Missed your flight due to March 23 traffic? Airlines waive rebooking fee

Domestic airline companies have agreed to waive the rebooking fee for passengers who missed their flights Monday night due to heavy traffic near Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Pasay City.

Affected passengers, however, should rebook their flights within seven days of their original date of departure.

According to Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) was able to convince domestic airlines to waive the rebooking fee for the over 1,100 passengers who failed to get to the airport in time for their flight.

He said they were still talking to international airline companies about extending the same concession. CAB legal division chief Wyrlou Samodio added that the board was still negotiating with the Board of Airline Representatives.

Traffic was snarled for hours on roads leading to the four airport terminals after a girder launcher being used by DMCI for the Naia Elevated Skyway project fell on Andrews Avenue around 3 p.m. on Monday. The accident damaged several vehicles and blocked off the major thoroughfare.

READ: Girder launcher falls, closes road to Naia

The four terminals dispatched free shuttles for passengers but the gridlock in the southern part of Metro Manila made it nearly impossible for most of them to get to the airport on time.

Honrado said it was standard procedure for airline firms to charge passengers who miss their flights a rebooking fee.

But under the circumstances, not even a time-conscious passenger could have foreseen the horrendous traffic caused by the work site mishap, he stressed.

MIAA data showed that there were 48 international and domestic flights scheduled for departure between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday.