Passengers who were on flight BW483 from Miami to Trinidad on Monday and who were left stranded in Puerto Rico for over 20 hours will each receive a US$400 voucher from Caribbean Airlines Ltd.
This is part of an apology for the incident and a way for the airline "to demonstrate service commitment."
The flight left Miami on Monday but had to make an emergency landing at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport, San Juan after a female passenger developed breathing issues, Newsday was told.
The passenger eventually died and her body was taken off the aircraft by Puerto Rican officials. Newsday was unable to identify the woman or contact relatives on Wednesday.
CAL said in a press release on Tuesday that owing to restrictions in that territory and other regulatory issues, a second relief aircraft was sent from Trinidad to Puerto Rico to bring passengers to Trinidad, but this aircraft too was unable to leave Puerto Rico because of circumstances beyond its control.
Passengers went without food and water until after 18 hours airport officials gave them vouchers for hotel accommodation.
A relief flight finally left Puerto Rico with roughly 100 passengers just after midnight and landed at Piarco at 2.26 am on Wednesday.
On arrival, all passengers were given letters of apology as they disembarked.
The letters said, "While systems were in place and we carefully managed the elements within our remit, several factors outside the airline's authority made the operation less efficient than planned."
One passenger who spoke to Newsday said she is happy to be home.
"The flight left a little after midnight. Everyone was just ready to go.
"It feels good to be relaxing at home. It's a relief.
"Overall it was terrible, it felt like I was a stranger begging to get a flight out of a foreign land. We could have been accommodated faster than that. It's a shame that after 18 hours we were given hotel accommodation and only for three hours. Where I stayed had no water.
"I'm just glad it's over."
CAL CEO Garvin Medera could not be reached for comment.
CAL communications officer Dionne Ligoure confirmed in a phone interview with Newsday that both aircraft were back in the country.
Asked to elaborate on why they were impounded in Puerto Rico, she referred Newsday back to a release sent to the media at 3 am on Wednesday, which said there were extenuating circumstances that were beyond CAL's control.
After the passengers landed in Trinidad CAL put out a media release, It said the company had intended to bring back a relief flight on the day of the diversion.
"However, because of circumstances outside its control, the relief flight could not leave Puerto Rico as anticipated.
"Puerto Rico is not a destination on Caribbean Airlines’ regular route network, and while support systems were in place on the island, several factors outside of the airline's authority made the operation less efficient than planned."
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