Liat passenger alleges mistreatment after missed flight
The woman, a Virgin Islander, alleged that she, along with her travelling colleagues, was treated in the most disrespectful manner by Liat.
The customer and her colleagues departed the territory at 12:45 for St Maarten then Barbados via Liat Flight LI 315 on December 13, 2015. On the way back, they arrived in St Maarten from Barbados at 8:00 pm on December 15, 2015 on LI 513. They were booked to arrive at Beef Island at 9:10 on December 15, 2015 on board LI 526 but this flight departed without them.
The woman who does not want to reveal her name, alleges that after arriving late in St Maarten as a result of a delayed Liat flight from Barbados, she was told that the flight from St Maarten to the Virgin Islands had departed and that they had to leave the precincts of the Princess Juliana International Airport.
She said, however, that they were eventually provided with a hotel room and booked to depart on another flight.
The issue
Prior to this she was allegedly told by Liat staff that the captain for the plane said he was not going to delay his flight to accommodate the late arriving connecting passengers, notwithstanding the fact that they were on a Liat flight which had been delayed.
She said they were eventually placed on a flight to the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport by the Liat staff. However, the passenger who was traveling as part of a group of 12 persons is dissatisfied with the service meted out to her.
“I am a Virgin Islander. I was traveling on Liat from Barbados. My flight from Barbados was delayed by an hour. I went to a Liat representative letting her know that we had a connection in St Maarten. The lady told us that the flight in St Maarten will be there waiting on us. When we reached to St Maarten we were told that the flight had left,” she said.
“When we were speaking with the Liat representative she walked away from us,” alleged the passenger. She said one more flight was coming in and the airline staff was about to put them out on the street, but eventually they were taken care of.
“Liat is the worst Caribbean carrier. They have no remorse for horrible customer service. To date no one has apologised for the inconvenience caused and their behaviour,” said the livid customer.
When this news site contacted Liat’s personnel at the airport, we were told to take the inquiry to the regional customer service personnel. However, we could not reach the person for a comment on the allegations against Liat.
Frequent complaints against LIAT service
LIAT, one of the most popular airline carriers transporting passengers around the Caribbean, was forced to suspend one of its agents following reports of a vicious fight with a customer in September 2015 at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport.
It was alleged that a passenger was very upset at the way she was being handled by the LIAT agent on inquiring about her missed flight and they both exchanged words at an aggressive tone.
However, according to our source, things took a physical turn when the passenger/customer attempted to record the conversation when the LIAT agent allegedly grabbed the customer’s phone. At that stage a brawl reportedly ensued between the two.
“The employee in question has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. LIAT is committed to clearly, openly, and completely establishing all of the facts surrounding the incident and to a fair resolution of the matter,” a press release from LIAT issued on Tuesday September 22, 2015 had stated.
Then in October a large number of persons booked to depart Beef Island cried shame on the customer service they reportedly received from LIAT agents after their flight was cancelled on October 27, 2015.
See links to related stories:
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/liat-suspends-agent-after-alleged-brawl-with-customer
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/stranded-liat-passengers-allege-poor-customer-service
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/-liat-needs-to-be-sued-allegedly-stranded-passengers
http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/shame-on-you-liat-resident
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23 Responses to “Liat passenger alleges mistreatment after missed flight”
that the plane developed mechanical problems, the pilot did right to ground it in St. Kitts to be safe. After leaving
the runway with runway running out, but the big problems were management of stranded passengers on St. Kitts
and the weirdness flying us back to Antigua, which is not a nice place. Made a claim that took months to process
and liat denied all compensation. My suggestion is to have the US and UK air forces fly over Liats corporate headquarters in Antigua and make a very serious statement on behalf of all nationals and their governments that
liat better make good and watch their step, lest Liat be regarded as a threat.
Welcome to LIAT world of traveling.
This is just typical Liat
good nite.
I'm convinced that its monopoly of air travel in the region is the driver of the poor service. LIAT cannot improve and it is not going to exit the scene stage left so the only thing left to do is for customers to take things in their own hands. What is needed is an airline that will provide on time service, employees with customer friendly attitude, employees that are customer service champions, reasonable prices, care about customers when problems occur, see customers as the straw that stirs the drink......etc. Can LIAT deliver? Doubt it, for it has been able to in 50 plus years. Does not the CEO has any personal professional pride? Or as long as he or she get paid, he/she does not give a damn? Bring people to the organization who has demonstrated the ability to get things done and has the ability to get things done, making a difference.