interCaribbean Airways praised for assisting grieving family

by Linda Straker

• interCaribbean Airways repatriated deceased to Grenada free of charge
• Family expressed appreciation via Facebook post dated 1 September 2020

A family member of a Grenadian who died in Jamaica months ago and had the body returned via interCaribbean Airways after running into challenges with other regional airlines, has openly expressed appreciation to interCaribbean Airways, which recently began offering flights to Grenada.

“It would be remiss of me to not publicly recognise interCaribbean Airways for their generous assistance. My niece passed away in Jamaica and for several months we were trying to get her body back to Grenada for burial,” Jermain Hagz said in a Facebook post.

Hagz explained that with limited air travel, border restrictions and Covid-19, this proved to be a difficult task. “CAL was only able to take my niece to Barbados. Due to aircraft size, CAL said they were unable to transport her from BGI (Barbados) to GND (Grenada) so, we had to find a connection from BGI (Barbados) to GND (Grenada). We then decided to reach out to interCaribbean [Airways] via their FB page about the possibility of transporting her from BGI (Barbados) to GND (Grenada).”

Hagz went on to explain how positive the airline’s response was from the beginning. “The response was promising since we were asked to send an email. After sending the email, we got a telephone call from Alex from interCaribbean [Airways], stating that the CEO of interCaribbean agreed to take her body to Grenada from Barbados for free.”

Hagz’ post, which has since received dozens of comments for the positive gesture from the airline, further outlined the steps undertaken by the airline to get the deceased family member to Grenada. “They didn’t stop there! Alex said that we can choose ANY flight that is suitable. Alex treated us like a loyal and paying customer, as he always took time to answer our calls and provide any information needed. When he was told of the date that she will arrive in BGI, he had all arrangements made to make the flight to Grenada possible the next day. The process was so simple and easy and to have all this done for free, with exceptional service, is unheard of in a time like this,” said the post which is dated 1 September 2020.

Elaborating further on the act of kindness, Hagz said that Alex told the family that the CEO of the airline is a generous man and it certainly shows in this gesture. “My niece is now in Grenada and can finally be laid to rest due to the efforts of the interCaribbean team. This only brought tears to our eyes, after months of trying to get her home,” he confirmed in the post.

“So, I just wanted to publicly thank interCaribbean [Airways] from the bottom of our hearts for their humanitarian efforts in these difficult times. May God continues to bless interCaribbean [Airways] as they continue to soar the skies,” Hagz wrote.

In reaching out to the CEO of interCaribbean, Trevor Sadler, for a comment, he had this to say about the airline’s act of goodwill. “Yes, I was personally involved with this, having seen the request and decided on the action. In hearing from the family asking for assistance, we sought to understand the needs. They explained to us their loss. We could understand the pain, and we wished to assist in any way we could. Alex handles special needs and he took on the required logistics to ensure the transfer to our flight to Grenada. There is no greater pain than a parent losing their child, so we could not add to their burden, and instead, offered our assistance for the family to repatriate the deceased home. Our hearts go out to the family.”

interCaribbean Airways has been offering daily flights between Grenada, St Lucia and Barbados since early August, then later added flights to and from Dominica to their schedule, as well. From 1 October, they are planning to add flights to and from St Vincent, having secured the necessary permits for operations.