PAL airport chaos, flight delays irk Valte; airline exec vows probe

Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

(Update)

THE wrath of a Malacañang official over flight delays and chaos at the airport felt like that the nation’s flag carrier has been nailed to the cross.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte has taken to social media to vent her frustrations and miseries on what she described as the “not efficient” handling of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) of its passengers after her flight to Cagayan de Oro was delayed Sunday.

In a series of tweets, a disgruntled Valte questioned the readiness of PAL to cater to the rush of passengers during the Holy Week.

“Holy Week is coming. Act now so thousands won’t be inconvenienced,” Valte thundered on her Twitter account.

Valte’s nightmare situation

The Palace official was at Terminal-3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday when her saga began: her flight was delayed.

She was apparently annoyed at the airline’s duty supervisor at the terminal who “was too busy to even face a passenger.”

“Your check-in system is not efficient,” she complained on Twitter.

According to her, she waited an hour for check-in while some “staff made 20 people jump the line because they were already late.”

She said she was in-line for a web check-in at 10 a.m. since her flight was scheduled at 11:45 a.m.

In a text message to INQUIRER.net, Valte detailed her misery:

“When I arrived, there were about 15 people ahead of me at the web-check in line. I noticed that the line was moving slowly. I was already third in line when the PAL ground crew started calling people for the Naga flight, which was already on its last call. That meant about 20 people cutting in all the lines.”

She said they had to cut the line because the other passengers were going to miss their flight.

“I hope this isn’t a preview of your readiness for Holy Week. You’ll get creamed. And your frontliners? Not ready,” Valte’s Twitter post read.

She said she wanted to complain in person but PAL’s supervisor was “too busy.”

“Wanted to give this in person but your supervisor was alas, too busy. Thanks and good luck with the Holy Week rush,” she said.

Valte was bound for Cagayan de Oro to be the guest speaker at a high school graduation.

She clarified that her ticket was a “paid ticket” and “wasn’t non-revenue” to dispel impressions that she was complaining because “she was bumped off the actual flight.”

PAL launches probe

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna, told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview that the airline management has conducted an investigation on the incident.

“PAL has looked into the complaint and steps are being undertaken to address the concerns raised by Ms. Valte,” Villaluna said.

She said corrective measures are now undertaken as they “welcome insights” from their passengers.

“We welcome inputs from our passengers as these help enhance service delivery,” she said.

In December, thousands of passengers were up in arms over the large queues at the check-in and customer services desks, delayed and canceled flights during the Christmas holiday.

The complainants were passengers of Cebu Pacific Air who were not able to board their flights due to the long queues at the airline’s check-in counters.

Subsequently, the government slapped Cebu Pacific a fine of P52.1 million for the flight delays and cancellations. With a report from  Kristine Angeli Sabillo-AC