A GUYANESE passenger left the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on a Suriname Airways flight on November 18, 2014, bound for Miami, and after a string of woes in a single round trip, she concedes that flying with SLM was hellish and a virtual nightmare.Initial horror 

Sherene Benjamin-Reece, 40, recalls that passengers’ woes began soon after take-off from CJIA when the plane developed what appeared to have been mechanical problems. She said passengers were terrified and began experiencing jitters when the pilot adjusted the altitude and began flying low over the ocean. However, they made it safely to Aruba International Airport where all passengers were asked to disembark.
On disembarking at Aruba around 15:45 hrs, they were each given a meal voucher to get themselves something to eat and advised that they would soon be taking the remainder of the journey to Miami by a relief aircraft. But according to Reece, the voucher was not adequate to buy a proper meal, and so they were forced to pay out-of-pocket for beverage and water.
When eventually the flight arrived to take them to Miami, before they were able to board, passengers were made to pay US$30 per piece to have their baggage checked in, but were issued no receipts.
Reece claimed that when the passengers asked for receipts, the woman attending to them succeeded in distracting them by hustling them up, saying that time was of the essence, and if they did not get onto the flight they would be left at the airport until the following day. Hence they were forced to forgo the receipts.
But the Guyana/Aruba dilemma, serious as it was, represents only the first part of a sordid chain of events that occurred between November 18, 2014 and January 1, 2015, the day on which Reece returned to Guyana.

More horror
Reece, even after doing the SLM leg of the journey, was still required to take another flight independently from Miami, since her final destination was Atlanta. However because of the delays in Aruba, she did not reach Miami at the scheduled 15:00 hrs and so missed her flight leaving Miami for Atlanta at 17:00 hrs.

She was therefore forced to spend the night in Miami in order to catch another flight to Atlanta the following day. She and a few other Guyanese therefore sought out the Suriname Airways office at the airport, to find out what accommodation arrangements could be made for them. But after 20 minutes of walking, they found that the office was shut tight and so had to battle on their own. But she arrived in Atlanta safely and spent six weeks there.
Booked to return to Guyana on New Year’s Day, Reece flew out of Atlanta and back to Miami on American Airlines, hassle-free and without incident. Once at Miami, she booked in to return to Guyana on the Suriname Airways flight once more with two suitcases for which she was issued two boarding passes, Nos: AA 8666 23 and AA 8666 24 by American Airways in Atlanta.
While waiting to board SLM at Miami, she learnt that the conveyor belt to get the suitcases onto the flight had developed technical problems. She was not, however, immediately aware that one of her suitcases had not gotten onto the flight. It was only when she arrived in Guyana that she made that discovery and immediately reported it to the SLM airline staff who filled up a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) form and gave her a copy.
She was advised that the airline would try to get the suitcase to CJIA via Caribbean Airlines by Saturday, January 3. It did not arrive and she was asked to wait for another week, but in vain.

Royal run around
Five weeks later, as at February 4, she had heard nothing else about her suitcase, while still being given the ‘royal run around’ by Suriname Airways. All the while, she had to be spending hard earned cash to be going back and forth between Georgetown and Timehri and to and from the airline’s office in Kingston. When she asked them about being reimbursed to cover the cost of her suitcase and items, they asked her to produce receipts for literally every item it contained. That was practically impossible, since she was not prepared for such an eventuality. She, however, photocopied and produced receipts for most of the items she had purchased in Atlanta and was moved to tears, saying that she had invested heavily and now found herself in a state of limbo.
On one occasion she gave a female at the desk at Timehri her phone number and asked her to keep her updated on the status of her report. But the woman merely wrote the number in the palm of her hand and so Reece never received a call.
Intervention by Local Manager
Disgusted, she finally informed the media. Our reporter contacted Suriname Airways Local Manager, Mr. Rudi Westerburg who said he was aware of the problem, adding that the suitcase had been misplaced at Miami Airport. He also admitted that there was a problem with the conveyor belt at Miami airport at the time of the flight. Westerburg apologised and empathised with the young woman, adding that had he the last say, she would have been reimbursed ‘today’, since it was no fault of hers that the suitcase had gone missing. He said too that he had made several calls to Paramaribo, their headquarters, but no decisive action had been taken. He promised to pursue the matter resolutely.
True to his word, about four days later, Reece received an e-mail from Paramaribo, informing her that she would be reimbursed the sum of US$460 for her lost property.

Questionable figure
Pathetically, however, the passenger broke down in tears, explaining the value, both financial and sentimental, of the items she had in her suitcase. She is contending that there’s no way U$460 (G$90,000) could replace them. “It was a well packed suitcase that contained personal clothing – new and those I had walked with. I ensured I was decently and adequately clothed for the six weeks I was spending in Atlanta. I would never leave Guyana with shabby looking clothing, nor would I have money and leave Atlanta without making reasonable purchases,” she argued.
Other items included gifts for family members; expensive brand name cosmetics; items her aunt in Atlanta had bought for her to bring home; and articles her brother had given her money to buy for him.
Meanwhile, Reece would like to know on what basis is a decision arrived at in terms of repayment for lost baggage.