An Antiguan couple travelling with their toddler has accused LIAT of abandoning them in Jamaica without accommodation, meals, reliable information or any clear indication of when they would be able to return home.

The family said their flight from Montego Bay was cancelled on Sunday, leaving them stranded after they had already checked out of their hotel.

According to the mother, passengers were initially told there would be no further flights from Montego Bay for the remainder of the week. However, airline representatives reportedly could not provide a confirmed date for the next available service.

“We were just sent away without being told when the next flight would be,” she told Antigua.news. “Are we supposed to book and pay for a hotel for the rest of the week without any definite date, all at our own expense?”

She said LIAT attributed the cancellation to weather conditions and provided no indication that the family would be compensated for the unexpected expenses.

Three-and-a-Half-Hour Journey With Toddler

Desperate to return to Antigua, a relative contacted LIAT’s office in Antigua and was reportedly informed that seats might be available on a flight departing Kingston the following day.

That information forced the family to make a costly and exhausting journey across Jamaica.

“We had to take an Uber from Montego Bay to Kingston with our toddler—a full three-and-a-half-hour drive,” the mother said.

The journey reportedly cost US$350, and the family was also required to pay for overnight accommodation in Kingston while hoping the promised seats would still be available.

She estimated that the ordeal had already cost the family approximately EC$2,000 in unnecessary expenses.

The family said they were not given any firm assurance that they would be accommodated on the Kingston flight.

“We are here right now, hoping and praying,” she said.

Mother Forced to Sit on Airport Floor

The mother described the treatment at the airport as particularly distressing because she was travelling with a young child.

She alleged that no chairs were available and that she was forced to sit on the floor with her toddler.

“Not even a little water we got,” she said. “The agent left at 10 a.m. Nobody was communicating with us.”

Making matters worse, she said the airline still hadn’t provided an update on the family’s missing baby stroller.

Without the stroller, the parents were forced to carry their toddler while moving through airports, arranging ground transportation and travelling across the island.

“When we got to Kingston, I started to cry,” she said. “The way they treated us, you would believe we begged them a favour to bring us here.”

Family Says Cancellation Notice Never Arrived

The family also criticised LIAT’s communication, alleging that they did not receive an email notifying them that the flight had been cancelled.

They reportedly learned of the cancellation only after reaching the airport.

“No one had any answers for us,” the mother said. “Then, on top of that, they just sent us away without telling us when the next flight would be.”

She said the experience had destroyed her confidence in the airline.

“Never again,” she declared.

How Can LIAT Be Comfortable Leaving Families Stranded?

Weather-related cancellations can be unavoidable, particularly in the Caribbean. Passenger safety must always come first.

But bad weather does not excuse bad communication, the absence of contingency planning or the apparent abandonment of passengers, especially families travelling with small children.

How can an airline feel comfortable leaving passengers in a foreign country without knowing where they will sleep, when they will travel, or how they will pay for several additional days of accommodation?

How can a mother be left sitting on an airport floor with a toddler, without even water, while airline representatives reportedly leave without providing answers?

If LIAT cannot reliably operate a route, communicate with passengers and provide meaningful assistance when its flights are cancelled, serious questions must be asked about whether that service should continue until the airline gets its operations in order.

Caribbean travellers cannot continue absorbing hotel bills, ground-transportation costs and emotional distress every time an airline fails to provide the service for which they paid.

Punta Cana Passengers Faced Similar Ordeal

The latest complaint comes less than two months after several Antiguan and Barbudan passengers were stranded in Punta Cana when their LIAT flight was cancelled.

Those travellers had also checked out of their hotels and faced the possibility of remaining in the Dominican Republic for several days because LIAT operated only one scheduled weekly flight on the route.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne intervened, and a special overnight recovery flight was arranged. Rehabilitation work at V.C. Bird International Airport was temporarily suspended to allow the aircraft to land during the early morning hours. Antigua.news reported on that intervention in July.

Passengers should not require the personal intervention of a prime minister every time a flight is cancelled.

LIAT must explain what assistance was offered to the family in Jamaica, what happened to the missing stroller, whether the family will be reimbursed and why passengers were apparently left without confirmed travel arrangements.