LIAT patron complains that runaround to receive ticket refund leaves him feeling like a beggar  

A frustrated and disgruntled LIAT customer is calling on the airline
to fulfill its promise to refund the price of a ticket after it cancelled

flights and grounded its only plane for scheduled maintenance in
November.

The Pigotts man says that he purchased a return ticket at a cost
of $834 for the period November 6 to 19.

However, about three days before the woman’s scheduled return to
Antigua and Barbuda, he received a telephone call notifying him that
airline would be grounded and flights cancelled.

According to the customer, he was told that it would take about two
weeks for the airline to become operational again and alternative
arrangements would have to be made for the return trip.

Reportedly, he was also promised a refund on the cost of the return
leg – in two weeks’ time – by the administration office.
The man says that airline personnel requested certain information,
including his banking details, to make the transfer of the refund
seamless.

However, the passenger’s return was not facilitated by LIAT, but
through another airline, and the man claims he had to make the
return arrangements himself.

He says he booked the return flight on Caribbean Airlines at a cost
of $600, which was $183 more than his refund of $417 will be,
putting him at a loss.

The man complains that the airline has put him in a precarious
situation, given the current hard economic situation and the fact
that he had to borrow money to purchase the return ticket.
He is now at the end of his rope, he claims, because he keeps
checking the airline about his refund – only to be told repeatedly
that it should be in the bank soon.

He says it’s approaching a month since the flight was cancelled and
the promise of a refund was made, and he is made to feel that he is
like begging the airline for a handout rather than seeking to recoup
his own money.

He describes the situation as “ridiculous and stupid,” adding that
LIAT cannot continue to treat people in this fashion.