LIAT

Barbados to St Vincent with LIAT. What can I say that many people havent already said? I do a lot of travelling for work and LIAT is the worst airline I have ever flown with. LIAT is rotten to the core and this filters down to the staff. This is what happens when there is no competition from other airlines. Owners don't care and neither doe the staff. What LIAT doesn't realise is that St Vincent (like many other Caribbean islands) rely on tourism and the experience tourist receive from LIAT will determine whether they return. Shame on you LIAT, shame on the owners, shame on the government for not having any competition and shame on the staff, utterly disgraceful.

✅ Verified Review | Beef Island to San Juan via Antigua. My husband and I flew LIAT for the first and last time. We had 4 flights over 2 weeks and only 1 was on time. Unfortunately, the on time flight connected to a flight that was 4 hours late which meant we spent 6 rather than 2 hours in Antigua during which time we only had announcements that the flight was delayed and a further notice would be forthcoming in 45 minutes. There were no LIAT personnel in the gate area who could give any information. I was very grateful that we were not connecting to another flight in San Juan until the next day. Our other 2 flights were 2.5 and 1.5 hours late and again I was very grateful that we were not under any time constraints. Our first taxi driver told us that LIAT stands for Leave Island Any Time and they lived up to their reputation.

Barbados to Guyana with LIAT. What a disaster - they take your money and deliver the worst service ever. Boarded our flight in Barbados to Guyana and they took our hand luggage away at the bottom of the stairs as we boarded the plane. We arrived in Guyana 4 hours later to find our hand luggage and suitcase has been left behind, you don’t know where nor do the staff in Guyana. You then have to join a queue with all the other passengers from the same flight in the same predicament. What terrible service. There is a number to call but there is no one answering the phone, the staff must be inundated as we find out on our return to the airport for the next 4 days nearly every passenger who arrived in the month on May had the same problem - missing hand luggage and suitcases. My luggage arrived 3 days later and my hand luggage arrived 6 days later. I had left my contact details with LIAT for any updates - I somehow did not expect any service.

✅ Verified Review | I was part of a group of 3 people travelling to St Lucia from London. Upon arrival at SLU, we immediately checked in our luggage for our flight to Barbados. We arrived at the airport at 18:30 for the flight that was supposed to depart at 19:35. We went through the security gate and started waiting for our flight. By 19:35 there was still no plane in sight. After waiting for an extra hour, finally a member of staff announced that the flight was delayed. So we were given a new departure time and asked to leave the gate. After a couple of hours, we went back to the gate, but the plane was still missing. We kept waiting quietly without having any information or help from the staff. Finally after a wait of over 5 hours, the plane arrived and we boarded. 15 minutes after we boarded the plane, the pilot announced that the flight to Barbados was cancelled and he asked us to disembark. We got off the plane and started queuing at the check-in desk for the re-issue of our booking and to be sent to a hotel for that night's accommodation. It will be helpful to let you know that by this point it was past midnight. As there was no room for the 7am flight, we were given 10:55 flight the next day. The situation had already messed up our arrangements in Barbados as we were planning to meet the rental agency for car pick-up and the landlady for our house. I had to contact them multiple times throughout the night to keep them up-to-date on our situation. After the long and tedious work at the LIAT counters, the cars came to pick us up to drive us to the hotel. We were given a hotel at Rodney Bay. I think the location and the dire state of the hotel we were given is the subject of another discussion, so I will let this pass. By the time we were in our rooms (around 2am I believe), we were exhausted, angry, disappointed and totally frustrated. We had already lost a day from our Barbados holiday which was in return wasted on airport seats. Nevertheless, without losing hope, we left our hotel at 930 the next morning and arrived at the airport to catch the 10:55 flight. Upon arrival, as we were checking in our luggage, we were told that the flight had delayed for at least 2 hours, which would push our arrival to past 2pm. At that point, we made the disheartening decision to cancel our flight (and our Barbados holiday) all together. We had no trust and confidence left in LIAT as it was impossible to believe the LIAT staff about the true time of the flight or if it would ever in fact depart. For these reasons, we decided to cancel our flight and find a place to stay in St Lucia instead. Thanks to this experience, we had a horrible start to our holiday. We wasted hours at a tiny airport, stayed at a low-budget hotel, and had to arrange last minute transport and accommodation due to the changes in our plans.

Barbados to Grenada with LIAT. Our outward evening flight was delayed by 50 mins but was uneventful and our luggage arrived with us. The crew were not friendly. Our return flight to Barbados departed 5 minutes early and we were served soft drinks. Our luggage arrived with us. Again the crew were not friendly. Having read through many reviews from LIAT I think we had a lucky experience all round.

I had two straightforward, uneventful flights with LIAT on 11th April 2016. The ANU to BGI flight was about fifteen minutes late and the BGI to DOM flight was about half an hour late. Check-in at V C Bird was quick and efficient, while luggage was delivered promptly at Grantley Adams. Then, check-in at Grantley Adams was also quick and efficient, while luggage was delivered very quickly at Melville Hall. From getting off the plane at Melville Hall to leaving the airport took no more than twenty minutes. Staff on the ground at all three airports were highly professional and very polite, and the same can be said of the cabin crew on both flights. If LIAT could replicate these standards on all their flights, then there would be little to complain about.

The flight from Douglas–Charles Airport to VC Bird International Airport was smooth and uneventful, but the five hours that I spent at Melville Hall, before the flight, were filled with ever increasing anxiety and frustration. At check-in - which was otherwise very efficient - I was told that the flight was on schedule. Then we were told that the flight was half an hour late. Then we were told that the flight was two hours late. Then 2.5hrs and then 2.75 hrs. We finally took off at 6.55pm instead of 3.55pm. Apparently the plane had to make a couple of detours earlier in the afternoon! The staff on the ground did everything that they could to keep us informed of the situation and cabin crew were also polite and professional. Needless to say, my luggage didn't make it on to my connecting flight to London, but it was delivered to my house about a day and a half late. LIAT really have got to get to grips with these problems, but I can't see them doing so until they get some effective competition, or (better still) until Dominica builds a "full sized" international airport which can accommodate larger planes.

I booked my LIAT flight on the 2nd February 2016. I was forced to arrange different days for my husband, son, sister and myself to return to Barbados to pick up our connection to return home to London as there were no seats available for our request. My husband and son were due to leave Guyana at 8am this has now been moved to 6am my sister and myself were due to leave Guyana at 11.pm Thursday evening - this has now been moved to 14.45 in the afternoon. Bearing in mind out flight to London is the following day. We will have to make other arrangements at our expense. Then another e-mail arrived changing our times yet again - I'm now on the phone to Liat trying to question this poor service.

✅ Verified Review | On 02/04/2016 I travelled from London Gatwick to Grenada via Barbados with LIAT. I was due to arrive in Grenada at about 9.20 pm on the same day. To make a long story short, LIAT delayed and eventually cancelled the Barbado to Grenada leg of the journey with no explanation whatsoever to any of its customers. We were placed in a hotel and left all day Sunday 03/04/2016. All efforts to find out when we would leave for Grenada were met with "we don't know" - even in Grenada my husband was told "we don't know". There was little or no communication - no agent consulted with us. It took 8 hours to get from London to Barbados and 48 hours to get from Barbados to Grenada and LIAT did not even say why the aircraft was delayed/cancelled. Shame on you LIAT, never again.

LIAT cancelled all its flights to Barbados on March 24th because of a 6-hour walkout of air traffic controllers. Though the strike ended at 1:00 pm and most other airlines simply put their flights on hold until the short industrial action ended, LIAT took the easy and economical way out by parking up all their Barbados destined planes. The rationale for this is clear: since the flights were all paid for in advance, there was no business downside. On the upside, cancelling the flights to Barbados meant that many international passengers who have no intention to flying on LIAT during the 12-month period cancelled flights can be rebooked would have to find alternate routes to Barbados or elsewhere, most of which consist of very expensive semi-charter flights using SVGAir or Mystique Airways. Since LIAT never offers refunds, even if the choice to fly or not is made on spurious grounds, this means that they get to keep the monies already paid while being able to sell the "surplus" seat again. During high demand times between November and April, LIAT continues to accept excess and over-weight baggage at a large extra cost - unlike many international carriers - knowing that this will feed its bottom line even if it results in non-excess baggage left behind at the main international hubs in Antigua and Barbados. If you possibly can, avoid flying on this airline.