure. Stuck in the limited confines of the cabin after a five-hour flight, they received virtually no service – very soft background music does not qualify as service – as they were instructed to remain seated while two sets of airline personnel boarded the aircraft. The first crew comprised the cleaners who then proceeded to perform their duties, which under the circumstances, could best be described in Guyanese parlance as ‘a lick and a promise.’ Meanwhile, the washrooms were closed, as counter staff armed with a clipboard and the passenger manifest proceeded to examine the passports and boarding passes of the in-transit passengers who, at the same time, were required to identify their carry-on luggage stored in the overhead lockers, most of which were in violation of international standards, in both weight and size, as travellers have sought to bypass the limitations imposed by one suitcase per passenger.
Whilst these two activities were in progress, the aircraft was being refuelled. International regulations state that is an acceptable operation with passengers on board, but, it is quite often recommended that for reasons of safety that this exercise, which is considered hazardous, be conducted after passengers have disembarked and before embarkation commences. While refuelling accidents have been far and few in between, spillage of fuel is quite common place, and presents a possible risk to passenger safety.
It is quite understandable that CAL would want to maximize the amount of fuel aboard its aircraft whenever they dock at its central hub at Piarco. Is the risk factor involved of refuelling with passengers on board worth it? Not to mention the extended list of safety regulations which are required to be in place and monitored during a refuelling exercise when passengers are on board, which, in some instances, include the switching off of cell phones. Has CAL fully examined the possible consequences of a spill, or worse yet, if a fire occurs with passengers on board during a refuelling exercise?
Is it too much to ask for CAL to put systems in place which would allow in-transit Guyana bound passengers – significant contributors to the airline’s coffers – to enjoy the spacious waiting areas of the international airport where they can stretch their legs, stroll around and enjoy the limited shopping opportunities available, make unrestricted use of their phones or the phones in the lounge, utilize the washrooms at their own convenience and be worry free of any possible hazards while the aircraft receives a cleaning worthy of international standards during the refueling operation? Or is this just another cost saving programme intended to improve the bottom line?
When will CAL flights, which commence with an extensive video presentation on international safety regulations and requirements, extend first class treatment to Guyana bound in-transit passengers? Aren’t we not worthy of the highest standards of safety too?
