SEVERAL overseas-based Guyanese home for the Christmas holidays are peeved that after spending one week here their baggage have still not arrived.

The frustrated travellers said they returned home this holiday season to spend a relaxing and enjoyable time with relatives and friends, but are bewildered that despite several days of trekking back and forth to the Air Transat office in Georgetown, no one seems able to say anything about the missing luggage.

More than 100 passengers on a chartered Air-Transat flight from Toronto, Canada to Guyana arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri around 07:00 hrs last Wednesday (Boxing Day), minus most of their belongings.

The passengers, mostly overseas-based Guyanese, boarded the weekly flight which left Toronto at around 20:00 hrs on Christmas Day, in anticipation of a wonderful time in their native homeland.

Yesterday, however, they were venting their anger and frustration at still not being able to get their luggage, and worse yet, being in doubt as to when they will since the Air-Transat office in Kingston has not provided much information.

According to the passengers, their entire holiday was "screwed up" and "stressful" since the luggage left behind by the airline contain gifts for family and friends, toys for children, foodstuff and clothing.

Mr. Rayman Williams, 51, and his wife, Pam, 50, said a damper was put on their holiday plans when they discovered on arrival here that two of their four suitcases were missing.

Ironically, the two left behind contain essential items for their brief stay.

Williams noted that at the check-in counter in Toronto, airline officials insisted on strict adherence to weight allowance - 90 lbs per passenger. If a passenger had two suitcases, no one should have exceeded 70 lbs.

"Me and my wife had four pieces - two suitcases each - and when they weighed the pieces, there was about 12 lbs in total overweight.

"They made us go through the suitcases there on the floor, which is the first embarrassment...we had to kneel down there on the floor and empty to get the weight down to the strict adherence," he said.

Williams, however, noted that he had no problems with this procedure since he understood the stringent measures that were enforced at airports around the world as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

"After that, they checked in the four pieces and everything was okay at that point...they never ventured to tell us that the chances are that all might not arrive, especially since it was a straight flight," a visibly angry Williams told the Chronicle.

"So when we got down to Timehri looking for our baggage, we only got two pieces and unfortunately for us, the two pieces that did not come are the ones that carry our clothes and personal effects and some gifts," the distraught passenger recounted.

He said too that when he and his wife started to mill around the people at the airport, it turned out that most of the other passengers did not get their luggage also.

"My problem is - why would an airline sell tickets knowing that they cannot bring the amount of pieces that each passenger was allowed as per ticket," he argued.

"They took our money knowing that this was going to happen. We came for the holidays and this has really put a damper on it. My Old Year's night suit is still in the suitcase (that was left behind).

"I intend to take this matter up very strongly, even legally, when I get back to Canada," Williams threatened.

"You work very hard every day of the year in Toronto...you come back home for a break and to relax and to enjoy the season with your family and all you can be worried about is your belongings," he added.

Efforts to get a comment from the Air Transat staff proved futile and when the Chronicle visited the office yesterday, a number of angry passengers were gathered there venting their frustration.

It is understood that each passenger will be paid US$100 for the inconvenience.

One, however, pointed out that she spent more than G$8,000 alone on taxi fares running around since Boxing Day to get her luggage.

Rick and his twin brother, Rob, who now reside in Toronto, returned home on the same flight after some 10 years and contended yesterday that their entire vacation was ruined.

"This is the most unreliable, unprofessional travel agent I have ever dealt with...they are liars, they are not giving you the truth. They tell you one thing every day but it's not the truth, it's only to make you feel good...they know what's the truth but they're not letting their customers know and their customers are the ones who are suffering while they're sitting behind their desks just giving you answers that are not the truth," a frustrated Rick told this newspaper yesterday.

"...You don't know when you're getting your luggage, today-tomorrow, today-tomorrow. Our vacation got ruined over the past week and we've basically been jumping around using someone else's clothing while our clothes are sitting in Canada," he said.

"We had a silent contract with a ticket saying that it's going to bring us with our luggage...we're here but the luggage is not here," Rick added.

It is understood that about 85 per cent of the passengers on the flight did not get their baggage.

Some of the passengers, however, said it is not Air Transat's fault but the travel agent in Toronto - Constellation Travel.

Dolly Sukhdeo said she was the third person to check-in at the airport in Toronto with two pieces.

"They told me I have exactly 90 lbs together and when I went in the airline gave me the sticker for the baggage, but when I came here I did not receive my baggage," she said.

Sukhdeo said she came for a wedding at Vryheid's Lust, East Coast Demerara and that all of her jewellery, cosmetics and wedding outfit were in the suitcase that was left behind.

Another frustrated passenger told the Chronicle that her two boys who are visiting Guyana for the first time are virtually without clothing to wear for their holiday here. She said too that the compensation received from Air Transat so far is not enough to buy clothing.

According to Sharon, who came back home with some other Guyanese friends, the fault is not with Air Transat, but with the liaising firm, Constellation, which she contended "did not deliver the required service as required by the silent contract (referring to the ticket)".

"We've travelled with Air Transat all over the place and have never experienced a problem with the airline," she said, laying all the blame solely on Constellation Travel.