BWIA - by Richard Montgomery

22 January 2007

My experience relates to mid last year, but I am only now writing about it as it has taken this long to get any compensation from this appalling airline. Our honeymoon included a week in New York and 2 weeks in Antigua. We booked BWIA direct NY-Antigua return. On arrival at JFK, we found no sign of our booked flight. This was not a mechanical failure cancellation - we discovered it had been cancelled a long time previously. No-one had bothered to let us know, despite having email and phone details. Being a Sunday, no BWIA staff were at JFK airport, and all phone numbers went to recorded messages. Finally we got on to a person who informed us we were now on the Wednesday flight - 4 days later! Eventually we had to book ourselves AA the next day, and pay for accomm at an airport hotel overnight. Our return from Antigua was, if possible, worse. Our morning flight was due to get to JFK around midday, in ample time for a Qantas connection to Australia. The BWIA flight, however, was again cancelled and we eventually got to JFK via Trinidad at 2am the next day. BWIA gave us the incorrect documents to authorise Qantas to transfer us to the next day's flight back to Australia, so we had to organise this ourselves, an extremely stressful experience. Possibly worse than the cancellations was the fact that it took three emails and two phone calls to even get a response from BWIA. Even then (and now, months later) there has been no explanation, and not even an apology. We have received compensation only for the night's accomm in NY - nothing for the two lost days, or any other costs or lost time. Oh - and a pitifully small voucher for travel with BWIA in our names - as if we would ever fly with this airline again. Along the way we encountered staff of epic incompetence, who clearly did not give a damn about the pathetic performance of their airline, and refused to render even basic assistance. Avoid this airline at any cost!

BWIA - by Chris Gill

7 November 2006

BWIA flight left heathrow 23 hours late. No inflight entertainment as screens did not work. This was meant to be a direct flight and we where only told about the change at check in. Food was really bad as was the service we recieved from the airline stewards. After landing at the Port of Spain (not St Lucia) we where herded like sheep through check in to be delayed for a further 2 hours in an airport departure lounge with nothing to do. BWIA did serve coffees and teas but only used cold water. When looking for somebody to complain to they had all disappeared. I got the impression that the staff had been very used to complaints so made themselves disappear. My advice would be not to take the cheaper option and as opposed to saving £50.00 per ticket and book with Virgin instead. I will never fly with this airline again.

BWIA - by Phil Evans

7 October 2006

I recently used BWIA to travel from London to Trinidad. I also used their local connection between Tinidad and Tobago whilst I was there. My main concern (apart from being two hours late on the way out) was simply how tatty the aircraft was. My back-of-seat screen to watch a film was broken (on both the long-haul flights I took) and the seat arm-rest was broken. I noted that several seats had broken arm-rests or torn fabric. The flight attendants were incredibly inattentive and spent most of the flight chatting to one another at the back of the aircraft. Checking in procedures at Trinidad were the worst I have experienced with just one member of staff dealing with a whole aircraft. The whole experience was one of extreme complacency on behalf of the carrier. I will take any alternative in future.

BWIA - by Helen Pye

11 September 2006

Will never use this airline again! LHR to Barbados with 2 hour layover in Antigua. Started off at Heathrow with an hour delay, which ended up being 3 hours by the time we finally took off. As a result we missed our connection in Antigua. No inflight entertainment (no reason given) and not enough blankets. On landing in Antigua, we were booked onto a LIAT flight supposedly flying 30 mins later - ended up being 3.5 hours later. Eventually arrived in Barbados 6 hours late to find that Bwee had not taken our bags off the plane and were now in Trinidad! Icing on the cake. Finally got them 2 days later! Return was no better, arrived at BGI to long queues and slow staff to find that our flight was due to leave half an hour earlier as we were being diverted to Trinidad, where we had to change planes. We ended up being 4 hours late on arrival at LHR.

BWIA - by Cynthia Macdonald

9 September 2006

I was scheduled to fly on June 11 from NY to POS. June 10 arrived in NYC only to be be told that the flight had been rescheduled to June 12. The flight was supposed to leave at 7 a.m. and arrive at 1 p.m. It took off half an hour late, and after taxing we were told that there was a mechanical problem. We had breakfast, and then were told to disembark while they corrected the problem. We were in the lounge at JFK till 12:30 p.m. The plane was full as other flights were consolidated into that morning's. Only one washroom out of two in economy was functional. When the flight resumed we were given a pkt of chips, 2 Oreo cookies, a drink and later a cup of spring water. It was the worst flight I've experienced! When I reconfirmed my return flight to JFK, I was told that the flight was now leaving at 9:00 p.m., instead of at 1:00 p.m. arriving at JFK at 3:00 a.m., a time I'd never choose to arrive at JFK. Had I not reconfirmed my flight I would never have known that the flight had been rescheduled as no one phoned to inform me. Being inconvenienced by BWIA resulted in one lost day plus, and the cost of long distance phone calls trying to reach someone to meet me at JFK. I sat at JFK till 7:00 a.m. before I was met. BWIA had labour problems but that should not have become my problem. I made a commitment when I paid for my ticket three months in advance. In my opinion, BWIA is run with no regard for customer service.

BWIA - by Mike Smithson

28 August 2006

POS to MIA changing planes in Barbados. Check in at POS was quick, though I was there 3 hours in advance. Change of planes in BGI was seemless, walked off one aircraft and on to the other. Luckily I did make my conection and we left BGI on time. Inflight service was on par. Meals served soon after take off, followed by coffee. A movie and a short documentary featuring some of the airlines destinations shown. MIA to POS - check in at MIA also quick and easy. Service was pretty much the same as on the POS-MIA sector. Overall an average flight

BWIA - by Michael Kilcommons

30 July 2006

Flew with this airline from Jamaica to Suriname with stops along the way in Antigua, Barbados and Trinidad. There was a 3 hour wait in Trinidad for the connecting flight to Paramaribo. Just before boarding the plane we were told that we would be stopping in Guyana to drop some passengers who were stranded in Trindiad due to earlier delays in connecting flights. On landing in Guyana, the plane ruptures two tyres and we were told that we would have to wait here overnight until spares came from Trinidad. We were literally herded off the plane and left to stay the night in Georgetown airport without anyone from BWIA informing us what was going to happen or without food or water. No shops in the airport were open. Meanwhile the crew when off to a hotel. It was over 7 hours before someone from BWIA came and gave us an update which turned out to be total rubbish. They eventually organised taxis to take the 78 paxs into Georgetown for lunch (an hour drive). We were told we would have only two hours there as our plane would be ready by 3pm. When we came back we were told that we would have to wait another 5 hours until the chartered plane from Surinam Airways arrived. We were told that the plane would land and we would be all boarded within 20 mins. When the time came to board there was some discussions still on going with the captain and the local BWIA rep and we were left stranded on the runway for over an hour. I have travelled the world and flew on every type of carrier and plane. Simply put this was my worst experience ever. BWIA and their representatives in Guyana were totally incompetent and had no respect for their passengers. When questions were asked of supervisors they just ignored us. Do not fly BWIA where it is possible

BWIA - by Stuart Porter

24 July 2006

We recently used this airline to fly to St Lucia for our daughter's wedding. The flight from Heathrow was delayed an hour, there was no entertainment in our section as one of the TV monitors did not drop down of the overhead unit. My wife asked for a blanket only to be told that they had run out them. The return flight was even better!! Surprise, surprise, we were yet again delayed an hour. No entertainment throughout the plane, we were unable to turn the reading lights on or call the stewards from your seat, but we did have a blanket each!! After being in the air for 30 minutes one side of the plane were given a free newspaper, our side didn't get one. We flew economy to Canada with BA last year, with free drinks and excellent meals that was first class compared with BWIA. Take advice and pay the extra to fly BA or Virgin.

BWIA - by Tony Wang

21 June 2006

Avoid BWIA at all cost. LHR-Barbados, delay after delay, with no news forthcoming from disinterested staff at LHR. Who is keeping them in business I do not know !!

BWIA - by D Taylor

18 June 2006

We would never fly BWIA again if you paid us. We have just returned from our honeymoon, we experienced a late departure from Heathrow which meant we missed our connecting flight to Tobago which caused difficulties initially. However, that is nothing compared to what we experienced coming home. We checked into Tobago (where they check you in to all connecting flights) so on arrival in Trinidad all we had to do was customs, we got to the departure gate - and were then told by another passenger that the flight was cancelled. Apparently the previous days flight was cancelled to. We then spend 6 hours at the airport not knowing what was going on, we eventually were allocated a hotel - where we spent the night (they cover the cost of food but no drinks!). A representative from BWIA was due to visit the hotel and tell us what was going on - they never arrived! We then had a message saying we were booked on the 7.20pm flight and transport would be sent to pick us up.... this transport never arrived - fortunately for us, the taxi driver that had dropped us off the night before did arrive - and he took us back to the airport. We joined the queue for check in and spent another 2-3 hours queueing- only to find that we couldn't go on the 7.20 flight as all the seats were taken... the clerk then booked us on the 2.30am flight... we found out by pure chance about 30 minutes later that they were still booking onto the 7.20 flight and queried with a different clerk why we had been booked on the 2.30 one, she shrugged her shoulders and said she had no idea why we had not been booked on it earlier, and promptly booked us on the 7.20 one (with seats together). By the way, the flight actually left at 8.30pm not 7.20pm!! At no point did a representative of BWIA explain why the delays occurred, what was happening, or where we were going to stay, this obviously had a detrimental effect on our honeymoon. We personally do not think this airline could organise anything - let alone their flight schedule! They published a message on the website and local press (which was of no use to us at the time) informing of high levels of staff sickness - however we also heard rumours of a strike - which obviously wasn't published! On another note, the planes are old, the ones we went on were old Air Canada planes, the seats were uncomfortable and to be honest, the staff did only what they had to - they ran out of blankets on our flight home and the food was basic. Avoid this airline at all costs - it will cost you money (on top of your holiday) you WILL miss connecting flights, you will be uncomfortable and probably be subject to cancelled or delayed flights whether the crew is sick or if the they go on strike!

BWIA - by Anil Sinanan

3 June 2006

I have used BWIA for the last 15 years on the London-Port of Spain route. My advice is avoid this airline if you have to. Since it is often the same Airbus they use, the service is always late. But expect anything from severe delays, no airline or the pilot changing routes as the crew tired. The food is generally poor and you pay for alcoholic drinks in economy. In Business, there are no flat beds and the service is erratic : sometimes you get pre-takeoff drinks, sometimes you get nothing until the flight is well underway. The main problem is the lack of redress if anything goes wrong - as it tends to do. I used them as it is the only airline from London which flies direct (well, with a stop) to Trinidad. But, not anymore: I am using BA in July to Tobago and the Club World price was the same as BWIA Business, but look at the difference. Will keep you all posted. In all fairness to BWIA, it works but just.

BWIA - by Mike Fletcher

2 May 2006

We used BWIA for the first time for our annual holiday to Barbados. Our outbound flight flying first class, departed 28 hours late. We were initially told that the flight was delayed ten minutes due to a local airport problem, then a further half hour for the same reason, then a further two hours due to a minor problem on the aircraft, then that a part was being flown from Heathrow, then it was the wrong part. Eventually, at around 4.30PM, we were invited to reclaim our baggage and we would be taken to a nearby hotel, where, at 7.30pm we were given a meal (in our case, our first food for 24 hours), we had to pay for beverages though. The following morning we were picked up at the hotel at 11am, and we went through the check-in procedure again, we were given a piece of paper stating we would be given one free international phone call from our hotel room. Surely this was a little late as we had checked out of the hotel an hour previously! This meant that I was unable to inform the agent at BGI of our delayed arrival. The aircraft eventually was pushed back at 14.15. Once airborne we discovered that the in-flight entertainment system didn't work so we had to suffer a very boring 8.5 hour flight after our 28 hour delay (the standard of cabin service was excellent). On arrival at Grantley Adams there was no transport for us as our representative had gone home, and it as only due to the kindly actions of a tour rep from a German travel company that we were squeezed into a minibus, which had to make three or four drops before making our 20 mile journey to our all-inclusive hotel. We eventually arrive at the hotel at around 11pm local time, just as the bar was shutting, the restaurants had closed some time ago so we were not able to have an evening meal.

BWIA - by Debra Oliver

22 April 2006

LHR to Barbados - delayed 3.5 hours which resulted in us missing connecting flights to Grenadines and having to stay overnight in Barbados. not a good start to a seven night holiday. Airbus was clean and stewardess polite and friendly. But, worse was to come on return flight. Having booked Business Class, were sent straight through to departure hall and upon enquiry were informed that the Business Class lounge was actually landside!! Spent a cramped and miserable three hours without complimentary drinks or comfort etc. No flight information in departure hall and the lady at information desk more interested in chatting to fellow staff than informing us at even which gate we were meant to go to. When flight called (one hour late) the Business Class had already boarded and the crew evidently thought that we were late arrivals and treated us with disdain. The steward eventually asked us for our choice of menu even though we had not been given one and we had to ask a fellow passenger for hers as they had none left. Having travelled Business Class with British Airways, I would compare BWIA to a World Traveller Plus set up. Never again !!

BWIA - by Ken Borley

18 April 2006

I've just used BWIA to go to Trinidad. Flight was delayed over 3 hours at Heathrow, my reserved seat had been given to someone else. When I sat down on my seat it was soaking wet ! No apologies from crew - I was given a blanket but it was too late really - a 10 hour flight with wet pants wasn't good (I only hope it was water which made the seat wet). The plane stopped off at Barbados where it was delayed another hour. Arrived in Port of Spain 4 hours late, wet, tired, and miserable.

BWIA - by G Garrett

10 February 2006

Following my nightmare experiences with BWIA on a recent holiday in Barbados November 2005, I am flabbergasted none of my fellow passengers have usedyour website to complain. It started with the flight out from Manchester on 13 November. I can forgive an hours delay in taking off, I can forgive for diverting to Trinidad when allegedly they were unable to get into Barbados (where have I seen that before) as the runway was flooded. What I cant forgive them for, is leaving us at Trinidad Airport overnight from 8pm until 6am the following morning - when they eventually flew us to Barbados. To be left to sleep overnight on the floor of the departure lounge on the eve of your 30th wedding anniversary is not the start you want to a special holiday - my wife was not impressed, especially when we were awoken at 4pm, not that we had slept much, to be offered a complimentary breakfast of 2 digestive biscuits and the smallest carton of apple juice I have ever seen. I can laugh about it now, I was seething at the time. We eventually arrived at our hotel 15 hours after we should have, and missed an evenings accommodation and sleep. To the return journey. If we thought the flight about was bad, we could have no idea what lay in front of us. In summary, we left our hotel on Saturday 26 November at 6.30 pm and arrived back home 3 days later - on Tuesday 29 November. We took off on time, 20 minutes into the flight the captain informed us the landing gear had jammed in the down position and he had been instructed to return to their home base in Trinidad. This was just a bad dream happening all over again. We were put up in a hotel overnight in Port of Spain, returned to the airport the following evening for the rescheduled flight. Surprise - flight cancelled. Taken to another hotel, this time to a very dodgy neighbourhood, if Port of Spain wasn't dodgy enough already. You would not have taken your dog there, the room was crawling. Refused to stay there, the umpteenth passenger revolt ensued. Alternative accommodation found by myself and some fellow passengers. Eventually flew home the following evening via Heathrow and connecting flights to Manchester. On a 13 night holiday to Barbados, I spent 12 nights in Barbados and 4 nights in Trinidad- care of BWIA. My advice to anyone considering flying with BWIA, either through a package company or booking direct is "don't". They are obviously cash strapped and in financial difficulty. The attitude of staff is appalling. Their planes are inferior, I have serious concerns about this airline. Don't forget that once you are stuck in Trinidad, you have to get to Barbados or one of the other islands, using ... you guessed it, BWIA - before you can get to a BA or Virgin flight as they do not operate from Trinidad.

BWIA - by Jeremy Strutt

30 November 2005

Heathrow to Antigua. Having got everyone to the gate it was announced that there would be a slight delay because one of the aircraft doors was jammed. Departed 45 minutes late which wasn't too bad really. The plane itself was a little tired I suppose (in the toilets the hand towel dispenser was held to the wall with Duck Tape and some of the seats covers were quite worn) but the seats themselves were comfortable and loads of legroomt. The cabin crew were friendly and cheerful and there when required. Food was fine and refreshments were brought round. The inflight entertainment was not state of the art but screens were working OK and films (albeit dated) helped pass the time.

BWIA - by Sue Clark

22 November 2005

Like J Gallott we were scheduled to return on the flight to Heathrow on 12 November. We were lucky, if you can call it that, in that we could return to our apartment each night instead of having to stay in a grotty hotel provided by them. However we were told to get taxi receipts and we'd be able to get a refund from BWIA staff at the airport. Guess what - no-one knew anything about this when we produced the receipts. Understandably any flight can be cancelled due to technical problems/bad weather but the attitude of the ground staff in Barbados was appalling even when the flight was cancelled for a second time. They were just bolshy and unhelpful and I could have cheerfully slapped the guy who smiled all the time whilst telling us nothing ! We had onward flights booked from Heathrow and the check-in staff assured us that BMI (the flight carrier) had been contacted and seats re-scheduled for us. You've guessed - BMI knew nothing about this when we arrived at the desk. Fortunately there were seats available on the plane but no thanks to BWIA. One final moan, none of the departure/arrival screens were working at Barbados airport and there were none in the arrivals area for people meeting flights. When my partner arrived at the airport to meet my incoming plane (which ended up being an hour late) he had no idea whether my flight had landed or not and none of the ground staff knew either !

BWIA - by J Gallott

17 November 2005

I have to agree with comments from W Henderson, having used BWIA on these same dates. I was also on the flight headed to Barbados that diverted to Trinidad. We arrived 5 hours late at our destination. This we thought was bad enough but nothing compared to what faced us on the homeward journey. On returning we were expecting to fly about 9pm Sat 12th Nov. After asking the staff what the hold up was when boarding time had passed with no announcements at all I was told "they had no information on that flight" About half an hour later they announced it was cancelled. No explanation. Under further questioning by 300 passengers they said it was a problem with the plane. This turns out to be the plane that was hit by the cargo transporter in Trinidad. We had to then be taken off to hotels (slightly dodgy ones at that too) for the night and wait to be told the next day when there would be a plane. Next day, Sunday, we find we are to go back to the airport for a flight that evening. So after an unbelievably tortuous check in procedure we wait again for our flight. Again the boarding time passes and no plane in sight. The first announcement we hear is that the flight is cancelled. I'm sure you can imagine the response to having a 2nd flight cancelled, complete uproar from all passengers. The staff again were totally unhelpful, they could not give a decent explanation as to why. Some of them walked off as they did not know the answers to the questions. Another could do nothing but smile inanely, even more annoying. They said the plane could not land because of the weather - although flights had been going in an out most of the evening - and that our plane was now in Trinidad but it was too late for it to make a 2nd landing and take off. So that plane went back to London direct (I imagine pretty empty) with us all facing another night in hotels. To cut a long story short, on our third day of delay, Monday, a plane actually arrived and took us home - 50 hours late on the Tuesday. I appreciate unforeseen circumstances happen and we must have been very unfortunate to get this happen 2 days in a row. But the total unsympathetic response and total lack of customer care from BWIA staff was outrageous. The person collecting us from Heathrow even rang the airline on the Monday morning to check the flight and was told by BWIA staff that we were on the flight that went from Trinidad Sunday night so actually went to the airport to pick us up. This also happened to other passengers. How bad is that? When the company themselves don't even know who is on their passenger list for a flight? Needless to say we will never travel BWIA again. How they have lasted this long I have no idea. They are nothing but a joke. The 3 stars at the top of this page are questionable - I wouldn't even give them half a star.

BWIA - by W Henderson

17 November 2005

Just to have one final moan about my BWIA experience (see below), and add to something Geoff Isaacs mentions below: I flew home on the "all white" BWIA Airbus he mentions, which is obviously an ex-Virgin plane as they have all the old Virgin seating and colour scheme inside - while there were indeed seat-back TVs in economy, none worked - there was no inflight entertainment at all, not even any headsets dished out to listen to music.

BWIA - by Geoff Isaacs

16 November 2005

Heathrow to Antigua towards end of October, found the experience pleasant but not fantastic. The A340 in full BWIA livery has no individual tv monitors, I think the white one does. Flying times were 1.5 hours late going, and returning, its too punishing schedule for the plane to do Heathrow-Antigua-Trinidad-Antigua-Heathrow in 24hrs - there is no room for on the ground catch up. Food was excellent both ways, alcoholic drinks had to pay £3 each, BWIA needs to decide if it is a charter or scheduled airline! On the return leg the plane was uncomfortably warm, and no individual air conditioning as available. Overall we felt we got value for money as we saved £500+ by flying BWIA as oposed to Virgin/First Choice/BMI on our package holiday for a family of 3. Finally any other people travelling back from Antigua here is the tip of the century After you have checked your luggage in, don't go through to the departure lounge, go across the road to the Sticky Wicket cricket ground/bar/restaurant/museum, and have a leisurely drink.

BWIA - by W Henderson

15 November 2005

I travelled recently Heathrow to Georgetown (Guyana) via Barbados on the way out and Trinidad on the way back. You read the other posts on here and you think "BWIA can't be that bad, can they?" But then you fly them and they are worse. Check in at Heathrow was long and slow moving. Just two United ground crew acting for BWIA were on the desk for a full Airbus flight of circa 300 people. Not very smiley. I was lucky and got bumped up to Business, so used the United lounge which isn't much to shout home about, but at least was better than the chaos that is Heathrow Terminal 3 on a Saturday morning. Getting on the Airbus, the first thing that struck me was that no Flight Attendants in Business Class emerged from the galley for at least 5 minutes - no hello, no would you like a drink, no can I take your coat ie stuff that is pretty elementary for any business class product. We took off 2 hours late. The seats were (compared to most airlines these days) the old-fashioned, tilt-back variety, but surprisingly comfy. Food was adequate. In flight entertainment was on the main-cabin overhead TV only, even though there were, in theory, TVs in the armrests. Everything seemed to be going too well, but sure enough, 1 hour out from Barbados the Captain came on the public address to say we were bypassing that island and going straight to Trinidad - no explanation, no apology, just this is what we are doing. Turns out the runway lights had failed at Barbados but we weren't told this. So bang went my connection to Guyana, I had to be rescheduled in Trinidad and arrived overall 4 hours late. BWIA would not provide a call to Guyana to let the people meeting me know I'd be late. And so to the way back to London a week later, and to cut a long story short, at Trinidad while loading cargo pallets, one of them accidentally managed to hit the Airbus cargo door, which put the plane out of action and 300 of us were shipped off to various hotels around Port of Spain. OK, these things happen from time to time annoying as they are, but the deciding factor is how it's handled by the airline and here BWIA reached new depths of (lack of) customer service. We arrived back into Heathrow 28 hours late. In this day and age airlines are increasingly "samey" - same inflight entertainment, same schedules, same meals etc - what could make BWIA stand out is its crew, after all people in the Caribbean are some of the most welcoming and friendly in the world, so how come the crew on BWIA are so sour and unfriendly and with a definite "don't bother me, I know much more than you do" attitude. It's like Aeroflot circa and 1987. It's easy to say "I won't use that airline again" in the heat of the moment and then go back to them, but I have to go back to the Caribbean in January and I will definitely use BA or Virgin no matter what the cost. I have never been so angry after flying with an airline. I hope, if you are reading this and planning a trip to the West Indies, you learn from my experience (and other posters here too) and give your business to another airline who will appreciate and deserve it more.

BWIA - by Carol Cadogan

6 November 2005

I was pleasantly surprised by the crew, good food and excellent service. What a contrast coming back - a night flight meant "do not ask the crew staff for anything" as they need to sleep too! Food awful (our taste buds sleep at night too) and terrible delays. An average experience overall. Would venture to use them again but no more night flying!

BWIA - by J Griffith

28 October 2005

Port of Spain to Barbados on BW900, economy. We eventually left one hour and ten minutes late. Flight attendants were friendly. However, the condition of this Airbus A340-300 left a lot to be desired. The food trays and seats were vandalized by someone who obviously had nothing to do but mark it up with a pen. When the plane landed in Barbados, the overhead compartments were shaking. Also, the seats took a long time to recline to the fullest. I was just glad I was getting off in Barbados and not going all the way to London.

BWIA - by Wendy Williams

2 October 2005

Pleased with my flight out to Trinidad from Manchester - left on time, plane was clean, flight attendants friendly, food edible and quite tasty (rice, chicken and peas). Stopped over in Barbados and flight was back in the air on the way to Trinidad in just over half an hour. Same for flight back - although the person next to me said that her flight 3 weeks earlier out to Barbados was delayed for six hours.