Re: Has anyone flown LIAT?
 

Sorry for the new post, for some reason it wouldn't allow me to click "reply"...perhaps I've been banned? lol
To answer your question, I've flown LIAT on a few occasions, though I typically charter. They are fine, I've never had any hiccups with them. My most memorable flight with them was flying from Antigua to Montserrat (of course pre-volcano, can't do that anymore :( Where you fly straight into a rock face cliff then hard bank left and land...better than a Disney land ride. As others have recommended, Winair and Carib Star are good if you have the choice go with them but LIAT really is fine.

We've flow LIAT off and on over the last 6 years and I could write horror stories about our experiences. Use Caribbean Star - same routes, better service, on time (most of the time) and your luggage might actually arrive with you.

A month ago, we flew through Barbados and St. Lucia... in every case, Caribbean Star was landing and taking off like clockwork while all we kept hearing was LIAT flights were either delayed or cancelled.

Caribbean Star is the best thing that happened to Caribbean commuter airlines!

I've never flown Caribbean Star myself, so I can't comment on their service but I thought of this discussion today when reading a story in my local paper. The story was about recent chaos with Caribbean Star in Barbados. Apparently they misplaced a lot of passenger luggage due to flight delays, some of which had perishables (the story actually quoted "rotting meat") and was rather "aromatic" when it was finally found. The story said the entire airport smelled like sewage. Apparently some passengers are still awaiting their lost baggage as of today.

Carribean Star reps say that the problem will be resolved in the next couple of days, however.

I just found it interesting after discussing various island hopper airlines on this and the previous thread.

Oh boy....my bad. I reread the newspaper article that I referenced in the above post and realized that it was BWIA, not Caribbean Star. Sorry about that!

Just had to say . . I also flew LIAT from Antigua to Montserrat, back in 1975. It had just finished raining, it was late afternoon, and the sun was coming out. Maxfield Parrish lighting. We literally flew over a rainbow. It wasn't an arc, it was a complete 360 degree circle. I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

I flew LIAT roundtrip from St. Thomas to Antigua this past November. Both flights were on time and the flight attendant was personable. Although it was a 50 seater, it was a prop and flew lower than a commercial jet. Because I was in a window seat, I had a great view of the chain of islands as they appeared as steps in the Atlantic.

The negatives were that in St. Thomas, passengers were advised to be at the airport 2 hours before departure. Their security did not open until shortly before flight time, 9:00 A.M., and since there were no seats, everyone was forced to stand for a very long time. Also they allow onlt 44 lbs. of checked luggage, which they weigh. Since I was traveling for two weeks, my overweight cost $91. On the return flight, all passengers and their luggage had to be rechecked by security in St. Marten before continuing to St. Thomas. Seems that U.S. authorities would not accept the Antiguan check. I am unsure if that is true of all airlines, or just LIAT.

Thank you all for your replies.