This week’s announcement that the CARICOM Competition Commission (CCC) has launched a market study to determine how persons in the region have been affected by flight disruptions arising out of the advent of COVID-19 could answer some questions about airline service standards that go beyond the pandemic itself.
While the study will seek to gather information on issues such as customer feelings on flight cancellation and refund policies, as well as experiences relating to claiming refunds on account of COVID-19-related cancellations, customer responses almost certainly, in many instances, will dwell on the wider issue of customer service woes particularly arising out of the entry into the regional market of small airlines not used to flying regional routes.