myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

The last post I encountered is dated Oct '05 concerning BWIA. I'll be traveling by myself from Washington DC to Tobago Sept 21 for 2 weeks. Has BWIA improved or is it still "place your bets, ladies and gents"? PS: 1st time Tobago traveler.

Hi Paul

Welcome aboard!

Its not a route I have ever taken, so I can't comment from an editorial point of view. However, things are still very much up in the air with BWIA. Just look upon it as an adventure - not knowing what's round the corner. I don't mean to be flippant, but frankly its the only attitude to take or it will drive you nuts.

I'm sure you'll have a great trip. Be sure to come back here and let us know how you get on, if only for the benefit of other North American/BWIA travellers (or should that be travelers?).

Hello Paul,
I haven't heard much about any problems with BWIA for a while, exept the constant rumors about the government wanting to privatise them completely. ( this is nothing new, though) The airport security workers are on a sick out in order to get better working conditions and salaries and this has caused delays yesterday and today.
BW is using a fairly new and comfortable B737 -800 ( next generation)
on this route. Hope this helps

Hi Paul;
You should have not trouble on BWIA. Remeber BWEE has a small fleet, so if an aircraft has to be taken out of service, it can wreak avoc with their schedules. It's not all that bad. I've used BWIA from JFK to POS and on to Tobago twice last year with no problems.

paul,

i used to be a staunch bwia supporter. i am talking for years and years and years. jfk to pos with stopovers in different parts of the west indies depending on the day, mostly non-stop. i love my trinidad dearly and all things trini, and as such this included bwia. even if charters were cheaper, i flew bwia.

they have hung their hat with me after the drama with them this time last year. the flight down was so cramped, like they added extra seats for this flight and took away from the legroom. i am 5 feet 5 inches, so that is to tell you. but, we reached, and i am usually in such high spirits on the trini-bound flight, that not much really ticks me off.

coming back was the clincher. the flight delayed hours, we left trinidad in the wee hours of the morning. i had been in the airport several hours before the scheduled departure that afternoon. when we got over puerto rico, the windscreen wipers were discovered to be unoperational. we came back to piarco. we finally left at about noon the next day and reached into jfk at about 5pm, which is the time the flight should have left piarco the day before. we were told not to leave the departure lounge, as we had already cleared customs, immigration, etc. during our layover in piarco, noone was compensated for meals during the wait, no sorry was given, no statement at all. customer service was terrible, like they did not care, you don't like we service, don't fly we plane!

i emailed bwia about this and never even received a reply. the year before, i had to cuss them to get my sister's bags from georgetown, guyana. mind you, she came down on a flight from jfk nonstop into pos, and for only 4 days. luckily, they shipped the bag to her in tobago, 24 hours after her initial arrival. their attitude was nonchalant. this is not acceptable, and it was never that way.

they have the reputation for being safe, but their organizational skills are lacking and have fallen off worse in recent years. it pains me to have to fly another carrier, but i will check american airlines before bwia.

i must also say that the tobago express flight, that little propeller plane, was more comfortable than the bwia flight. the cramped compartment seemed criminal.

that is just my experience, but it is real.

P.S.

the new b737-800 probably would be comfortable, if they removed some of the blasted rows and gave people legroom.

the tristar was much more comfortable . . .

D. Gould wrote:they have the reputation for being safe, but their organizational skills are lacking and have fallen off worse in recent years. it pains me to have to fly another carrier, but i will check american airlines before bwia.

Yea I agree on that. I always wonder what went wrong
It pains me also.

D. Gould wrote:P.S.

the new b737-800 probably would be comfortable, if they removed some of the blasted rows and gave people legroom.

the tristar was much more comfortable . . .

I loved the tristar! I used to pray that people would miss their flight so I could go and sleep in the middle row . Why did they stop using it? I never got a proper explanation

Hello C. Phillips,
I worked for BW as an interpreter on their Tristar when they were still flying to Germany. Yes, it was a very nice plane, but Bwee's Tristar fleet was tired and had to be replaced, maintenance cost and fuel consumption were getting too high and the interior was falling apart. They now use anAirbus
A 340 on their longhaul routes and besides offering the quietest cabin in the skies the BW Airbus has more legroom in Y -Class than any of their competitors.

Well as Steve said it's an adventure. I did make reservations on bwee because they are the only non-stop from Wash DC. I appreciate all the comments though. Bwee sounds like it is getting to be like an airline that used to service Bonaire. Service got so bad that no one would fly them and they went out of business. Hope bwee doesn't follow the same path.

Paul, we made reservations on bwee for the same reason. Hope they are still flying in Jan.!!! I'm really looking forward to this trip. Usually my only worry for winter trips is the weather, having almost missed connections due to snow and once spending the night in Atlanta on the way back from Costa Rica. Hey, just hope for the best. I'll post how our flight went when we get back. Linda