Aquino disturbed by Cebu Pacific flight delays, cancellations

Delayed and canceled flights of an airline company irk passengers at Naia. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SAM AUDREY PAJARILLO

MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno Aquino III was disturbed by the topsy-turvy situation at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (Naia 3) caused by Cebu Pacific’s flight delays and cancellations on December 24 to 25 that he had to order authorities to step in and ease the travellers’ Christmas woes.

This was revealed by Transportation Secretary Joseph E.A. Abaya who took to task Cebu Pacific management led by Lance Gokongwei for not anticipating the flight delays and cancellations during the holiday rush, including its failure to deploy a company member to personally deal with the complaints of irate passengers.

Abaya said that while the airline industry has been deregulated in terms of pricing and their business decisions, the government could intervene in these crisis situations, including imposing a ban on overbooking (or accepting more reservations over a plane’s capacity) to avoid chaotic situations especially during the peak travel season.

Cebu Pacific’s Vice President for Marketing and Distribution, Ms. Candice Jennifer Alabanza-Iyog, did not reply to the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s call or text messages.

“As early as the first day, the President himself noticed the (situation). He called me up as we picked it up from the media almost at the same time. I immediately contacted GM (Jose Angel) Honrado and Attorney (Carmelo) Arcilla of Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) to know what happened and the reasons behind it, and investigate possible violations in policies or in law,” said Abaya in an interview with dzBB news anchor Rowena Salvacion.

Abaya said he immediately called Gokongwei “to find and implement a solution” because it was not proper to just let these images of stranded passengers be shown in media.

“Clearly, offhand, they said there were a lot of delayed flights.

“Those whose flights were cancelled, obviously, they want to continue their travel because that was Christmas Day. They should have anticipated that. Clearly, in their line of operations, you can see that it’s human nature that if you fail to let it fly, you’d bring it back especially during Christmas,” said Abaya.

Aside from noticing the mismanaged flight plans, Abaya also observed that the check-in counters of Cebu Pacific were undermanned during the flight delay crisis at Naia 3 even when the management had the flexibility to redeploy some of its staff from other regions.

“We even pleaded to Cebu Pacific to give a face from Cebu Pacific to explain. If only outsourced personnel are out there, they would only say that they are just following orders and that they do not know the plans of management. This only adds to the frustrations and anger of the public if no one on the part of management is there to explain,” said Abaya.

Abaya said Cebu Pacific management had initially rectified their error and stabilized the situation but the problems have come back. He said the government would convene the CAB, Manila International Airport Authority, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, and Cebu Pacific to address the problem and how to make the government proactive in preventing these chronic problems.

Due to the seriousness of the problem, Abaya said that the government might have to take a direct hand in restoring order in a deregulated business. “Overbooking is a practiced activity even of the best airlines. But in this situation, it looks like we need to study if the government can step in to control, limit, if not prohibit or completely eliminate overbooking,” said Abaya.

“The government should not be satisfied that just because we have penalized them after the fact, our role is finished,” said Abaya. “The President’s order is for us to be proactive, the government should be doing something before it happens. Given that direction, we need to have a clear policy addressing overbooking and under-manning of check in counters.”

Airlines are currently allowed to overbook their flights by up to 10 percent of their capacity.

Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares is also urging the government to penalize Cebu Pacific and other airlines, on top of their mandatory refunds to passengers, for profiteering and repeated violations of passenger rights on top of their mandatory refunds to passengers.

“The refunds are not enough to silence the complaining passengers. What is just is to punish airlines that are chronic failures,” said Colmenares.

Colmenares said that he would reiterate his appeal made in a December 16 privilege speech urging Congress to investigate the airline industry’s excessive fares, delays and dismal service. Colmenares said that CAB should also take responsibility for the airlines that they were supposed to regulate.

“I will file a resolution when Congress opens on Jan. 5 for the probe to immediately take place,” said Colmenares.

Among the issues Colmenares wants the airlines to answer are their canceled flights; expensive rebooking fees and penalties on the part of passengers but not on the part of airlines that caused the cancellations; Cebu Pacific’s deceptively low initial base fare, which hides the tax and surcharges that were bigger than those charged by Philippine Airlines (PAL); Cebu Pacific’s “ridiculous” web administration fee; and refusal to use the passenger tube even “if the passengers have paid for its use” and it is “making it difficult for the elderly and the sick as they have to go down the tarmac.”

Colmenares said that the House committee on transportation should also demand a rollback in airfares of airlines in view of the plunge in fuel prices worldwide. Colmenares said that airlines should follow the lead of jeepney operators who have already rolled back their fares recently.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific has offered to fully reimburse its affected passengers in flights originating or connecting from Manila, between December 23, 2014 and January 5, 2015.

Aside from a full refund, Cebu Pacific said passengers who were unable to check-in for their flights or have been tagged as no-show for their flights could also opt to rebook their flights for up to 30 days from original departure date or seek a full travel fund. Passengers have until January 12 to make decision on what option to take.

On its website, Cebu Pacific listed the ticket offices that passengers could seek clarification on their personal concerns:

* Naia Terminal 3 Sales Office – Level 3, Departure Hall, Naia Terminal 3, Andrews Ave., Pasay City

* Naia Terminal 4 Express Ticket Office – Old Domestic Road, Pasay City

* Robinsons Galleria – West Lane, Level 1, Ortigas Ave. cor. ADB Ave. Quezon City

* Robinsons Place Imus – Level 4, Aguinaldo Highway Imus, Cavite

* Robinsons Place Manila – Level 1 Adriatico Wing, Pedro Gil cor. Adriatico St. Ermita Manila

* Cebu Airport Ticket Office – Mactan International Airport, Lapu-Lapu, Cebu City

* Robinsons Fuente – Fuente Osmeña, Cebu City

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