6.02.2011

Dear PAL: You Suck... unless you fix this.

This weekend was supposed to be an exciting weekend for me. Roomie aka Chants, my college roommate back in Santa Monica and schoolmate at Pepperdine U., was supposed to arrive today so spend 4 long happy days with me and the Choobear in Manila. I had everything planned, fashion shows, dinners with friends, spa-dates, movie-marathons (Indonesia has a ban on Hollywood movies), and a lot of girly bonding time with my long lost roommate.

But all that planning and excitement and anticipation is now wasted energy because some airline decided to be a Debbie Downer.

Her flight in Jakarta was supposed to leave at 12:55am today, and arrive at 6am. She arrived 1.5 hours early, just enough time and within the limits of an international flight schedule. She had a CONFIRMED ticket. 

When she arrived at the counter, Philippine Airlines (her airline to Manila ) told her that they had OVERBOOKED her flight and that they would BUMP her off. She had a confirmed flight, she was there 1.5 hours before the flight, and they fucking decide to bump her off. 

They didn't offer her anything, and when she took it to twitter PAL responded with : Hi! Everyone Does It. On Twitter.
So she's at the airport at 11:20 pm, trying to arrange another flight with them. And the next flight to Manila would be tomorrow (Friday) at 1pm with a layover to Singapore and would arrive Manila at 9pm. 2 whole days would be wasted from our plans. 

She left the airport at 3:30am. Because they did not want to find her another flight from another airline, and they would not confirm her on the Singapore-Manila flight, so now she is traumatized and worried they would BUMP her off AGAIN, lose her luggage, or some stupid shit that an airline who's already shown inconsistency would probably do.

Dear Philippine Airlines: I don't wanna harrass you or say mean things, but you left me with no choice. First off:
  • You didn't' offer any voucher, free flight, compensation, NOTHING. She would have to pay for her flight tomorrow if she decides to even fly with you guys.
  • You don't bump off confirmed passengers, you bump of chance passengers
  • When you bump off someone, you have to ASK them to, not TELL them to.
  • When you bump off someone, you have to give a compensatory allowance ie. a travel voucher, accommodations for the hassle, transportation, ON TOP of getting her another flight in the next possible time. 
  • If you can't confirm someone you bump off on the next flight, either you upgrade her, or YOU CONFIRM HER.
  • If you really CANNOT, you REFUND HER!
  • You DONT say "Hi! Everyone does it" on Twitter and expect anyone to be happy about it. Especially me, the disgruntled roommate who has been expecting a visit for so long.
Now roomie is semi-traumatized at Philippine Airlines, and still doesn't know if she wants to be on the flight tomorrow since they CANT CONFIRM HER there. 

I have been on many flights which were over booked, and a lot of times, the airline would announce to passengers if there are any willing ones to get onto  a later flight, confirmed, for some travel vouchers that they could use on another flight. They don't just leave you out in the airport like some useless passenger and make her come home at 330am because no cabs are around at that time. That is FOUR HOURS waiting at the airport in Jakarta.

So Philippine Airlines, if you are listening, and you still want a change to repent for your customer service inefficiencies, I suggest you contact my roommate. Her flight details are or WERE:

Booking Reference BJC675
June 2 0:55
PR 536

I swear this is the most embarrassing thing that could happen to someone I wanted to show around my country.

8 comments:

  1. AMEN TO THAT! this is really an embarrassing example of how ASIAS first airline has become. PAL "prides" itself in being the first airline. And to quote your website : "PAL has become one of the most respected airlines around the world ..." AND "PAL's excellent service has won the hearts of travelers worldwide. This trademark has distinguished it from the pack and has stood guard in an environment that has grown more competitive by the day."

    the only hearts you won are disgruntled travels who are fed up with your inconsistent service and your horrible customer service.

    I work with an airline and I know the protocol for overbooked flights. Whatever ToT has said should have been done to Chantalle. I remember I was travelling to Chicago on an overbooked flight and I was just a chance passenger. I wasnt able to get on board but the ground staff were very apologetic and even helped me with my luggage and gave me a hotel. thats how its supposed to be done.

    Nakakahiya. Flag Carrier pa naman ang PAL. You should be trying to attract tourists with your so called friendly service but then you turn them off BIG TIME. and your twitter post? bad call. At least cebu pacific has better customer service than you. they offer travel vouchers no questions asked.

    blech. PAL fix this! and yes, for now. PAL SUCKS.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry to hear about the embarrassing and very annoying situation. I wrote a long complaint to PAL last year upon my return to the Philippines. I was with an infant and had no overweight luggage, so I decided to buy a bunch of books at the airport, and at the gate was told that they weren't accounted for upon check-in. After much negotiating, their supervisor pushed my luggage at me in annoyance and decided to call the police. When they arrived, they actually laughed at the scenario and told me this was the third call they got from the same supervisor that day. Even though my situation isn't as annoying as your ex-roomie, I was still embarrassed that the police were called just because I bought a few books from Duty Free! I have NEVER booked another flight with PAL since then, and never will.

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh boy...PAL never ceases to amaze me...I was once put on a flight from LAX to MLA...once airborne, I realized that my seat didnt have a footrest (yup, the entire footrest was removed). Flight was fully booked and all seats were taken, crafty Purser decides to remedy the situation by taking a food crate and covering it with a napkin....foreigners sitting next to me couldnt stop laughing...not only was i upset that i didnt have a footrest, I was more embarassed for the Purser who thought she was crafty enough to come up with a remedy when everyone else on the flight saw how pathetic PAL planes and service really is. By the way, the Purser made no attempt to offer anything that would help make the situation better. Really pathetic!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Few years ago I flew PAL business class SFO-MNL with my sons. 2 of our TVs wouldn't work and they didn't even say sorry for it. They tried to open it but it wouldn't and just left saying it just wouldn't work. NEVER AGAIN did I fly PAL. Hey, I know it's a small thing but a flight that long with kids and no TV?! And to think we were in business class... I don't ever want to risk paying that much for that kind of service again.
    This situation of yours is unacceptable and @flypal SUCKS... I've been following them on Twitter, whoever is in charge of that account should be FIRED! He/she always notices the good comments and compliments but always turns a blind eye on the complaints!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Guys,

    there is an update to this post. Please revert to http://triportreats.blogspot.com/2011/06/roomies-letter-to-philippine-airlines.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Philippine Airlines is the worst airline i have ever taken.

    ReplyDelete
  7. PAL = Plane Always Late

    Shame...

    ReplyDelete
  8. OMG! Im starting to hate PAL because of the incident we had yesterday with the check-in baggage, I feel for you when I read this. I can't describe how EMBARRASSING and DISAPPOINTING that experience was. Would you know where we can email them? I've already sent an email to their "wecare" email but it seems like my complaint will just be another file on their desk. Grrrr... thank you

    ReplyDelete

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