The plane ‘just a lil late’

Last week Monday I had the misfortune to find myself at the Crowne Point airport awaiting the arrival of the Tobago Express plane that was to take me back to Trinidad. I was on vacation in Tobago but had to return home to write an exam that evening. The plan was to interrupt my vacation by a few hours only; I was due to return on the 9.30 pm flight. Of course, we all know the story of what happened that day. Front landing gear couldn’t come down, emergency landing, airport closed, blah de blah de blah. The dissemination of information about what had happened in the hours and days that followed was adequate, if not a bit sensational at times. Statements have been read by representatives of the various companies/organisations involved and an investigation is under way.

Wonderful.
Meanwhile, all Tobago Express flights remain grounded pending the completion of the inquiry. Of course, strictly speaking, those of us who were waiting on that flight should probably still be seated in the domestic departure lounge of the airport, since up to now, no one has told us anything about the situation so as far as we know, the plane is still “just a lil late.” The flight was due to depart Crowne Point at 1 pm. One o’clock came and went with no sign of the airplane. Of course, this being Trinidad and Tobago, this was not exactly cause for panic. A guy from British Columbia seated behind me reminded everyone that BWIA really means Bound to Wait In the Airport, a reminder which brought wry expressions to our faces. In hindsight I realise it is rather shaming, the fact that a foreigner knows this bastard acronym for our national airline and had resigned himself to the fact that expecting anything different was surely a case of wishful thinking.

At approximately 1.30 pm an announcement was made over the PA system. Public announcements are not known for being the best examples of elocution and this instance was no different. No one was able to decipher what he (or she?) said. “I think,” a guy next to me guessed tentatively, “she said that the plane just a lil late.” And that was all we were told regarding the situation. Later on that evening, fed up by the lack of information being given and tired from the hours of waiting in the airport, everyone eventually left to return to their respective homes or to find alternative accommodations for the night, still waiting for some airport official to let us know what was happening.

How we eventually found out what had happened was by calling friends in Trinidad, who called somebody who knew somebody working at the airport who told us there had been an emergency landing. Much later that evening I managed to get myself on an international flight that had been diverted to Tobago but had to return to Trinidad. It was only when I was seated on the plane that I was informed that no flights were being allowed either in or out of Piarco that evening. Upon my arrival at the airport I was able to confirm this. Not at the Tobago Express desk, mind you.

That was being manned by a bevy of girls who looked like they’d just written CXC. Any question you asked them either resulted in their eyes glazing over or their hands slapping their foreheads as they muttered over and over, “I don’t know, arrrrgggghhhhh, I don’t know!” A BWIA representative stood nearby answering the questions the poor, obviously inadequately trained girls couldn’t. It was she who confirmed that I couldn’t get back to Tobago that night. Meanwhile, back at the Tobago Express desk, one of the CSRs was happily making bookings for flights the next day as she assured all of us who were supposed to be on evening flights that they would be resuming from seven the next morning. I guess, if I’d listened to her, I’d still be waiting in the airport at Piarco also.

Now most people, I have found, are willing to be understanding. In a situation like that, most of us are willing to be reasonable. But patience and understanding call for a certain amount of reciprocity. The lack of courtesy and respect that we were subjected to that day was completely unacceptable. Many of us had jobs, family, lives to return to. We understood that the situation was an emergency, that many things were up in the air, a lot of the information was shared on a need to know basis. If anyone had come out and told us that, told us we could have left and returned in an hour’s time and hopefully they would be able to let us know what was happening, we would have tried to understand. But when you give nothing, well, that’s exactly what you should expect in return.

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