A no-cash baggage policy by Copa Airlines has resulted in four cyclists who were set to compete at this weekend’s Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships in the Dominican Republic Being grounded.
And, a mother of one of the country’s top junior cyclist has expressed her disappointment and frustration with the the turn of events.
“Disappointing is an understatement, I did not even sleep last night.”
Those were the words of Maria Leung, mother of star junior rider, Alex Leung, who is part of the cycling quartet which remained grounded yesterday due to a no-cash baggage policy by Copa Airlines.
Guyana’s top four teen riders of Leung, Ajani Cutting, Aaron Newton and Sidwell Sandy were all set to compete this weekend at the Junior Caribbean Cycling Championships in the Dominican Republic.
However, an oversight put a spoke in the wheel of the riders forcing them to remain home, dashing their aspirations of representing Guyana at the annual event.
According to Leung, after arriving at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at 12:30am yesterday to check in, they were informed that the airline would charge each cyclist US$400 to transport their cycles.
The sum of US$400 per cyclist and an additional US$40 fee brought the total cost of transporting the racing bikes to US$1760.
Leung told this publication that the cyclists were prepared to pay the extra fees in cash, but were informed by the Copa Airlines check-in staff that only card payments were accepted.
It was stated to her that without a credit card payment, the cyclists would be unable to board owing to the strict no-cash policy.
Leung stated that she is not a card holder and as a result, attempts were made to have someone else make the payment but was advised that the card holder had to be physically present as a virtual payment would also be against Copa’s policies.
After attempts to travel on an alternate flight with Caribbean Airlines proved futile, a sponsor attempted to book the team via American Airlines but this was disappointingly abandoned as only two of the riders possess US visas.
Said Leung, “We were not aware of the no-cash policy, they said it is on the website but it is nowhere on the website. We are hoping to get a refund, because the guys did not get to compete or even board the plane.”
The riders who were training assiduously to compete this weekend in an effort to return with hardware, would have made their debuts at the event. Next year’s edition is scheduled to be held in Antigua and the teen wheelsmen will still be eligible to compete.
