Jane Persaud, who celebrated her 75th birthday yesterday has renewed her call for full compensation from Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) over her baggage which has been missing since November 13.
“At this stage I am fed up and frustrated. I have given up on them finding my luggage with any of the items inside. They should just compensate me for my losses,” she lamented while speaking with this newspaper.
Since the bags went missing Persaud said she was only contacted once by the airlines. During that time an airline representative requested personal information and a description of the bag.
CAL’s Head of Corporate Communications, Dionne Ligoure previously told Stabroek News that the airline is well aware of the matter and has been working to have it resolved. Ligoure had stated in December there is no timeline as to when the matter will be resolved but CAL continues to be in contact with the customer.
“They have not contacted me since that time (early December). I had to spend Christmas without being able to give my children or grandchildren any presents. I am a pensioner, I don’t know why they are not looking into this,” the woman said.
She is pleading with the airline authorities for a swift solution to the matter.
“They should just come forward and compensate me for my loss. They are a big business and they would not want someone to cry on their business,” she said.
Persaud said after arriving in Guyana on November 13, she received one bag which was tampered with, and then spent several hours at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri waiting on an airline agent to make enquiries for the missing bag. The woman said that after she did not get her missing bag, she went home. Persaud said she visited Caribbean Airlines’ Guyana Office the following day, expecting help, but that got her nowhere.
She told Stabroek News that when the aircraft entered Guyana’s airspace, landing was not permitted because of heavy fog and the aircraft was diverted to Trinidad and Tobago. She said the flight’s delay in T&T lasted for at least five hours before improved weather conditions [in Guyana] permitted the rescheduled flight to arrive here. It is in Trinidad she suspects that her luggage was lost.
“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.
Persaud said she was contacted by the airline’s customer service and was asked to provide a description of her missing 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 stressed.
