(CMR) 45 plus persons scheduled to arrive on Cayman Airways flight KX 883 from La Cieba, Honduras have been left behind. Several parents have contacted CMR and are highly upset.
The flight is scheduled to arrive in Cayman at 5:00 pm. However, we understand that due to some delays with immigration Cayman Airways left without at least 25 persons; including some unaccompanied minors.
Exclusive CMR sources indicate that many persons were on the flight coming to Cayman for the Christmas holidays and have now been left stranded at the airport. They did not load the luggage and the children were left behind.
It was explained to us that it takes longer to process children who are traveling by themselves because they need to confirm and verify the documentation; this flight had a significant number of children on it.
Apparently they had already checked in with the airline. They were waiting in another line to be processed by Honduras immigration when they were informed that the plane had taken off without them.
We have also been informed that the reason for the stranded passengers is that immigration was taking a longer amount of time processing the children than usual. Cayman Airways did not want to incur any additional ground fees and decided to leave on time. Those stranded have now been informed that they can travel on Friday, after Christmas, and would have to pay the change fee. No word on what will be done with their luggage in the interim. Additionally, there's no guarantee they will be able to get onto that flight.
One concerned parent shared:
“We are very upset and hurt by this. Now, our children will not be able to spend the Christmas with family here and in some instances their parents. Cayman Airways is always delayed and no do not compensate people for it. I would have thought the least they could have done was negotiate something with the Honduras authorities.”
Another mother said she paid for the flight attendant twice because their system didn't show that she had already paid last week. Despite her son showing up from 10:00 am this morning she now has to pay the $75 change fee for the new date.
Several parents are heading to the Cayman Airways ticket counter in Cayman to demand an explanation. One irate mother said:
“Why should I have to pay more when the child showed up with plenty time to spare per their guidelines? They need to get their sh** together. If these were adults that would be one thing but they are MINORS and it's Christmas tomorrow. Minors that need assistance got left behind. This shows how much they care about their customers.”
Many of the children are from other parts of the country and will have to find a hotel to stay in tonight until arrangements can be made to pick them up.
UPDATE – Cayman Airways has decided to send the SAAB aircraft in the morning to pick up all of the passengers who were left in La Cieba. The affected persons received a text confirming that the “recovery flight” will be leaving at 11:45 am and passengers should check-in 3 hours prior.
We also understand they will not be charging any of those persons the change fee.
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