Liat Airlines --Stay Away!!!!

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My wife and I had a reservation to fly from Beef Island Tortola to San Juan via Liat flight scheduled to depart at 9:50 am. Upon arriving at the airport at 8:30 we found no one at the LIAT desk to check us in. We sat nearby and waited for someone to come to the desk. After a while we noticed a LIAT plane had arrived but still no one was at the desk to check us in. I thought it may be early and that someone would be available soon. We keep checking the desk and still saw no one from LIAT. I became worried when the plane started it's engines at approximately 9:20 and still no one came to the desk to check us in. I found a customs officer and asked him where I could find a LIAT agent. He thought they should be at the front desk also but they were not. The customs officer had to enter a restricted area in back of the check in line to find two LIAT agents who where in the back. They then came to the front desk and told me it I had missed the flight, which was still at the terminal running the engines, and it was my fault for not being at the airport in time (9:00am) to check in. When I told them there was no one at the desk to check me in I was called a liar by one of the agents ( I assume he was the person who should have been manning the check in desk). I asked to see a manager and was told that there was not one on site. When I asked for the manager's phone number, I was told he was out of the country and there was nothing I could do and there were no more flights to San Juan that day. I requested a refund and was told that I would not get one because it was my fault for not checking in by 9:00am. In the end I had purchase two tickets with American Eagle to get to San Juan for my connecting flight to Atlanta and got stiffed for the cost of the LIAT tickets. The attitude of the LIAT agents, especially the one who called me a lair, was way out of the norm with any experience I have had with any airline to date. Stay away from Liat. According to their own complaint department, they have been swamped with complaints. Horrible airline with very rude employees.

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