Submitted by Corey and Karen Burns
It is with great disappointment that I have to express my disapproval with Liat and how Liat conducts business. Most other airlines I have travelled on would simply wish to take me from A to B quickly as possible. I find it preposterous that Liat can just change a flight plan while customers have already boarded the aircraft (on a direct flight I might add).
My wife and I were departing from our honeymoon in Antigua on Monday, October 28th, 2013 and were on Liat flight # 362 from Antigua to Puerto Rico which was a direct flight to San Juan. The flight was delayed of course (“island time”) however once on the aircraft an announcement was made that we were stopping in St. Kitts on our way to San Juan, but not five minutes later we were told that we were now going south to Dominica (total opposite way than San Juan). We arrived in Dominica at which time a grand total of 8 passengers boarded the plane. We were then told that we had to wait for a fuel truck, which was not ready when we arrived in Dominica. We ended up waiting on the tarmac for over an hour with no water, no food, and no air conditioning. I used to work in the airline industry and had that happened in Canada, PEOPLE WOULD BE FIRED!!! Numerous passengers asked for information about when we would be taking off and when we would be landing in San Juan as every passenger on the plane had a connecting flight to catch. None of Liat’s customer service agents would give us a straight answer. We finally left Dominica sometime after 1:30 pm, over an hour after we should have LANDED in San Juan.
Needless to say, nearly every passenger (including my wife and I) on the flight missed their connection in San Juan due to Liat’s lack of respect for customers further travel arrangements. As a result, we did not get on our previously booked flight to New York City. Luckily Jet Blue (who conducts business properly) were able to get us on a later flight to New York City. However, because we had to take a later flight to New York City, we missed our connecting flight to Buffalo and our waiting car rental. We were then forced to spend the night at a hotel near the JFK airport in New York City and take an early morning flight the next day to Buffalo. I would also add that we had to spend time and effort re-arranging our car rental from Buffalo back into Canada.
As a result of the unprofessional and inconsiderate business practices of Liat, my wife and I had to pay out of pocket over $200 USD that we did not plan/budget for. We were considerably disappointed by our experience with Liat airline, especially considering we were returning from our HONEYMOON! We will not be flying Liat in the future and we will advise anyone we come into contact with also not to give Liat any business.
I am aware (from working in the airline industry) that when experiencing long delays, other reputable airlines give their customers vouchers for food and pay hotel accommodations, particularly when overnight stays were not part of the original itinerary.
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