The LIAT pilots’ strike left passengers stranded, angry and frustrated yesterday.
Many of them vented their anger at the LIAT counter at the Grantley Adams International Airport, demanding accommodation or some other means of getting home.
But all the airline was able to promise yesterday was that affected passengers would be able to rebook without any additional fee and that “passengers who no longer wish to travel as planned, due to the disruption, will be issued a full credit for future travel on LIAT”.
However that was no consolation for people like Cleaver Burton of Dominica who came to Barbados to get a United States visa and return home to work yesterday.
Burton, accompanied by his girlfriend, arrived on Tuesday. He said he was “mad” at LIAT for refusing to accomodate inconvenienced passengers.
“I have to get back home…They are making us feel like we are the ones responsible for accommodating ourselves and that should be against the law.
“I have nowhere to stay. I don’t even know anybody in Barbados,” said Burton.
His girlfriend Alice Lavinier described the experience of being stranded as “going through hell”.
She feared she would lose her job as a security officer.
“I can’t miss work tomorrow because if I do they are going to fire me. Monday or Tuesday I didn’t go to work. They need to put us on a plane and send us to some country that we can get home. They say that they are not responsible for anything and I can’t understand that.”
Another passenger complained, “ I have a five-month-old baby and LIAT is telling me that they can’t accomodate me. It is not my fault that they are not flying today. Why should I sit in the airport with my child? No!. I need food and I need to take a shower.”
The pilots are seeking a collective bargaining agreement for the first time in 13 years, and have also harshly criticised a decision by LIAT to open a base in Trinidad and Tobago.
