What is wrong with Caribbean Airlines and Trinidad Airport authorities?

Oct 30, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,
It seems as though the airport authority at Piarco is either a power unto itself or they are harassing and or robbing passengers in transit there to and from Guyana. A colleague and I have just returned from a business trip to China. We travelled from Guyana through New York to China and back. On both legs we were in transit at Piarco Airport, Trinidad where we had connecting Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) flights between the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Guyana and John F. Kennedy (JFK) Airport, New York, USA.
Both times when we were in transit in the Piarco airport, we were directed to an in transit desk downstairs where we were redirected through security and then back upstairs to the boarding area. Bear in mind that we would have passed through security at the CJIA and JFK and been in a secured area before boarding the CAL aircraft. Had we bought items in the secured area that are not allowed through the security checkpoint they would have been confiscated.
On our return journey, I saw, directly in front of me, another passenger’s bagged duty free items taken away from him at the CAL in transit desk, without a receipt given, and told they would be given back when he is boarding. I know of someone who had a hard time getting back his items when boarding. I then asked a CAL staff in the Club Lounge why is this necessary. She advised that this is the airport authority’s procedure and that all in transit passengers traveling to and from Guyana are processed this way. She promised to mention my complaint in her report for her shift.
I am sure that I am not the first to complain about this to CAL but unfortunately this seems to be the system there unlike many other airports that I have passed through as an in transit passenger. Makes me wonder if this is a set up to rob and deprive us of items.
Colin Ming

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