Rosemarie Gomes, manager of Unlimited Travel and Krystal Tours, does not agree that passengers should be penalised for cancelling their reservations on the Tobago airbrige. The penalty should be for people who do not call to cancel, she said. “It is better that these passengers of CAL call and cancel so in that way their seats can be returned to the system and new buyers can purchase those seats. But there are some people who do not even call the airline, they are the ones who must be made to pay. “Too many people have the idea Tobago is close by and they do not feel obliged to even call to cancel,” she told the T&T Guardian.
United Travel and Krystal Tours are agents for the Port Authority of T&T for the sale of ferry tickets to passengers and vehicles between Trinidad and Tobago, and major cruise lines including Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Holland America. The proposal to impose a penalty on passengers who cancel their bookings on the Tobago airbridge was among several made by a delegation from the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) led by Chief Secretary Orville London when they met with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar earlier this week. The THA delegation expressed concern about passengers booking flights and cancelling, resulting in Caribbean Airlines (CAL) operating flights that are not full.
Gomes said most airlines have penalties for people who cancel their reservations. “In the case of CAL, for people who do not call and cancel, they could be penalised at the cost of $50. Of course that would be almost the cost of the $150 for a one way flight to Tobago.” she said, adding that this could cause a “stir” because of the heavy travel between the two islands.
“Most Trinidadians go to Tobago for pleasure, while most Tobagonians come to Trinidad for business. “When you have penalties it causes people to think twice when they just do not show up for flights. This would wake people up and make them more responsible,” she said.
Lou Anna Chai-Alves, executive director of the Trinidad Hotels, Restaurant & Tourism Association, agreed that penalties should be imposed on passengers. “A lot of the times we have business travellers in Trinidad from other countries and we encourage them to go Tobago during the weekend. “However, they cannot find spaces yet there are empty spaces from passengers who would have cancelled last minute. There must be some control to prevent this from happening,” she said.
A spokesperson for Blue Waters Inn in Tobago said hotels would be affected if a penalty is charged on defaulting passengers. “It will affect us. If you have to pay a penalty on cancelled tickets, that is more money a person has to pay and it means less revenue for us, if they cannot come to the hotel. “Also, if the customer is already at the hotel and cancelled their flight to stay an extra few days that is more money the person has to pay to CAL and also the person has to pay a fee to for changing the date and extra time spent at the hotel. “All this is not an incentive for people,” the spokesperson said.