An eight-year-old child was left in the care of Immigration Services at Princess Juliana International Airport SXM last week Wednesday after being returned to the island by LIAT airline due to a flight cancellation.
The child, an unaccompanied minor on LIAT, was traveling from St. Maarten to Guyana where her parents were waiting to meet her. She was put in the care of LIAT and its handling agent Juliana Handlers for the trip, which was scheduled to stop in Antigua and in Barbados before touching down at its final destination at approximately 10:00pm.
Joke that, Liat not serious!!!!!
Oh LIAT, LIAT, LIAT…….waste of time……..
That’s why it’s never a good idea to send an unaccompanied minor on a flight with more than one stop. It’s always better to send them on a straigth flight.
Allu talking about parents sending the child alone…If you doe have money to afford LIAT ridiculous prices for two tickets…The child was sent to meet her/her Grandmother and return home…I find allu stupid..is allu who living in plantation with gold under your bed to afford them ting that talking…I not Nassief like allu nuh
Close LIAT down. Sell the planes and let a new company run the Caribbean routes.
Things will only improve when persons start suing LIAT. This incident is past ridiculous. At the end of the day, small islanders dont have much choice but to travel on LIAT. If not LIAT what else. There fares are getting more ridiculous every month.There fares to some caribbean islands equal the fares to the North America.Flight cancellations are like common place. And then none of their staff can offer an explanation. Lost baggage daily, and now we have a lost child. It takes a lot of faith to travel on LIAT, so before i do, or any of my family. I just pray, and pray again.
The news coming out about LIAT just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it? Frankly LIAT sucks!
I’ve seen some of LIAT’s attendants. They are all of the type that we Caribbeans consider attractive, but they are snobbish and act as if you owe them for the privilege of allowing you to fly on their plane.
I’d like to see nice regular Caribbean looking girls who appreciate the opportunity to represent the region.
The problem with LIAT is management and the employees. Liats’ staff has no respect for customers, no manners and they are not polite to customers. Liats’ staff would be attending to customers and leave them at the counter without even saying excuse just disappear like vapor. Liats’ staff behaves like they are doing the customers a favor when it is the customers that are paying their salaries. The family of that child should get to the bottom of this. This is the height of carelessness.
Liat is at it again…it’s almost like they’re trying to compete for the worse airline spot.
DNO will not post comments that are critical of the parents of the 8 year old for having her travel by herself. Blame LIAT but who in their right mind lets a 8 year old travel by themselves they need a brain examination.
@ Juan there is nothing wrong with allowing an eight year old to travel alone because Liat charges you to allow an air hostess to be like a guardian to the minor. I have done it several times my son always travels for the summer to go meet his dad but its the staff who has to be blamed because they suppose to be attending to the minor its what you pay for. Liat just sucks.
What more can be expected of LIAT ?
all of you are just bumping your gums… i would not say shame on LIAT… i would say shame on you people for accepting Liat Shit for so long
We all are human with the cancellation things happened, they will be more careful next time.
Are you serious? When is the better next time going to come for LIAT. They keep doing to same thing and having the same unprofessional and don’t care attitude to their customers. And it comes from the top, all the way down, because I had an experience with the MANAGER of the LIAT office in Dominica a few years back. He was rude, arrogant and unprofessional, he refuse to even give me some privacy to speak to him about a matter. He told me we could talk right here, in the public lobby of the LIAT office, after I approached him and politely asked him to speak to him in private.
LIAT is getting more & more worst. They have no consideration for customer service and this is all because they have no competition. I hate LIAT even more losing people children.
Anyone that’s sends their 8 year old child to travel by their self through numerous ports should have their head examined and be charged with child endangerment.
LIAT … Laughingstock of International Air Transportation.
God Don’t like Ugly. A man made a letter to not in turn tarnish your reputation but to open your eyes and shed light on alllllll your areas of weakness and instead of taking constructive criticism all you decided to make a mockery of the man’s complaint. NOW SEE WHAT HAPPENS, Look where all you malaprop service get all you!!! lmao… I would sue all u doh! … let me see what advertisement they going to come up with this time!
Jada , please read the entire article before u comment. And yes liat is a complete waste of time, their service sucks and too make it worst they always demanding money from the same caribbean countries governments to keep their lousy business afloat. I pray to god some competition comes soon or they sell this company cuz they definitely aint doing a good job
How many flights were available for them to put the child on? Was the child left to wander around the airport to fall prey to murderers and rapists? No. The child was returned to St. Martin in care of Immigration officials. The child was traveling in care of LIAT, and LIAT took care of the child. Stop bad mouthing the airline. What would you have done?
My 2 cents…We Caribbean people are rude and lack customer service skills. We just take people for granted because there are so few choices for the services which we require. I have observed it right in my dear country Dominica. I have observed this over and over and over again. Being an international traveler, I have received more respect and great Customer service elsewhere not in the Caribbean….
Clearly some-body drop the ball,and he/she/they are liable. As a former Immigration Officer in ANU/BBQ because the child is an un-accompanied minor, it is a given that the Carrier in the first place accepts ALL responsibilites, in the 2nd place the Immigration at the point of entry, to the extent as far as they can. In my time the un-accompanied minor would be placed in a Hotel or Guest House, at the expense of the Carrier, his/her parents would be forth-with informed., but as most people say today “Things have changed”Somebody is liable.I am indeed sorry for the agonies of that child and her parents.
this person saying that it’s not Liat fault; did you not read the story first? the child was taken to Antigua by Liat and return to SXM where they handed her to immigration
Its the same people all over Dominica who give bad service day to day hour to hour minute to minute, sloppily, unwillingly etc that want to comment? Dominicans should be last to comment on customer service. Even the banks where the service is a little better because of pleasant staff, first have you standing in queue for half an hour, 1 hour, even more, like is animals, pretty much like LIAT. After you serve your punishment and you finally reach the counter they smile for you and serve you well. What’s the point? Leave LIAT alone until you all can run your country. They always get me where i going safely.
That’s the airline’s lapse; unfortunately, you can’t always trust employees to do the job properly Thank goodness, it could have been worse. see link below.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321989/Victoria-Kongs-daughter-death-Alzheimers-sufferer-airport-Im-just-torn-apart-stupidity.html
it have a few years now i stop with that liat business… now when i fly is into st. lucia, then ferry straight to bayfront. LIAT is and will always be a joke!
It is incidents like this which make me really wonder if LIAT can or even should be saved. The unions (and according to the chairman there are 14 of them)are all now on some sort of industrial action, camcelling flights etc.
Close down LIAT send all the bastards home and start fresh. Our region depends on it.
liat liat liat, we should be talking more about how WE, the carribean people behave, liat is just an example of our shallow and narrow minded people. how liat treats its customers is NO different than how we treat each other. when we crying down on liat we actually crying down on ourself, because we the people that make liat.
WAW Marn waiting to see what dat Woman wiff d Crazy hairdo have to say about dis one,,,
LOL wonder how dey going to come back after dat,,,
Soh long dem people in bizniss dey cannot do somefing right one time???
You see dats what happen when one set of people monopolize an industry, dey do what dey want without any accountability,,,
…you mean Don King in tights??
I hear LIAT this and LIAT that. Ok so LIAT was irresponsible but the biggest show of irresponsibility was on the part of the family. I mean seriously? It does not cost that much extra to make your chilf an accompanied minor as opposed to an unaccompanied minor. She’s 8 for God’s sake! Make sure u make arrangements for your kids instead of hoping they making home safe. LIAT my foot! Blame the family. Just irresponsible!
This was negligence on their part. What distress it created for her and her family. The poor child. It was not stated if the child was fed.
Some years ago, traveling to Canada via Antigua, while at the Canefield airport a woman came up to me told me that she was sending her son to Antigua and would I take care of him on the flight, that a relative will meet him at the Antigua airport. I agreed. I guessed she trusted me.
When we arrived in Antigua we went through immigration and customs. I ensured that he got his luggage and went outside where his family was waiting for him. The lady thanked me. Just a good turn and taking care of a child. I believe he must have been about 7 years.
Those who are asked to take care of children while traveling must ensure that they arrive safely. It is a responsibility. They cannot afford to be absent-minded.
While everyone is blaming liat for their inefficiency, they did the better thing by sending her back to SXM and not just leaving her stranded in ANU or sending her to Barbados and not knowing what wouldve happened to the flight from there. At the end of the day the handlers at Juliana was supposed to have called the grandparents to inform them of what transpired, all that information would be one for the minor filled out. so while everyone is blaming the airline the workers are who make up the airline and theyre the ones who should be blamed for their carelessness…
lol just joking its a cool place i hope the girl get back with her parents safe
hope u fools who bashing liat realise thats d only airline we have. try and appreciate what u have, the situation is not a pleasant one.but for peace sake stop running ur mouths on liat. i really wish some of u would rewad the story before belching .
Liat will never stop until they get real competition but again they are owned by the region govt, so other airlines don’t stand a chance. I feel so bad for the poor child. But a again we all know the reputation of Liat. Why would you put an 8 year old on liat by herself? Liat cares about one thing and it name is Dollar.
I am just wondering what Richard Branson would say about this?
Dominica Government need to start to look at the bigger picture and start to invest in an airline of its own rather than investing in a failing company LIAT..
Unbelievable ! I could never allow my child to travel alone. If I must, it would only be a straight flight from point A to B nonstop. However, why are we coming out on LIAT ? They have only met our expectations again. They have irrevocably lost our luggages, our bookings, our credit as a reputable Caribbean Airline and of course now our precious little ones. What’s next LIAT? I anxiously await.
its a good job the child didnt look like a bag because they would have lost her
While our PM invests millions in LIAT no one asks the question: Has LIAT been cleansed of Corruption?
As poor as LIAT costumer service may be, one thing I give them is the flight crew are very professional and provide great and safe service. We can bad talk management and costumer service all day, they deserve it. But their flight crew “pilots and flight attendants” all need pay raises.
This is not liat’s fault. If you take your kids to the airport to travel as an unaccompanied minor you the parent suppose to stay there till the plane leaves. It’s the law where I live.
If you read the entire story, the plane left the SXM airport with the child. When LIAT got to Antigua, they cancelled the second part of the trip (which should have taken the child to her awaiting parents at the Guyanan Airport) and they (LIAT) sent the child back to SXM airport.
So please read thoroughly before attempting to misplace blame.
As long as the child is in the plane , the airline personel is responsible for the child. And, according to what I read in the article, the plane was already in Antigua from SMX but because of flight cancellations from Antiqua to the other destination, the child had to be returned to SMX but immigration did inform neither the parents in Guyana nor the grand mother in SMX of the child’s whereabout.
Jada if you read the info, it said the flight left St.Maarten and went to Antigua. The parent is only required to stay at the airport until the flight takes off, which in this case it did. The child went all the way to Antigua and back to ST.Maarten.
Can you read?
“after being returned to the island by LIAT airline due to a flight cancellation”
Stop flap yuh gumz pal
She was to be taken care of throughout the trip by Juliana Handlers. Children under twelve don’t travel by themselves liat had to be paid to do the service. So it is liats’ fault
Didn’t you read, the flight left SXM and landed in ANU.
Dont show your ignorance. Cant you read. Didnt you read that the plane left with the child and she was returned due to cancellation. What is the law on ignorance where you live. You should be sentenced to go back to school
Lets stop the blame culture and hope that everyone has learnt a lesson from this dreadful mistake. Also spell check is wonderful. I think you meant “until the plane leaves – not live”. God bless.
you talking nonsense, was the grandparent supposed to be in both Antigua and St Maartin at the same time or knew the flight would have been cancelled. You should have read the full story before commenting
Of course it was LIAT’s fault. Read the report in full and you will see that the child did leave St. Maarten on the designated LIAT flight to Antigua, in care of the airline! If LIAT can not- or will not accept responsibility for unaccompanied minors they should clearly say so before people book with them.
Are you retard or you just can`t read? Didn`t see that they said that the child was left in antigua? Her family is in st Marteen retard and Guyana. How could they have seen the child off in Antigua if they were not there . Antigua was just and intransit.
how could it not be Liat fault when the child left SXM on Liat and later return to SXM without the parents being notified?
to my recollection, i don’t think a minor can travel alone on LIAT. There is an attached cost to the ticket and a flight attendant is in charge of the minor.
You to stupid, read my black people read. you sort read
excuse me you should read the article over.then make what excuse you want.not that.
Jada, I really wish you could post a picture of yourself,I can see you are not so smart for that.
Did you read the article… really Jada… did you???
Here are the facts based on the report, which apparently you did not read.
1. Child brought to airport in St. Mateen by Grand mother.
2. Grandmother placed child in care of Liat’s agents for the rest of the flight.
3. Flight takes off from St.Marteen to Guyana via Antigua and Barbados (Via means through).
4. Flight arrives in Antigua.
5. Liat cancels the rest of the leg of the flight. (Jada, that means the plane ent going no further).
6. Child is now stranded in Antigua’s airport.
7. Parents are waiting in Guyana, expecting their child to arrive.
8. By this time, the Grand mother is already home, knowing her granddaughter is on her way to meet her parents.
9. Child sometime later, put on a flight back to St.Marteen, and left with officals in airport.
Explain to me Jada, if you can, how is this not Liats fault?
Dotis
how is it not Liat’s fault?????????????? the plane left SXM
The plane did leave, the flight was cancelled in Antigua, the child was returned to St. Maarten. Did you FAIL READING COMPREHENSION?
Liat should at least inform the parents or the grandmother in St Marteen that the flight was cancelled.. Not their fault the flight was cancelled but they had responsibility for the child so they should have inform her relatives of the cancellation.
You are right!!
So do you go in departure with the child????
LIAT is always cancelling flights without any notification of consideration for travellers. Unacceptable.
They losing people luggage now they losing people children….
LIAT is getting worse each and everyday. NO improvement whatsoever. its a darn shame.
INVEST in LIAT, it will get better.
Let me see if they dodge compensation for this one. Ridiculous airline. I HATE LIAT
And what make it worse they charging so much for their bad service
Liat Again
Qui liat ca la encore….merde
My god.What’s happening at this airline? People it’s time to demand better from L.I.A.T.How can an airline just dump an eight year old child at an airport without making any effort to inform the child’s parents/guardians? Mon dieu!! What are we dealing with here? Why are you exhiting such lack of resposibility? What if someone had abducted that child at the airport? What would have been your response? Would the company have simply washed its hands and walk away? Answers are needed and needed real quick.LIAT you need to put a stop to the jackassness that you’re doing or you will be facing some major lawsuits very soon.All this nonesense must stop.Management need to take steps to make damned sure this never happens to any child ever again.
To NO ONE, not just a child. That is a BAD reputation. Wait til Richard Branson read about this.
They need to get some sort of lawsuit so they can learn a lesson. I’m planning on travelling to Dominica but right now with all that mess with Liat losing people’s luggage etc , I’m having second thoughts. Might as well travel to Guadeloupe and take l’express to Dominica
apprentley some of us when we read can comprhend. theres a handling agent in st maarten. they would have excoted the child to immigration so before running you alls mouths why don’t you check the facts first.
Please, learn to spell correctly so we can “comprehend” you too!
Bahahahahahahaha
I am sick and fed up of Liat’s unethical service.
Liat treats people like animals.
The staff leave you standing at their desk and disappear into thin air what a shame.
A FLIGHT ATTENDANT recently said SHE would NOT do any more FAVORS for passengers because of ALL the complaints, I guess this FAVOR was one of them. INVEST IN LIAT.
You are stupid. You would have us sit down and shut up, hoping the jefe does us a favor? If someone treats me wrong, I am going to tell them.
Now there is a new twist to the acronym L.I.A.T.
LEAVE INFANT ANY TERMINAL. Lord have mercy. It is hign time that these people treat customers as customers and not just a piece of material that facilitates their job.
That is a good one. Lord have mercy alright.
I think you wanted to say……..a pièce of material that facilitates thier PAY CHEQUE.
Will the purchase or lease of new airplanes improve LIAT’s services? No, because you have lousy employees and inapt managers at the company
Rejoice! Would you believe it? I was actually served coffee on this new airplane, Well, perhaps coffee is too big a word. It was a paper cup of hot water and a sachet of instant coffee but for LIAT that is a real improvement!
really .. i mean really
LIAT again!!!!
Yup, LIAT AGAIN.
Aa they adding to their list of monikers
Leaving
Infants
At
Terminal
We really need a new airline . Leave Island Anytime Time is irresponsible and they keep canceling so many trips. People are tired Gosh!!!! N now this!!!! Says alot about this stupid airline.
It is not just cancelling trips, it is about cancelling trips, I would call this one, in MID AIR.
That is too young to send a child alone… it’s ok at 12 years old or so, but not at eight years.
That’s why money was paid to LIAT for that special service
I see nothing in the article about paying for a special service. You wouldn’t catch me leaving my eight year old at an airport in the care of somebody I don’t personally know and trust. Wake up parents!
Amen. They did accept responsibility.
it dose not matter the age the point is that they left the child unattended for so long. I’m sure the child was hungry and the article said she had all her documents so they could have easily contacted someone. I wonder if the parents paid extra for the child to be watched by staff
For that reason Liat is responsible. Because they had to have been paid extra to take care of the child till she gets to her destination. That is what most airline does with children under twelve travelling. They make you pay more for that service.
Generally, when children are traveling solo, the airline is notified. The air hostess is given the responsibility of taking care of the child. The problem occurred due to her being in transit. They forgot about her. Parents will have to be careful who they allow their children to travel with.
The child was not travelling alone. You do have to pay extra money if a minor is travelling in the care of the flight attendants.
You are upset about RICHARD BRANSON posting a letter from a PASSENGER that complained about your ILL TREATMENT. What about this EIGHT (8) YEAR OLD CHILD that YOU LEFT BEHIND?
And to add insult to injury they ignored the mothers letter and everything up until it was given notice to the media…what a damn shame all they care about is money but if people had a better choice the wouldnt treat people so!!!!!
PHILIPSBURG–An eight-year-old child was left in the care of Immigration Services at Princess Juliana International Airport SXM last week Wednesday after being returned to the island by LIAT airline due to a flight cancellation.
The child, an unaccompanied minor on LIAT, was destined for Guyana from St. Maarten where she was to have been met by her parents. She was put in the care of LIAT and its handling agent Juliana Handlers for the trip, which was scheduled to stop in Antigua and in Barbados before touching down at its final destination at approximately 10:00pm.
The flight left St. Maarten at approximately 11:30am. On arrival in Antigua, the remaining leg of the LIAT flight (Barbados-Guyana) was cancelled. As the child had no supervision in Antigua, she was put back on a flight to St. Maarten.
Normal procedures dictate that LIAT’s flight attendants would have handed the child over to its agents once back at SXM airport. This was confirmed by Head of Immigration Geronimo Juliet, who stated that LIAT’s ground handlers would have had to be the persons responsible for leaving the child at Immigration.
However, he could not say for certain what had transpired, as he needed time to look into the case. Juliet stressed that Immigration of course would take care of the child until relatives or guardians were notified.
It is also unclear how long the child stayed in Antigua and what time she was returned to St. Maarten. As it turned out, however, she remained at Immigration until approximately 10:30pm when the last of the Immigration personnel was closing up.
The child had all of her information in her possession, so identification and contact numbers were not an issue. It was only then that the child’s grandmother was called and notified that she was sitting at PJIA at Immigration, quiet, but obviously worried and scared.
The child’s parents were in a frantic state in Guyana by this time, as they had expected their child at 10:00pm. They called the grandmother in St. Maarten, who also tried frantically to locate her grandchild until she received the call from the airport.
Neither Juliana Handlers nor LIAT had notified the child’s relatives that the flight had been cancelled. In fact, the flight did not register in Guyana as cancelled, but as moved to a different airport.
The family has been trying for the past week to obtain some answers from LIAT, which also did not return the child’s luggage. The family also demanded that LIAT provide a ticket for the child and her grandmother to travel to Guyana as soon as possible. The child’s mother wrote to the company detailing what had happened and seeking answers. Their efforts fell on deaf ears until the media started making inquiries yesterday.
LIAT finally responded to the family by acknowledging receipt of the mother’s letter and assuring that the airline would make arrangements for the child and her grandmother to travel to Guyana.
To date, the child’s parents do not know how long their daughter waited in Antigua to be put back on a flight to St. Maarten and how long she was at SXM airport. Judging from LIAT’s daily schedule, the Antigua flight touches down at SXM airport at approximately 4:50pm. Juliana Handlers could not be reached on Thursday for official comment.
SHAME ON YOU LIAT. Why was the flight cancelled in Antigua anyway? Why did you not put the child on another LIAT flight to Guyana instead of sending her back to St. Maarten? An eight (8) year old, SCARED and ALONE, at an airport with so may prowlers, rapists and murderers loose everywhere. Why was her luggage returned with her? WHY, WHY, WHY? NO EXCUSES LIAT, NO EXCUSES. If this was MY CHILD you would be filing for BANKRUPTCY right now.
Lol
Shame shame on that airline
This is pooooooooooooor quality customer service
i hope the parents will sue liat. nonsense they doing.
typical liat RUBBISH airline and thus when I leave Dca is by boat! I will take plane in guada!
Yes I where do you go digging for all liats faults.Its the worthless persons employed with LIAT,stopp trying to destroy the airline, they are not crashing from the sky so y try to bring them down.We all know they are careless, and need some real shaking up;;;
Hmm…is liat serious?!?!?! How dare the flight attendant leave the child at Immigration. Omg. I am freaking out for the family and that child. Jesus Christ Liat is getting from bad to worse!!
What’s really knew with LIAT. I almost went crazy in Barbados waiting for my nephew from LIAT. Flight attendants were responsible for him but after no one bothered to assist him when the plane landed, he is such a friendly child, he started conversation with someone else on the plane who helped him to find me when he got to the airport. LIAT has so much work to do but my biggest request from the Almighty is that they continue to fly safely.
LIAT Again… I am going to keep my comment short because if this was my 8 year old, and I paid you to fly her to me and I am at the airport waiting for my child only to be told, sorry we sent her back… Hmmmmmmm….. O boy!
I am not even going to comment further
I am a mom and tears filling my eyes as I read this…I cannot fathom the amount of worry I would have been worrying…AS my child sit down in some airport quiet and scared at 10:30p.m.
There was several times, I, as a child traveled between islands during the summer holidays, unattended. It was with either with Cardinal Airlines or LIAT and I do remember ever having an issue. What is going on with LIAT now nuh?
Look a sick airline
Liat self, hmm, all they doin lately is madness,if I were d pilot, I’d strike, because that’s a mess
LIAT is the biggest, jokey airline i have every seen. Know matter what CEO this company gets, it’s always going to be the same. What a shame. Lord i pray that i never travel on this plain again. These people have no love for there job and do not care about the people. This Company needs some serious competition.
sue their inefficient
Now is not luggage alone they leaving down is children too
Who is surprised by Liat careless action?? No one!
is until u start choking ppl they wouldnt learn!! THEY NEED TO START FIRING PPL!!!!!
That is nothing strange with Liat, first of all their Handlers at Juliana are very hostile and their customer service stinks. Liat has procedures, the first thing that should be done was notify the parents because they full in a form for unaccompanied minors with all the information but they have no time for customers except to grab their money. I am sure that would never happen on Virgin Atlantic. Where is the Manager of Commercial with the funky hairstyle she can’t talk now. For crying out loud will Liat please get it right for once.
LIAT is and continues to be a complete waste of time, led by a very incompetent boss and crew
nothing surprises me when it comes to LIAT
in the usa they would be sued so bad,but thats small country and liat for you.LOL
Sue LIAT? Are you mad? Instead we are told that we must be grateful to them.