I refer to an article written by Gail Alexander regarding my contribution on the 2014 budget, where I had quoted prices for tickets on Caribbean Airlines from various destinations in North America. For the record, I went online on the CAL Web site yesterday, September 17, and for travel in December, the prices quoted for economy tickets on CAL is as follows: Toronto to Port-of-Spain return fare CAD$1,419 (TT$9,058); Fort Lauderdale to Port-of-Spain US$808 (TT$5,195); New York to Port-of-Spain US$1,078 (TT$6,931).
The difference in prices found by the Guardian may be as a result of the origin of the flight being different. The bottom line is that for Trinidadians studying abroad or otherwise temporarily residing abroad, who wish to travel to Trinidad at Christmas, these are the prices, which I am sure you will agree are extremely high.Last year, the prices for travel on CAL around the same time for comparable journeys were as much as 50 per cent less.
Colm Imbert, MP