PHILIPSBURG:--- The parents of an eight year old girl are at their wits' end and currently seeking legal representation in Guyana against LIAT airlines and Juliana Handlers in St. Maarten. According to the child's mother Coel Jones, her eight year old daughter left St. Maarten on Wednesday July 10th, 2013 on LIAT flight 561 which was bound to Antigua, she was scheduled to board a connecting LIAT flight 563 from Antigua bound for Barbados. The eight year old passenger was then supposed to connect on LIAT flight 773 leaving Barbados bound for Georgetown, Guyana her homeland. The first LIAT flight was scheduled to depart St. Maarten at 11:25am and the passenger would have reached her final destination at 10pm on Wednesday July 10th. Mrs. Jones said she paid $499.93 for a one way ticket for her daughter to travel home, this includes the fees for flight attendant assistance.
According to the mother, when she went to Cheddi Jagan International Airport at 10pm that night to retrieve her daughter she learnt that the flight from Barbados to Guyana was canceled and they had no information on her daughter's whereabouts. The mother said she immediately contacted her mother in St. Maarten because her daughter was staying with her maternal grandmother in St. Maarten and it was her grandmother that took her to the Princess Juliana International Airport and checked her in that day. The mother said the child's grandmother had no idea that the flight was canceled and she too was not informed about her granddaughter's whereabouts.
The mother said that the grandmother (her mother) called someone she knew at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) who informed her that he was aware that a minor returned to St. Maarten and that someone was supposed to call her to get the child. "After my mother made that call shortly after she hung up the phone, someone from PJIAE Immigration on St. Maarten called her and told her that she could go to PJIAE Immigration Department and get her granddaughter. When my mother reached there the airport was completely shut down but she met a security officer who managed to get her to immigration where she saw her granddaughter cuddled up on a chair covered with her blanket and her eyes were red because she was crying all the time."
Jones said when her mother picked up her eight year old she was traumatized, tired, and scared because she apparently returned to St. Maarten at 6pm on Wednesday July 10th, 2013 and someone placed her in a room and just left her there. "We don't know if she was fed and why no one took the time to search her bag and call her relatives, she had phone numbers and everything on her but someone just did not care and did not do their job. Besides that, the family paid extra monies for a flight attendant to accompany the minor throughout her journey. When she was picked up she did not have her baggage because no one knew anything about her baggage. The mother said the baggage finally reached Guyana some days after. She further explained that her mother has been in contact with LIAT agencies in St. Maarten while she personally wrote a letter to LIAT's director in Antigua asking that they refund her daughter's ticket money so that her daughter can travel back home but to date no one has responded to her letters and her calls to LIAT agencies.
SMN News contacted one of LIAT's agents on St. Maarten on Thursday to gather information on the incident and the agent was more concerned about how a news outlet got her number than the purpose of the call. The female agent said that she had no information on the case on Wednesday July 10th because she was off that day but said she heard something about a child. The agent said that LIAT is not responsible for what transpired because all of that is taken care of by Juliana Handlers. SMN News contacted Juliana Handlers and managed to speak to a supervisor who identified herself as Siona Hurtault. Hurtault said she did not know about the case but she would have gotten in touch with the Manager of Juliana Handlers Delsia Lake who would contact SMN News to give an explanation as to what transpired on Wednesday July 10th, 2013 with the eight year old passenger. Up to press time Delsia Lake did not contact SMN News and the supervisor or anyone else at Juliana Handlers could not be reached by phone because they immediately placed their telephones on switchboard operators.
Jones told SMN News on Thursday evening that she contacted a lawyer who will be sending a letter to LIAT to inform them that legal actions are being taken. Jones said on Thursday afternoon when she checked her email she saw that LIAT responded to her letter stating they will refund her but they did not say when the refund would be made. "If the media did not make calls to LIAT and Juliana Handlers I would be here waiting for a response from them. However, I had to pay a lawyer and I will go through with a lawsuit against LIAT and the other parties that are responsible for my daughter's dilemma when she left and returned to St. Maarten. Efforts made by SMN News to reach the head of Immigration IND Udo Aron proved futile. Aron could not be reached all afternoon for information on the incident regarding the 8 year old passenger.
Juliana Handlers responds through Law Firm.
Click here to view the letter sent to SMN News by Law Firm Representing Juliana Handlers.
Footnote:
With reference to paragraph five of this article, SMN News contacted both LIAT and Juliana Handlers to get both sides of the story. LIAT responded while Juliana Handlers did not. The explanations given by the law firm that JAH sought could have been given yesterday if JAH was responsible enough to provide an explanation when they were called on Thursday.