Airline apologizes to Soco

The flight was “overbooked”, Cebu Pacific confirmed yesterday,  so Cebu businessman Glenn Soco was bumped off despite having a confirmed ticket home to Cebu from Manila on the weekend before Holy Week.

“I was embarassed,” Soco told the Provincial Board, and said he planned to sue Cebu Pacific Air for “moral damages” even as he called on the airline to improve its services.

Soco yesterday addressed the PB, where he had earlier filed his complaint about the “mishandling” of the booking and boarding services.

He said he was “passed from one airline employee to another” with no clear explanation given and that “nothing happened.”

Lawyer Gonzalo Maligon accompanied him to the PB session.

No airline representative was able to attend the session yesterday.

But Candice Iyog, Cebu Pacific vice president for marketing and distribution, issued a statement from Manila apologizing for the April 16 incident.

“Cebu Pacific (CEB) sincerely apologizes to Mr. Soco, as he could no longer be checked in for a Manila-Cebu flight last April 16 due to overbooking.

He was one of the last passengers to arrive at the check-in counter, and the flight was already full. While overbooking is a standard worldwide airline practice, we understand the inconvenience this may have caused,” Iyog said.

She said the airport staff offered to rebook him for the next available flight but that Soco chose instead to get a refund.

She said the businessman also received a round-trip travel voucher to any domestic destination as part of Cebu Pacific’s standing policy for customers who lose their seat.

“Rest assured we offered Mr. Soco all the assistance we could provide,” she said.

Ivan Gaw, head of Cebu Pacific’s Guest Services called the Provincial Secretary to apologize for their absence and say he was ready to appear in the next session on June 6.

He said the PB’s invitation reached the airline’s office in Manila only yesterday, too late to arrange a visit.

Soco, who owns the coffee chain outlet Coffee Dream,  ran for vice governor with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia in the last May 2010 elections.

He also leads “Obra Negosyo”, a Cebu provincial program to promote start-up businesses and entrepeneurship.

In his letter, Soco said the PB shoud take the cudgels for ordinary commuters about “so many complaints the past years regarding the very poor services of Cebu Pacific.”

“How can a carrier that prides itself as the biggest airline in the country and operating in this supposedly electornic world have overbooked its passengers?” he asked.

He said he was at the Manila airport at 9 a.m. for his Flight 5J 553 to depart at 10:10 a.m. only to be told later that he was bumped off.

The PB passed a resolution last Monday inviting Cebu Pacific to shed light on the complaint.

The board said the incident was “the latest addition to the litany of complaints” about Cebu Pacific from domestic and international passengers.

It said the PB wants to protect Cebu’s image as a top tourist destination and that it shouldn’t be tarnished by “mediocre and feeble services of the country’s airline companies that are supposed to be the frontline carriers of Cebu’s unique hospitality and goodwill.”