Caribbean Airlines Guyana Country Manager, Renata Marshall says the airline is working to resolve the issue of a missing suitcase belonging to pensioner Jane Persaud.
One month after arriving in Guyana, Persaud is still waiting for Caribbean Airlines to locate her missing baggage. In a brief comment to this newspaper yesterday, Marshall explained that the airline has been in direct contact with Persaud in an effort to have the matter sorted out.
Persaud yesterday confirmed that she was indeed contacted by a representative of the airline but the person was unable to provide her with any update or the location of her suitcase.
“She called me and ask about the suitcase and I tell her what it was but unto now I haven’t heard back from them. They tell me hold on and I still waiting for a call,” related the pensioner, who arrived in Guyana on November 13.
She complained that at one point the representative asked if she had travelled with anyone and suggested that that individual could have taken the suitcase. Persaud said after she responded in the negative, the representative asked for a description of her baggage.
“I told her it is a black hard suitcase with a blue tape on it with my name and address. I don’t know what they did to my suitcase. Everything is lost. All that I spend money on to buy from January to November all is lost,” she lamented.
Persaud, 75, of New York and West Coast Demerara, said her blood pressure has been consistently high as she has been worried about the items, which includes her medication, being missing.
“My blood pressure high every day and I don’t have my medication. I don’t know if I am taking on, I am telling people I am not taking on but my blood pressure is still high,” the woman stated.
She noted that many of the items in her bag were bought for her loved ones as presents for Christmas. The woman stressed that the suitcase that is missing also contained a number of brand name items.
The pensioner is calling on the airline to bring the matter to a close and if they cannot find her suitcase then they should compensate her for her loss.
Persaud in a previous report had explained that she arrived in Guyana on a Caribbean Airlines flight from New York. The woman explained that after clearing Guyana’s immigration services, she sat in a wheelchair waiting for her bags but only received one.
Upon checking, she said she realised the lock was broken and the second suitcase was nowhere to be found.
“I paid US$40 for the second suitcase and unto now I cannot get it. They are not finding the bag and they are not telling me anything,” she lamented.
According to Persaud, she cannot understand what contributed to her suitcase being missing.
She stated that it was a smooth process at JFK airport. However, when they entered Guyana’s airspace the aircraft could not land because of fog and so it diverted to Trinidad and Tobago.
She added that they spent at least five hours in Trinidad and Tobago before returning to Guyana. She suspects that her suitcase might have been misplaced there.
Persaud said she spent several hours at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport after arriving as she waited on the airline agent to make enquiries.
The woman explained that after she did not get her bags, she left and went home. The following day she visited the Caribbean Airlines Guyana Office hoping for some help but she got nowhere. She has since visited the office five times and has still been unable to get a positive response.
She said that she was given several baggage claim forms to fill out but even that has not yielded any success.
“It is very frustrating because I had all my medication and clothing. Now I have to buy everything because I have nothing. I always come around this time and stay for some months so I bring all the medication I need”, she said.
The woman also stated that in the 30 years she has been travelling with Caribbean Airlines, this is the first time she has faced such challenges and unhelpful customer service.
