Airline puts passengers on boat after mess in flight

ZAMBOANGA CITY—When Arnold Esguerra and a companion flew from this city aboard an Air Philippines flight to Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, on Jan. 30, they were looking forward to a one of a kind adventure—never mind if the flight was delayed for more than two hours.

Esguerra, a researcher and freelance writer from Manila, said they spent the whole day of Jan. 30 to explore Bongao.

On Tuesday, they prepared to return to this city to catch a flight back to Manila.

To their surprise, there was no flight available.

Esguerra said the problem was caused by Air Philippines’ decision to abruptly change its flight schedule. When they pleaded to airline officials to fix the problem since they would miss their flight to Manila, Esguerra said they were put on a boat instead.

He said they were forced to buy new tickets because they missed their flights. The Inquirer tried but failed to get an explanation from Air Philippines here. Esguerra said they were planning to file a case against Air Philippines. Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao