Tuesday, October 07, 2008
LIAT
We got to St Vincent, finally, after taking two days and three airplanes to get from San Juan PR to SVG.
We arrived in San Juan in late morning after leaving the house at 3:30AM. The American Airlines flight from Boston to San Juan was crowded but functional.
We waited around in the San Juan terminal for the 3:30PM "direct" flight (which now includes a stop in St. Lucia) and watched a whole bunch of LIAT employees walk around the plane. Finally the Captain arrived and decided the fuel pump was busted. We were given food and hotel vouchers (in terminal fast food & hotel). Even the McDonalds is clearly in PR.
On friday we went to the terminal again and watched everyone walk around the plane, including an FAA official, for greater assurance. Finally a Captain came in and they boarded the plane that was supposed to leave before ours. Then our captain came and we went on board.
About an hour into the flight the captain spoke saying there was somthing wrong with the ventilation system and we were going to land in Antigua--LIAT headquarters -- so they could fix it. We had to go through the x-ray dance (Sally's cane, two carry-ons, two laptops and my shoes, all in seperate trays) to get into the departure lounge. But we had waited only minutes before they bundled us on a new plane along with the Antigua-SVG passengers. Packed full. We got here after dark, i.e. after 6pm.
Two days, three planes for what should be a 3 hour trip.
Hooray for LIAT
We arrived in San Juan in late morning after leaving the house at 3:30AM. The American Airlines flight from Boston to San Juan was crowded but functional.
We waited around in the San Juan terminal for the 3:30PM "direct" flight (which now includes a stop in St. Lucia) and watched a whole bunch of LIAT employees walk around the plane. Finally the Captain arrived and decided the fuel pump was busted. We were given food and hotel vouchers (in terminal fast food & hotel). Even the McDonalds is clearly in PR.
On friday we went to the terminal again and watched everyone walk around the plane, including an FAA official, for greater assurance. Finally a Captain came in and they boarded the plane that was supposed to leave before ours. Then our captain came and we went on board.
About an hour into the flight the captain spoke saying there was somthing wrong with the ventilation system and we were going to land in Antigua--LIAT headquarters -- so they could fix it. We had to go through the x-ray dance (Sally's cane, two carry-ons, two laptops and my shoes, all in seperate trays) to get into the departure lounge. But we had waited only minutes before they bundled us on a new plane along with the Antigua-SVG passengers. Packed full. We got here after dark, i.e. after 6pm.
Two days, three planes for what should be a 3 hour trip.
Hooray for LIAT
# posted by Karl Eklund @ 11:42 AM 
