By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

Western Air yesterday pledged to improve communication with its passengers after irate travellers voiced their frustration over suffering a ten-hour flight delay in Fort Lauderdale.

A viral video, depicting fuming Western Air passengers, appeared on social media over the weekend detailing the severe hold-up and resulting inconvenience. Travellers complained that they were rarely updated on what was happening but were eventually informed that weather and technical issues were to blame.

Rexy Rolle, the Bahamian-owned airline’s president and chief executive, said that on October 10 two of the carrier’s aircraft experienced mechanical issues in Fort Lauderdale. That, combined with bad weather, resulted in the flight delays which she reassured is “not very common for us”.

Ms Rolle added that Fort Lauderdale International Airport opened and closed throughout the day, resulting in a backlog and making it difficult for Western Air’s maintenance team to resolve issues and conduct safety checks.

“And so both of those issues had to be resolved by maintenance,” Ms Rolle said. “They had to complete their safety checks prior to them being able to conduct the flight. Now, as a result of the weather being rainy, it made it difficult for maintenance to resolve the issues and also prepare the safety checks to go forward with the flight.

“So we certainly understand the frustration of how severe the delay was, because that’s not what people are used to, particularly from us. However, we tried every option to try to get the passengers out on an earlier flight. There was none available. We also looked at our colleagues. There were none available. And so it really resulted in, like I said, a backlog.”

Makonnen Thurston, one of the impacted travellers and the video’s original poster, said that while he understood weather and mechanical problems contributed to the flight schedule delay, the lack of communication by staff with passengers was the most frustrating thing.

Mr Thurston, whose Western Air flight was supposed to take off at 1pm, did not leave Fort Lauderdale until around 12.45 am. He arrived in New Providence after 1am. “Like around 6pm or 7pm is when they started making PA (public address) announcements,” he said.

“But the entire time, there was not a single PA announcement. And to me, that’s a big thing. If the flight is delayed, that’s cool. If weather is an issue, that’s cool. It’s understandable. They have no control over that. Mechanical issues; I actually applaud them for not wanting to travel with mechanical issues because people are safe. I 100 percent understand.

“What I don’t understand is why not a single announcement was made. Why after... why the story that was given was changed 20 times? It was always something different. Like they tried to make it seem as if weather was the only issue when weather wasn’t the issue. Weather was the issue for the beginning of the morning. But afterwards, Bahamasair got flights out. Like, other airlines got flights out..”

Mr Thurston added that obtaining food vouchers was another challenge, and added that he has been promised he will be receiving a partial refund. Ms Rolle said: “Passengers were automatically given refunds, and they were requested to send any sort of reimbursement that they may have, which they have been doing and sending, to cs@westernairbahamas.com.”

She said the communication feedback will be shared with their Fort Lauderdale partners. “As it pertains to the communication, we do have a company there in Fort Lauderdale that we contract to handle passenger and ground handling,” Ms Rolle added.

“And we can assure our passengers that we will continue to work with them to ensure that they are following the same policies that we have domestically as it pertains to consistent communication, ensuring that passengers are fed within the automated timeframe, and offering alternative travel options in a timely fashion.

“And so we certainly understand that there was a lack of consistent communication, but more so while they were communicating, I think the passengers wanted more of an explanation, to which the agents there in Fort Lauderdale didn’t have all of the information because it was all happening in real time,” she said.

“Nonetheless, there’s no excuse for them to not communicate that as whole as they could. And so that’s why we wanted to ensure that each passenger that experienced that, they not only were refunded but also can send any further reimbursement requests to the cs@westernairbahamas, and we have been processing that.”

Mr Thurston said he gave Western Air 48 hours to reach out or issue an apology or statement regarding the issues before posting the video online, adding that he continuously attempted to call the customer service line. He asserted that Western Air’s response and their offered refunds is due to his social media post.

“It appears that they’re giving partial refunds, but it also appears that they’re giving partial refunds because the post is doing numbers,” he said. “It’s like cause and effect. Like, I don’t think they would have given a refund if the post wasn’t doing what it’s doing, kind of thing.

“Let me just say I’m almost 100 percent certain that the response is because of the video, just because people have been in-boxing me or commenting, just saying that the same thing has happened to them, I think specifically from that Fort Lauderdale Airport a lot of the times…”