Review: interCaribbean Airways Embraer ERJ 145 Economy Class – Barbados To Trinidad

After launching service between Barbados and Trinidad in March 2026, I decided to take interCaribbean Airways for a spin.

In This Post

Flight Stats

Airline: interCaribbean Airways
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-145LR
Date: June 29, 2026
Flight: JY752
Registration: VQ-TAB
Route: BGI-POS
Departing Airport: Grantley Adams International Airport
Arriving Airport: Piarco International Airport
Actual Flight Time: 47 minutes
Actual Departing Time: 6:10 p.m. (local)
Seat: Left Single Seat – 2nd to last row (open seating cabin)

Booking

I booked this flight directly on interCaribbean’s website as a one-way “Best Fare” ticket. This non-refundable fare includes allowances for a small carry-on (10 lbs max) and one checked bag up to 50 lbs. Even though I usually try to travel with carry-on bags only, I had to do a bit of shuffling and used the checked bag option as my usual carry-on bag weighed 16 lbs.

The ticket cost me US $170, with the base fare being just $108. It’s always amazing how expensive it is to travel within the Caribbean as taxes accounted for just over 35% of the overall fare.

Check In

Even though interCaribbean had three flights departing Barbados that evening around a similar time period, the check in line was literally empty. In my video below, you’ll see a bit of a queue, but I did arrive at the airport much earlier than expected. Unlike other larger carriers, they limit check ins on a per-flight basis to three hours before departure time, so I had to hang around until then.

The process itself was very smooth, and the check in agent was very friendly. I’ve heard stories about interCaribbean losing baggage, and even after receiving my boarding pass, I decided to hang around just to make sure my bag ended up on the belt. Not that that would prove anything, but yea.

Airport Experience

The check in side of the Grantley Adams International Airport is still open-air, with large fans used to keep temperatures under control. Even though it wasn’t terribly hot, the smoke from vehicles in the drop off area can be bothersome.

There are a few restaurants and shops land side, as well as a little window area where you can take a peep of a small portion of the airside. The airport is expected to undergo major expansion and development, bringing an entirely closed terminal in the future, as well as other amenities like more charging outlets, more seating capacity, an expanded shopping area, as well as more ramp space for larger aircraft types.

Once you go beyond the initial security checkpoint, you’ll enter the departure area which is air conditioned. Just after security, there are two corridors of duty-free shops, which leads to the main departure hall and food court. Food options are pretty decent, with a range of local and international fast-food cuisine.

The entire airport offers free Wi-Fi, but me mindful that there are a very limited number of charging outlets. It’s so bad that someone even unplugged my charger without asking me. They got the stink eye, of course, and plugged it back in.

What’s interesting is that there is a main area for most international flights, but regional flights are handled through a smaller departure area which you have to walk to. The walk between the two halls requires you to pass behind a protected area airside, where you can see remnants of the original terminal area. If anyone remembers the early days connecting through Barbados, they would remember being able disembark and walk up to this section of the airside section to buy items in various shops.

Once our flight was called for boarding, we then walked to our aircraft, which is pretty cool given that you can still see aircraft from the outside rather than boarding through a jetway.

Aircraft near this side are usually double parked, so you might typically see ATRs up front with Embraer E-jets parked behind.

Aircraft

interCaribbean usually uses an Embraer ERJ-145LR on this route, but they may sometimes substitute it with an ATR 42-500. The aircraft on this flight was 25 years old, and you could definitely see its age on the inside, especially on the windows which looked like they were heavily sanded.

It seats 50 passengers in a 1-2 all-economy configuration. There is an open seating policy, so of course I had to go to the back near the engine. The overhead bins are much smaller than on an ATR, so you see now why they have these restrictive carry-on policies.

Even for its old age, they did a decent job keeping the interior in good shape, even though you could hear the loud squeaks when you rocked back in your chair. Surprisingly, the seat was more comfortable than the modern-day ironing boards we are used to on today’s A320s and 737s.

There was also an interesting start to the flight as they had to use an air starter to get the engines going as the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU) was inoperative. A few minutes before the doors were closed, the right-side engine was air started to provide electrical and air services. From there, they used that engine to start the left side. A faulty APU isn’t the end of the world as it can break on newer aircraft, but I just thought it was an interesting experience.

In total, I’d say this flight was just about two-thirds filled, with lots of empty room to the rear of the aircraft.

On Board Service and Experience

Given that the cabin only seats 50 passengers, there is just one flight attendant on board. Like the ground staff, she was also kind and courteous and helped everyone with anything that needed helping with.

Originally scheduled to depart at 6:45 p.m., that time was actually pushed up to 6 p.m. just four hours before the flight, and we ended up leaving Barbados at 6:10 p.m.

The flight itself was uneventful, and even though a drink was promised, I didn’t see any being served during the flight. However, total airtime was just 47 minutes, so that really wasn’t the end of the world.

Once we were down in Trinidad, disembarkation was quick, and my bag actually was the one of the first to be unloaded.

Conclusion

In my years traveling, I’ve generally been pretty lucky when it comes to good airline service, and I really can’t find much to fault here other than maybe wanting interCaribbean to modernize their fleet. However, the remaining service was pretty much flawless, even though it is a well-known fact that operations don’t always go smoothly with this carrier.

Going into this flight, I was fearful that I’d experience significant delays, or worse yet, losing my checked bag. However, I was lucky to have a good experience, and it does seem like the segment between Barbados and Trinidad generally does better than other legs within the airline’s network. There are some routes where they are consistently late or have more reliability issues.

Will I fly interCaribbean again? Sure, at least on this route. I’ll still have some apprehension if I do fly other segments within the region though.

As for baggage, those flying with carry-on bags only do need to be mindful of the very limited overhead space, and may have to resort to checking a bag. If you carry electronics like me, be sure to have two bags, one for checked luggage, and the other smaller one for your more expensive equipment.

I suspect this may change over time as they move towards newer aircraft with increased limits.