…for flights paid for that never took off

By Tamica Garnett

SCORES of Guyanese and other Caribbean nationals are up in arms, wondering if they will ever again see the money they handed over to the failed regional airline LIAT for flights that never took off.

The Eastern Caribbean airline is currently up to its ears in debt totaling over US$100M, some US$11M of which is owed to passengers. Here in Guyana, the Consumer and Competitions Affairs Commission (CCAC) is advising locals to file a complaint with them so that they can approach LIAT about refunding, but thus far, only one affected consumer has done so.

And with the situation reminiscent of the plight many Guyanese faced with the now defunct Fly Jamaica, whereby some of them are still awaiting a refund, LIAT customers are not very optimistic about what steps to take next. Some passengers are even saying they’re afraid of booking flights with any regional carrier ever again. Many of their Guyanese patrons are either overseas-based and are stuck here in Guyana, or live here but are stuck overseas as a result of the grounding of flights, which was initially caused by airport closures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Airports in Guyana have been closed to international flights since March 18, due to measures implemented to stem the spread of COVID-19, which resulted in flights being halted, and passengers stranded. The airport later opened to accommodate specially-arranged repatriation flights.

Jankeedai Eric is currently stuck in Antigua, desperate to get back to Guyana, and worried that she may never again see her money from LIAT, given that she may have to book with another airline if she wants to return home. Leaving for vacation in February, she was scheduled to return in April, having paid US$573 for her return ticket.

CREDIT ON FUTURE FLIGHTS
However, repatriation flights from Antigua are not currently being done. Notwithstanding an announcement in June that the airline will be liquidated, and that a new one is in the cards, LIAT is currently only offering passengers credit on “future” flights, causing passengers to ask themselves, “What future flights?”

“I feel as though customers have been forced to accept an unacceptable solution to this issue, and we are the losers here,” said 25-year-old schoolteacher Jealisha Leung, who had booked flights totaling US$378 with the foundering airline. “It’s as though this situation has been a high-class robbery and fraud upon us,” she added.
Leung had booked her flights in February, in the hope of flying in June, but shortly after booking, all flights for the airline were cancelled, as the COVID-19 pandemic had by then spread across the Caribbean. Leung wrote asking the company to cancel the flights, but her request was denied.

“I was told only a credit could be done; no refunds. I reluctantly allowed this; now the credit is only valid for one year from when they cancelled my flights, which brings me to next March, but I saw stories about them liquidating,” Leung said.

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Brown had announced in June that liquidation was one option the airline was looking at. Antigua, along with two other Caribbean governments, Barbados and St. Vincent, are the largest shareholders of the airline.

Even before the COVID-19 situation hit, the airline had been having successive years of financial difficulties, operating at a loss. In 2019, that loss amounted to US$4.44M. Hence, while most airlines are being hard hit by the COVID-19 situation and restrictions on travel, LIAT is drowning.

“COVID would have… increased the losses exponentially. Whereas in 2019, LIAT made a loss of about EC$12M, that was within the means of the shareholder governments to subsidise. [But] since COVID, the planes have been grounded; they have to pay the lease [but] they are not getting any revenue,” Browne is quoted as sharing on local radio in Antigua.

In its latest statement last Friday, all the airline could bring itself to say was: “Further information about LIAT’s future will only be available after LIAT’s next Annual General Meeting which has not yet been scheduled.”

WORRIED PASSENGERS
Though some customers were at one point tolerable of being offered credit, with the airline headed to liquidation, they are now worried about getting value for the money they have already spent. The consumers have been swarming every post LIAT makes on its social media page, making it clear that they just want their money back, more so because they would need to pay for separate repatriation flights, even if they do get to fly anytime soon. The situation is leaving many in a deteriorating mental state. “I don’t know how to cope with this right now; I am so depressed and stressed out,” conveyed Kay Narayan, who is currently stuck in Guyana. Though Guyanese by birth, Narayan has been residing in Barbados for the past ten years.

She landed in Guyana the day before the airport closure, and had been scheduled to leave on March 23. Like everyone else, she has only been offered credit, after having paid US$480 for her return flight.

“I called them at the ending of June; they said they will give me a credit note and pay the difference for the day I would like,” Narayan said, adding: “I had all hope that I would get a flight; I still have my bills and rent to pay back in Barbados.” For many of the passengers, the money they spent on those airline tickets were already a strain on their pockets, but they had made the sacrifices for varying reasons.

“It’s really frustrating, given the fact that we used our savings to book the flight, and now we’re unsure of if we’ll be refunded. I booked a flight for my fiancé who is currently in the British Virgin Islands Tortola, and was due to come back to his hometown Guyana,” shared Keiara Gomes, who doled out US$496 for her one-way ticket.