BWIA UNCOVERS STAFF RACKET By Joel Nanton (Trinidad Express, June 5, 2002) THREE BWIA employees were fired and four others suspended last week when the airline's management uncovered a major internal racket involving the unauthorised sale of companion tickets. Intense investigations are continuing this week into the scam, which BWIA officials said may have cost the already cash-strapped national carrier several hundred thousand dollars in revenue within the last few years. But even as the company's top management slammed the emergency brake on the run-away fraud, the dismissed workers, through the Aviation Communication and Allied Workers Union (ACAWU), are preparing to challenge the decision to dismiss them. They claim that they have been unjustly punished. BWIA employees are entitled to as many as ten free tickets per year, two of which can be used by companions. The staff tickets can be used any time during the course of the year in which they are issued depending on the availability of space. They are refered to as "space available" or "stand-by" tickets. BWIA's director of Corporate Communications, Clint Williams, said investigators had found evidence that certain staff members were selling these tickets for considerably less than the normal price. He explained that travellers were deceived into believing they were conducting a legitimate transaction when they purchased the discounted tickets from the employees. "BWIA provided a service for these passengers but never received any money for it. Not one cent ever reached the company," he said. Insiders told Express Business that most of the tickets that were sold were for flights to London which normally cost between $6,000 and $8,000. Most passengers paid close to $4,000 for the tickets. Airline sources said the racket was run by a well organised ring who obtained tickets from other staffers promising them a commission from the sale. Express Business was told that the scheme crashed a few weeks ago when a woman bought a ticket for a London flight from an employee who did not tell her that it was a "stand-by" ticket. When she failed to get on the flight that day the woman became extremely upset and demanded her money back. "She started to rant and rave in the airport and the security had to be called in," said one employee who preferred not to be identified. The woman explained how she got the ticket at a discounted price and investigators eventually traced the transaction to a male employee. A few days prior to that incident, sources said, a man and wife, neither of whom had relatives employed at BWIA, travelled to London using staff tickets. Police are also investigating a report that a "drug mule" attempted to travel to the United States using a staff ticket. A tough-talking Williams warned that the company intends to weed out all those involved in the scam, saying the illegal practice had to be stopped. He said the companion ticket programme had been put on hold for a month and would only be reintroduced after the system is revamped to prevent further abuse of the service. Williams said the system would be re-introduced because the airline did not want innocent, hardworking BWIA staff to be deprived of their tickets. "It is unfortunate. But in any company there are always people who will take advantage of resources given to staff to make money for themselves," he said. However ACAWU president Christopher Abraham defended the workers saying there was little evidence to support the accusations. He said the union plans to challenge the decision to send home the workers and was in the process of preparing a rebuttal which should be presented to management by the end of the week. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBSC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Robbie Greenidge) http://www.steeldrumband.net/greenidge/ (Robert Greenidge - Pan Arranger/Composer/Player) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************