Cebu Pacific apologizes as Senate panel probes passenger complaints
Cebu Pacific apologized on Wednesday as Senate Committee on Tourism probed into passenger complaints on overbooking, flight delays, and cancellations.
“We express our sincerest apologies to our passengers for the disruptions and assure you that we are committed to resolving these challenges,” Cebu Pacific chief commercial officer Alexander Lao said.
We value the trust and confidence of our passengers and are committed to providing safe, affordable, and reliable flights. We understand that it is still our responsibility as part of public service,” he added.
Senator Nancy Binay, chairperson of the panel, told airlines not to be numb to the grievances of passengers.
“Our airlines bridge our economic divide through air connectivity. But how are we to expect to reach our target with the way things are going now? Aside from the power outages in our airports, airline passengers continue to complain of overbooking, offloading, and booking glitches against Cebu Pacfic and other airlines,” Binay said.
“It can't always be the passengers who consistently adjust. It looks like they are now numb to the plight and complaints of passengers. Our people deserve better," she added.
“Our hopes of full recovery from the pandemic also rely on making tourism a major economic pillar once again. We expect the airlines to step up and be the backbone of travel and tourism,” she said.
For her part, Senator Grace Poe said that Cebu Pacific being a budget airline does not excuse its poor service.
“It may indeed be a budget airline but low cost should never be synonymous to poor service. Price and value are two different things. The service should still be good even of the ticket was bought at a seat sale,” said Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Services.
Poe said that five percent of overbooking flights was a global practice so they should investigate if Cebu Pacific breached the limit.
“Maybe it would be better to ask the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board) if they have breached the threshold and what penalty should be imposed,” she said.
Poe also emphasized how the delays and cancellations of flights negatively impact passengers.
“The tedious rebooking and refund process, as well as the lack of the rightful compensation, places an additional burden on the passengers,” Poe said.
“A canceled flight could mean opportunity loss. A missed workday, botched business deal, school exam, important family occasion, or even a chance to say goodbye to a loved one. Time waits for no one.”
Senator Risa Hontiveros said she expects the Department of Transportation (DoTr) and CAB, regulators of the airlines, to also take responsibility for issues with flight bookings.
“The cost of a delayed or canceled flight goes beyond the ticket price. It includes wasted hotel reservations, missed business opportunities, and stress,” Hontiveros said.
Senator Raffy Tulfo stressed that overbooking may also affect public safety.
“While the abuse of the overbooking is the main issue today, I want us to look at the bigger picture, public safety which is paramount concern when it comes to travel,” Tulfo said.
“If these airlines don’t care about fulfilling their obligations of providing air transportation, I will not be surprised that they are cutting corners on safety when it comes to safety as well,” he added.
He said that an aircraft mechanic told him that flight delays, cancellations and offloading happen due to “uncertain visibility of equipment”.
“Because of this aircrafts are downgraded and they need to offload. But airlines just tell the people that they are experiencing technical difficulties,” he said.
“Aircraft need to be subjected to different levels of maintenance checks. Daily, weekly and other periodical checks. Who is ensuring that these checks are being done on the planes? Is it CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines)?” he said.
He also said that too many additional flights cause fatigue on the flight crew and wear out the aircraft.
“After the pandemic, airlines have been overbooking and adding extra flights to recover revenue loss. Sometimes it has four trips a day and the next day it will be repeated. If the landing and take-off of the plane is continuous, the parts of the plane will be overused. This poses a safety threat to passengers,” he said.
“Another obvious consequence of adding extra flights is fatigue of pilots and flight attendants…The issue is that there are too many flights compared to the number of available and able pilots,” he added. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
