I am flying LIAT from Antigua to Nevis next month. I have heard alot of negative stuff on LIAT but I thought I would bite the bullet and give them a try. Any past experiences or tips, or things I need to watch out for?? Should I reclaim my luggage in ANtigua and recheck in once I am there??
Any help would be appreciated.

I have flown LIAT (leave islands any time) more times than I can count.

The main thing to remember is that things are done in a completely different manner and at a different pace than most other places you may have been to.

While there have been a few instances where unexpected things happened that delayed our getting to our destination by a few minutes or a few hours - cow on runway, waiting for tipsy co-captain (he fell asleep once aloft) to arrive, etc. - never once was anyone rude or surly, nor did we ever feel patently unsafe.

For me, part of the Caribbean experience is relaxing and letting things take their course and not allowing small glitches in our travel plans cause me to get stressed.

We've lost luggage, been stranded for hours or even a day, been bodily frisked in a rather "intimate" way, but always kept a smile on our faces and have some great memories to laugh about over the years.

Everything will be fine - just put yourself in "island mode" when you arrive at the airport. (A visit to the bar in the departure area will help allay any concerns you may have

You most likely will need to get your luggage and go through customs and recheck unless there is some special agreement.

One caveat - better not overpack. We learned the hard way on LIAT, BWIA et al, that if the plane is loaded down, the heavy, large suitcases are the ones that will get left behind...to show up later (or not for a few days!)

Diana: Thank you for your realistic and useful advice. Good tip on the suitcases, I am trying to get by on less and less these days. Thanks

Diana,

Excellent advice. When I flew LIAT a lot it was also known as Leave Island Any Time. When the pilot felt is was time to go, or the plane weighed as much as it was allowed to, a shout went through the terminal (I have to laugh when I think of the shacks that served as airports on some of the islnads back then) that it was time to go, and off we went. Never had any problems with planes or pilots, only had a few white-knuckle landings. No worse than the big deal airlines.

We also called LIAT Luggage Is Always Tardy, because freight was a better revenue producer and if there had to be a decision which to carry, luggage always lost out to freight. So your packing advice is spot on.

IslandGirl, Heed well Diana's advice and just roll with it. You will indeed have stories to laugh about long after your trip is over.

Wether you call it Luggage In Another Territory or Luggage In Another Terminal - its a prettyr good airline. Flown them many times and cant recall one flight where it was either late or had a bad experience. Oh, there was that one time but it was due to a little hurricane.

I have flown LIAT only one roundtrip, but I had a pleasant experience with them. I, too, was on the ANU-NEV flight (and actually ongoing to EIS). The ticket counter on Antigua was slow moving but the people behind the counter were certainly competent. We had one mechanical problem that caused a slight delay of about 30 minutes. The return trip was event-free, and the ticket counter on EIS was quick and efficient.

When your first flight lands in Antigua, there will be a separate customs & immigration line for passengers traveling on to other Caribbean islands. It's on the far left as you enter the terminal and see all of the lines. There's also a separate line for people who carry passports from other CARICOM nations, if that applies to you.

We also have flown LIAT many times and can tell a lot of amusing stories; cockpit doors open during flight with the pilot chatting with the passengers, sitting beside a little man with live chickens in his carry-on. My favourite is the time we checked in leaving St.Kitts and my husband hollered across the terminal, "How much do you weigh?" Seems they seated everyone by their weight so as to balance the plane. I got a little worried when some very large ladies announced that they weighed only 110 pounds. A little man with a clipboard came aboard and seated everyone, then each island we stopped at someone came aboard and re-positioned us as people came and went. Another time the pilot asked if anyone was in a particular hurry to get to San Juan for connecting flights; seems he wanted to land on Anguilla to pick up lobsters. He also zoomed down and pointed out nice beaches and resorts. You don't get tours like that on the larger carriers.

Thanks guys. I love LIAT for the memories, and the quirkiness.

IslandGrl. I hope it takes you less time to realize you really DO NOT need a separate pair of shoes for each outfit than it did me I was so proud of myself for our recent island-hopping three week trip in the US/BVI's. I only took 3 or 4 pairs - a record low for me

golfguy. My favorite airport used to be St Lucia. It was a total shack, and my husband and I looked in amazement at the luggage as it went by on the one conveyor belt that jerked along as though being powered by squirrels in cages.

Many people do not have formal luggage in the Caribbean and use whatever they can find to put their belongings in when flying inter-island. The one we saw that was most ingenious was two large round laundry baskets lashed together.

baker, I loved your stories. My favorite trip was traveling from Nevis to St Kitts. We were staying at FS and a hurricane came through and the water was too rough to take the launch, so they put us on this teeny little plane.

There were six passengers. One local couple, us, and a snooty couple who we had seen parading around FS draped in gold and who had been very rude to the staff at the hotel. We all crammed onto this little plane that was two people wide (and no more) and took off.

Well, the hurricane had left the atmosphere "unsettled" to say the least, and we were all over the sky. Up we went and then down like a roller coaster for about 100 feet.

The local couple were praying, the snooty couple were cursing (him) and crying (her), my husband had a deathgrip on the back of the seat in front of him, and I found out what I do in times of extreme stress! I began laughing like a hyena. (Think Anthony Bouvier on the old "Designing Women" TV show.)

SO there we all were, all thinking we were going to die in the five minutes it takes to get to St Kitts from Nevis.
We were terrified.

The landing was without incident, and we were all never happier to be on terra firma!