Beware…….A theft of a tourist! Today is a day that I shall remember and pass on to many others for quite some time.  I was forth right ripped off by Cherokee Aviation today!  It is simple.  They decided to interpret the new Bahamian Customs July 1st 2013 Processing Fees for themselves with no regard to the actual law.  They are effectively stealing from private aircraft operators who are there on Bahamian soil to support the local economy and its people.  They should be ashamed!

Fact:  We flew over to MYAM the weekend of 7/28 to stay with friends and were charged the following:

$20.00  Facility Fee

$10.00 a night parking fee

$25.00 departure Tax for each person

$50.00 Customs Processing Fee

** Though not happy with the new $50.00 processing fee that I just found out about, I paid it and was going to call AOPA to see if they were going to work on the negative impact of the new $50.00 fee.

Fact: We flew back to MYAM 8/4 to have lunch with the same friends and drop off their daughter and her friend.  This is where we were ripped-off!!!

$7.00 Landing Fee

$20.00 Facility Fee

$150.00 Customs Processing Fee (yes, you are reading this correct)

$10.35 Service Charge on Processing Fee (?)

$25.00 Departure Tax on each person

One week later for the same plane, we were charged an extra $97.35.  UNBELIEVABLE!  The female at the counter would not explain what all the charges were for and stated we were a commercial flight because we had passengers.  Any private pilot knows we cannot perform commercial duties.  Ludacris….  We were also so “pissed off”, that we skipped lunch.  Oh!  More money the people over there lost out on thanks to the malfeasance of Cherokee Aviation.

I have included the link to the Bahama’s Government website that clearly states that I should have been charged $50.00; not $150.00.  Lord knows where the $10.35 came from?  As far as I am concerned, they stole from me!

http://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/wcm/connect/ada14e0f-fea7-4ae8-ada5-989fb3326cc6/Processing+fees.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ada14e0f-fea7-4ae8-ada5-989fb3326cc6

I will be reaching out to the Bahamian Government, the AOPA, the hundreds of Pilots that I know, travel sites, and lastly; my credit card company to dispute the over charges.

**One note here; I have always been treated very well by the line staff at MYAM and that was no different on this trip.  Customs has also been great.  The problem I have is with the extremely unknowledgeable administration at Cherokee Aviation.

“In common usage, theft is the taking of another person’s property that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it”