I have been flying to Trinidad from Canada since 1965 on various airlines. I have never experienced a cabin crew as dedicated and efficient as the one who served us on Caribbean Airlines BW600 from Toronto to Port-of-Spain on February 27. This team was truly extraordinary by any standard. The plane was a Boeing 737-800 without the hummingbird logo on the tail. An older, better version perhaps?
Our two most recent trips southward to Port-of-Spain on BW611 in August 2010 and on February 19, were a study in contrast: Slow service, excruciatingly hard seats, insipid water, too few toilets. I was told that there are some Boeing 737-800 planes that were recently acquired in a merger with Air Jamaica that have very hard seats. It appears that we got this model on the two southward flights.
I now carry bottled water and pre-anesthetise my buttocks-and my spirit-with a couple of rums in the departure lounge, since the wait is typically two hours before liquids of any sort are offered passengers from rows 23 to 27. Caribbean Airlines has a monopoly on direct flights from Toronto to Port-of-Spain. It should upgrade the poorer Boeings and have the crew of the February 27 flight show the rest how it's done.
Robert Turcotte
Via e-mail
