Following a six-hour long delay passengers scheduled to leave for Miami and Fort Lauderdale on Saturday night became restless and “raised their voices” and displayed angry behaviour which could have caused a “potential disturbance”, said managing director of Bahamasair Paul Major.
Among the passengers made to wait was parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Health, Ron Pinder.
Speaking with The Tribune yesterday Mr. Pinder said the behaviour displayed by the majority of Bahamian passengers that night “would have led to them being escorted off the premises” if it had happened in the US.
The parliamentary secretary explained that the Bahamasair flights to Miami and Fort Lauderdale were scheduled to depart Nassau at around 8pm but were delayed and eventually cancelled due to weather and technical difficulties. There were severe thunderstorms in Nassau and Miami, airports in Florida were closed for a couple of hours, he said.
Mr. Pinder explained that when the flight for Miami was finally able to depart a few hours later Bahamasair redistributed passengers, “bumping” local Bahamians off the Miami flight and “putting mostly tourists from the Fort Lauderdale flight on so that they could make their connecting flights.”
“This did not sit well with the Bahamians,” said Mr. Pinder.
Source: Karin Herig, The Tribune
