A Cricket World Cup To Remember For Our 800 Indian Visitors!
Dear Editor,
Please see attached the news release on the situation with the Air India flight to Mumbai, India.
Regards
Chay Davis
Consultant – Corporate Communications,
Barbados Tourism Authority,
P.O.Box 242,
Bridgetown
BB 11000,
Barbados
West Indies
Tel: (246)-427-2623
Fax: (246)-426-4080
email: chayd@visitbarbados.org
website: www.visitbarbados.org
Saturday April 21, 2007
NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE BARBADOS TOURISM AUTHORITY (BTA), PREPARED ON BEHALF OF ITS PARTNERS, INVOLVED IN BRINGING THE AIR INDIA CHARTER TO BARBADOS
Air India, which will arrive at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) tomorrow at 11:30am, has announced that it will be unable to accommodate passengers on its return leg to Mumbai, India, due to the unavailability of crew.
The decision to cancel the return flight, which was due to leave tomorrow at 4:30pm, was made by Air India after it was found that there was an insufficient number of cabin crew to provide the expected standard of service for passengers on its 20-hour long haul flight.
Persons who paid for their flight will be refunded and are asked to contact their booking agent for details.
Any inconvenience is sincerely regretted.
“Any inconvenience is sincerely regretted”
Good Lord!
I could write for hours about our Bajan bigwigs who toured India and the Middle East arranging for this disaster. All the talk about long-term tourism benefits to Barbados from the new well-heeled upper middle class in India…
But I think I’ll just let our Barbados Free Press readers say a few words in our Comments section.
Take it away, good citizens of Barbados…
43 Comments
April 22, 2007 at 7:18 am
This is unbelievable. If some airline dumped me half way around the world I don’t know what I would do.
What a wonderful advertisement for Barbados, for Cricket, for Air India and for the Barbados Tourism Authority.
“Authority” !!!!
What a sad joke this whole CWC has turned out to be.
April 22, 2007 at 7:45 am
[...] post by BFP and software by Elliott [...]
April 22, 2007 at 8:23 am
If BTA had in fact chartered these aircraft as we were led to believe, instead of sincerely regretting their own incompetence, they should contact all the stranded passengers, accommodate them at their own expense, arrange other charters immediately to repatriate our guests, and sue Air India for the costs incurred due to its non compliance of contract.
Abandoning these visitors attracted by the BTA’s last minute sales drive into the sub-continent cannot be an option if Barbados, as represented by its Tourism Authority, is to retain any credibility as a world class tourist destination.
April 22, 2007 at 10:32 am
WHAT REFUND WILL YOU GET. WILL YOU GET VISA AND OTHER EXPENSES
April 22, 2007 at 10:38 am
Can ‘we’ continue to afford to have the people making these decisions in charge?
After advertising what presumably were the empty legs on the local market, the airline now decides it does not have sufficient crew to operate them!
A quoted ‘20 hour’ flight with a technical stop in Paris would have taken at least two flight crews anyway.
And the crew who brought the aircraft from Paris to Barbados would require a minimum mandatory rest period before returning to Mumbai
via Paris, perhaps collecting the second crew enroute.
So exactly what will the aircraft do after its arrrival today?
Who is picking up the cost of this charter, as clearly the quoted ‘300 persons’ onboard could not meet the expense, either of the round trip or the empty legs?
And who will be onboard this flight. Paying passengers or complimentary media, travel agents, tour operators and whoever else?
Some days ago I called on Mia Motley to disclose the actual number of CariCom visas issued to Indian and Pakistani passport holders. This at least would give all the tourism planners some idea of the numbers that were orginally expected and those that finally travelled.
According to Petra Roach, the BTA, the Vice President of Marketing in Europe ,the original Air India charters (some had been already cancelled),
were going to to be the start of a series of flights through the summer.
Will these still operate?
A substantial ‘investment; has been made by the BTA, including at least three promotional visits to the sub-continent.
What has been the total expense related to these marketing activities?
Also to be answered, is why the ICC posted prematurely the much anticipated India/Pakistan clash, when there was absolutely no guarantee it would take place?
The ICC later removed the fixture, but it seems that our tourism policymakers failed to notice this or it was too later to take remedial action.
I am sure today, a lot of fanfare will be made for the arrival on the now single Air India charter with the Minister of Tourism posing for the cameras, but shouldn’t someone being questioning the cost of this latest fiasco and who is going to pay for it?
After all, this is the week of the final and according to the Minister there will be ‘90,000′ long stay visitors on Barbados this week and another ‘75,000 cruise ship passengers’.
It was wonderful to experience Kensington Oval yesterday with a stated near 23,000 attendees, but take away the die-hard English supporters and West Indian fans, and who would be left?
Thousands of exposed seats with people literally being roasted in the sun throughout the day, having paid in many cases US$75 or US$100 before seats were dumped on the local market.
Is this truly world class and would these same fans be happy paying the same high ticket prices to sit in the sun for a five day test series?
I stumbled across my ticket to the One Day International match, West Indies v England on 5th May 2004.
Three W’s Upper Stand (covered) Row B seat 40
Cost US$40 or BDS$80.
Yesterday, North Stand, totally exposed US$100 (BDS$200). Hewitt and Inniss totally exposed US$75 (BDS$150).
April 22, 2007 at 11:56 am
cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after…….
- get it?
April 22, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Cockups?
April 22nd, 2007 at 11:56 am
cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after cockup after…….
- get it?
***********************************************
Hello Mia Mottley,
Your language is not suited for this site !
Did you forget where you were ?
April 22, 2007 at 12:18 pm
sorry man.
wazn’t thinking along those lines at all. sorry.
maybe it shoulda bin screwup screwup, but Oh Lord there I go again…one track mind.
Maybe messup messup woulda bin more appropriate. Apologies, peoples.
but you get da picture: this event has been A Comedy Of Errors!
April 22, 2007 at 12:23 pm
I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t blame the BTA for this.. The Airline should have planned enough crew for the return flight and obviously didn’t. BTA Cannot take responsibility for Air India’s cock-up. of course as this website had done before.. this information could be wrong or fabricated.. who knows…
or gee.. maybe all the crew was attending the wedding of the bollywood stars instead of working..
April 22, 2007 at 1:05 pm
Adrian
I stumbled across my ticket to the One Day International match, West Indies v England on 5th May 2004.
Three W’s Upper Stand (covered) Row B seat 40
Cost US$40 or BDS$80.
Yesterday, North Stand, totally exposed US$100 (BDS$200). Hewitt and Inniss totally exposed US$75 (BDS$150).
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
… our economists tell us we do not have inflation in Barbados!
You must be mistaken!!
April 22, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Cockups?
… isn’t what has happened more as a result of a surplus of Cockspur!
April 22, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Are we still to have elections soon after the finish of the World Cup? I doubt !
April 22, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Barbados has no inflation, which is why I have recently adopted the attitude while supermarket shopping that (as long as the item has indeterminate shelf life) that you might as well buy it NOW (while spotty supply lasts!) at today’s price, because it will cost more next week, or next shipment, guaranteed!
But it now, while the money is still worth something.
Barbados Dollar DONE devalue: one visit to Big B will prove what your puny Barbados Dollar will buy you, and it’s not very much!
April 22, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Sunniebgi…
I really don’t want to cast blame needlessly BUT
1) Who chartered the aircraft?
2) Who offered the seats on the empty flight legs locally?
and
3) Surely you don’t think that the BTA would be reckless enough to offer the empty flight leg seats without first checking with the airline that it was operationally possible?
April 22, 2007 at 1:26 pm
We may not get an election call soon after Cricket is mercifully over,
but I know who’s getting ‘a pink slip’ come May 1.
But then maybe pink was always his/MM favourite colour…
April 22, 2007 at 2:37 pm
my cousin bought a ticket last week, made arrangements, paid for a visa and other expense, paid a consultant up front to take care of his business while he was away only to be told a few hours before the flight that it has been cancelled. reason being there is no crew. how ridiculous. where is the crew who arrived on the flight? will they be staying to watch cricket?
April 22, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Sunniebgi,
this is no fabrication. it happened to my cousin and his friends and they are still fuming at loss of money and inconvenience. what is worst is that none of them have been able to get through to anyone in authority to complain or seek recourse. this is the sort of tourism deals and partnerships that the blp is promoting and patting itself over the back for? i guess as long as they get some kick backs its all good.
April 22, 2007 at 2:42 pm
So, was this the first of the Air India Charters? Was the return flight supposed to carry passengers home who had arrived on a previous Air India charter, or was it sold to Bajans who wanted to visit India?
I was at the oval for the England West Indies match and it was AMAZING. The atmosphere was electric, the smuggled in Vodka was flowing and for a few hours all of the problems associated with the World Cup were forgotten.
A special thank you to all the volunteers. Where did they find the thousands of über-friendly and professional Bajans from? They really made a difference for me.
April 22, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Errors errors errors, can we get Mottley, Lynch and Owing on this onw way service to India with no return flight this man has got to go Lynch is and continues to be a major disaster to this island.
I cannot wait to hear how he will spin this fiasco!!!
April 22, 2007 at 2:54 pm
That’s is official story Barbados Free Press, now here is the truth, the real reason that the plane is not taking any passengers from the Caribbean is all about money the offer that Noel Lynch gave to them was not acceptable they wanted double that, US dollars darling, or the flight will be canceled, he refused so they refused to take on passengers.
Also he offered cabin crew from Barbados but the airline said they could not afford to pay our cabin crew , so again no go. The airline waited to the twelfth hour and then tried to hold Noel Lynch to ransom. Or has he held himself to ransom, after all why was this airline not made to sign a contract so they could not pull out at the last minute?
And what about all those Caribbean people who have booked this flight, they’re only getting back the ticket money, I know of many people in the Indian community who have spent 1000’s of dollars on items to take to Indian for friends and family, who is going to reimburse them for this? No one, this is utter mismanagement of the situation by Noel Lynch.
Can you believe that this flight was canceled only yesterday in the evening, a flight that was suppose to take place tonight. Someone needs to be held accountable.
April 22, 2007 at 3:01 pm
What a huge RH tourism-related FIASCO!!
April 22, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Monkey handling gun!!
April 22, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Folks, come on! You cannot seriously believe that the Airline is responsible for this disaster.
A charter contract would have been negotiated between Air India and the BTA (or its agent).
The major tenants of this contract would be
1. An itinerary
2. Dates of Return travel
3. Cost (fully paid in advance by the charterer, which in this case is the BTA or its agent).
This charter contract would have specified all terms and conditions related to the charter.
The scheduling department of Air India would then use the charter contract to schedule aircraft and crew according to terms of the contract.
The BTA via its agents in India would have commenced the process via established channels of selling the seats to Barbados and the Caribbean sometime in 2006. We here know that earlier this year this now ill-fated offer was made to Barbadians by the BTA via is agents Going Places Travel.
Two main reasons why a charterer sells a commercial dead leg:
1. To minimize cost of the overall charter and by extension the unit cost to the passengers of origin.
2. To maximize profits of a charter with such a motive.
It is clear that after calls by Adrian Loveridge and BFP for more answers to the trips of Stuart Layne (acting like a Business Development Officer and not a CEO) as well as disclosure of the cost of all of these dealings, the BTA went into damage control.
The BTA hastily attempted to sell a return leg out of Barbados for April 22nd, that was never covered by the charter contract.
The BTA then went back to Air India to arrange that which it had already started to sell in Barbados, only to be told that it was not possible due to crew rotations.
Just read the tone of the BTA’s press release. The BTA’s President and CEO is incompetent folks. He must go for the good of the industry.
I am calling on Peter Odle to ask Stuart Layne kindly resign. Folks this is nothing short of incompetence.
The elections will take care of Barney Lynch
By the way , I am at the Airport and Seaport starting today with my Counters in hand. I need 10 to get up to 90,000
April 22, 2007 at 3:33 pm
CLARIFICATION
By the way , I am at the Airport and Seaport starting today with my Counters in hand. I need 10 COUNTERS to get up to 90,000.
April 22, 2007 at 3:50 pm
X
April 22, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Brathwaite you have to be Houdini to do this
“By the way , I am at the Airport and Seaport starting today with my Counters in hand. I need 10 counters to get up to 90,000″
you started my Sunday morning with real laughter. My belly hurting all now hahahahaha
April 22, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Andrew..
Spot on, do they really take us all for a bunch of idiots with no knowledge or experience in the industry.
Will anyone be forced to resign, who knows!
But someone should add up the costs of this Air India fiasco, plus the Carnival Destiny US$15 million charter, plus the greatly reduced hotel occupancy in March and early April and the subsquent effect that had on the ancillery services.
And yet they they are boasting ‘that the Government has raked in BDS$24 million in ticket sales before a single ball had been bowled’.
Chay Davis, the Consultant – Corporate Communications of the Barbados Tourism Authority seems like a nice guy, but when he is forced to put out such ridiculous media releases, it calls into question the very credibility of the organisation he represents.
April 22, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Today’s Nation says that the Barbados to India charter was being sold by Going Places Travel and Express Laundry Services.
Who the heck are “Express Laundry Services”?
April 22, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Bajanboy, I do not want to burst your pleasure bubble, but I have an obsession with trying to help my fellow Bajans remember. Help them stay on track and not get caught up as the young people say. Bajanboy, do you remember that had not for the drop outs and cancellations you would not have any right at Kensington? Do you know that the average Bajan was priced out of Kensington until week before? We din’ suppose to be at the beautiful stadium our average tax dollars pay for!!!! They had we price out out out. So thank God for cockups. The cockups allowed the average man woman and chile to see wuh duh pay fuh!!! Our decision-makers in their wisdom had we envolve at Kensington as volunteers. That is the price you paid to be roun’ dey as a average man. So don’ get caught up.
Next ting.
My coolie man tell me last week he was going to India. He is like a family friend to us in our district and he said he was sending somebody else out to work in the van because he was going India. I think he said it was 700 something Barbados. I felt good for him. He was carrying the whole family, including the grandchildren, no lie. I was even telling my family that if I could afford it I would go and see India too. Gawblow the BTA and Lynch and all the rest if I had miss and buy a ticket.
I waiting to see my coolie man this week. He don’ curse, but I know a good few backoos gine leggo pun this guvment. Lynch gine got he special backoo. Yuh don’ mess with the coolie man!
April 22, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Justasking
April 22nd, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Today’s Nation says that the Barbados to India charter was being sold by Going Places Travel and Express Laundry Services.
Who the heck are “Express Laundry Services”?
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Cuh dear man, nuff things bout here need laundering, the faster the better!!
Every self respecting Politician needs these services.
Even though the BLP launders in private, they still need to interact with the public and smell sweet!
April 22, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Maybe Marcus can reveal in his long awaited expose, whether Express Laundry Services is based at O$A’s Speightstown bank.
April 22, 2007 at 4:53 pm
i was just made to understand that the real reason behind air india cancelling the flight has to do with inadequate insurance coverage from india to barbados but because of the bad publicity they are using the crew story. too much underhand stuff going on with this and the truth needs to be told. my cousin has already lost enough money because only 50% of the money he paid to the consultant to manage his business while he was gone is refundable. not to mention the hundreds of dollars he spent buying gifts for family in india. who will be held accountable?
April 22, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Hard to believe a laundry service is somehow involved with selling air charters to India.
What on Earth is the connection??
Kinda like…I’m a doctor, but if yuh like I got some cases of Baked Beans,at wholesale
- and used car parts to sell you, if yuh want..?
April 22, 2007 at 5:19 pm
Do you realise that the details – what I am seeing on BFP – are not in the dailies today?? Will comment further under the Gary Sobers story.
April 22, 2007 at 5:46 pm
These madmen have to go!
April 22, 2007 at 8:05 pm
CatEyes says “Do you realise that the details – what I am seeing on BFP – are not in the dailies today?? ”
This surprises no regular BFP viewer.
It also confirms that you bought and read a daily Barbados newsp., if not both.
Why?
You KNOW They feed you what They want you to know, but still you can’t help yourself, and you trot out with your few dollars and help to sustain them.
Why?
April 23, 2007 at 12:32 am
[...] Several readers have commented and written us emails asking how Barbados Free Press received a copy of the Barbados Tourism Authority press release on the Air India cancellation. (You can read the press release here) [...]
April 23, 2007 at 1:55 am
ok, so it’s a true story, but Mr. Loveridge, does the BTA fly own and fly airplanes. Ok Ok.. maybe the screwed up the deal..and may they are taking Barney to task, but it’s still their airline.
Lets say someone charter your hotel, and had everything in place.. it’s still your hotel, it doesn’t belong to the people that chartered it.. would you not have enough staff or in this case “Cabin Crew” to look after the clients while they where there.. so you would have to cancel the whole thing. Doesn’t this send a bad name to Air India.. “we do charters but we can only get you half way to your destination, cause we don’t have enough cruise to get you to your final stop…” and you not only have stranded people from the Caribbean who have purchased tickets (and funny thing is I never once saw an advert for this charter).. but you have cancelled people who where on their return leg of the trip.. How do they get home know?? By twice and 3 times as much.. And who is going to shell out the bucks to keep them here.. and god forbid if they actually stay and start working… that would be just lovely…
If it truely is a situation that Air India really did not have enough staff onboard to complete the flight.. then I’m sorry, but they are to blame and not the BTA for chartering the flight..
April 23, 2007 at 3:02 am
maria, everytime you try to defend the blp thieves you end up looking like a big fool. i would hope you only do this defence attorney thing online and not in public in front of other people because you would truly be demeaning yourself then. people must wonder what cloud you have been living on! or maybe you are lynch writing under the name maria. hahahaha
April 23, 2007 at 5:25 am
Only 300 people involved here and they are hardly likely to make enough waves to upset the BLP election program hence no need to worry about these 300 persons.
Lynch you need a life you are a waste of space.
April 23, 2007 at 5:30 am
[...] light of the Air India charter cancellation and the abandoning of passengers in Barbados, did the editor write this article with a certain [...]
April 23, 2007 at 8:28 pm
The goal of making India a major tourist market for Barbados is economic madness. Only pig headed Lynch and cronies Richard Williams, Hutson Husbands, Odle, Myers and that lot could have thought up such junk and foisted on the public.
I am not buying it. I dont think Suart Layne buys it either despite his words. About fifteen years ago it was the Japanese coming. Then it was the Russians, then the Brazillians. Inaugural charters came from these places too with promises of thousands to follow. Never happened.
Why would Indians leave other side of world in large numbers to come to Barbados when our exotic conditions are replicated nearby in Seychelles, Bali, Reunion,Sri lanka and a host of other Indian and Pacific ocean resorts. It does not make for economic and marketing common sense.
This charter is a nine day wonder. A waste of money. By next year it will be history and we will be back to our core makets,UK,US,Canada, Caribbean,Europe and Latin America.
Ten years ago Lynch and Husbands led a delgation to Brazil with promise of new hordes of tourists from samba land. The charters started from Sao Paulo and folded in six months.
As a hotelier my property suffered major losses from the Brazil fling. Brazil is next door compared to India. Brazil’s 180 million peoples sleeping giant economy is booming too. Its six hours flying from Brazil. About sixteen hours or thereabouts flying from Mumbai,India. Do the math.
Lynch better advised to find the 700 yachts, 95,000 long stay visitors and 75,000 thousand cruise ship passengers he promised us his employers for WC final week.
April 24, 2007 at 3:19 pm
We need to know who Express Laundry Services are is this a Lynch or Nicholls, Bannister, Owing owned company??? It appears very strange to me that we have Laundry services selling airline tickets are they bonded for this???