Maybe angry airline passengers should read PAL’s September 24 press release arbitrarily cutting flights
By Raïssa Robles
A commenter to my blog named Mikko pointed out a very interesting item on the Philippine Airlines website to me.
It turns out that PAL posted there a press release dated September 24, 2011 entitled “PAL reduces flights ahead of spin off/outsourcing; contingency measures up.”
Here’s a screen capture of it.
PAL issued press release announcing massive flight cuts due to outsourcing three days before the ground crew strike
It said in part:
In a statement, PAL disclosed that the number of domestic flights would be temporarily reduced by about 30 percent while international flights would be cut provisionally by 12 percent ahead of its long-awaited spin off/outsourcing program.
PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said domestic routes with reduced flight frequencies on certain days involve 14 stations, namely: Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Butuan, Cotabato, Cagayan de Oro, Dipolog, Kalibo, Laoag, Legazpi, Tacloban, Tagbilaran and Zamboanga.
On the other hand, the 11 international points to be affected by the flight frequency reduction are Hong Kong, Bangkok, New Delhi, Macau, Singapore, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Guam, Sydney, Melbourne and Incheon (from Cebu). All other PAL flights remain as scheduled.
I wonder if their passengers – who had already bought tickets – were told by PAL ahead of their arrival at the airport that their flights had been scrapped by PAL.
Then the press release quoted PAL spokeswoman Cielo Villaluna:
Villaluna assured the public that only select PAL flights would be suspended for a few days, and would resume on varying dates in October and November as operations normalize after the spin off/outsourcing. She said all other PAL flights remain operational albeit on other available schedules. PAL may also merge some flights using bigger aircraft.
She stressed that the flight suspension on selected routes seeks to prevent sudden, unplanned cancellations and avoid passenger inconvenience. She said it would be easier for the flag carrier and its service providers to handle reduced number of flights as they adjust and transfer the functions of its three non-core units.
For the convenience of the irate passengers, I’m posting below the list of the domestic and international flights that PAL canceled ARBITRARILY on September 24, 2011, and not because of the Sept 27 strike.
PAL canceled these domestic flights last Sept. 24, 2011
PAL also canceled these international flights:
PAL scrapped these international flights last Sept 24, 2011
You know, in Europe, if an airline arbitrarily did that, it would be in for a lot of grief because my hubby Alan (who once covered tourism) told me there now exists an EU law granting the Bill of Rights to airline passengers.
The PAL press release even had the gall to say:
PAL will set up temporary Cashier counters at convenient locations for ticket refunds and other transactions. All penalties shall be waived.
Penalties? It should be the airline passengers penalizing PAL for unilaterally canceling their flights and wasting their time, effort and money.
I would suggest that airline passengers look over the list of flights that PAL scrapped last Sept 24 and match this with the list that PAL came out with after the Sept 27 strike. And of course with their useless tickets.
Remember, PAL management blamed all the cancellations on the strike and not on their earlier, arbitrary decision to suspend all those flights.
I wonder if a passenger class action suit is possible in this case. Or a request for Congress to investigate whether PAL violated its franchise with the massive arbitrary cancellation of flights.
You can read PAL’s Sept. 24 press release by clicking here.
jon says
I think PAL did this even before the “protest” in preparation for Oct 1 where they expect people to be “new” to the operations, hence service may be slower at first. The “protest” last Sep 27 only led to a standstill in PAL aircrafts in local airports. Without the “protest”, flights would be at 70% of normal as previously announced.
raissa says
Really.
Pita says
This all means that PAL management made it appear to the public that the PALEA members were the reason for the cancellation of PAL flights. Na sila ang nag sit down strike at na perwisyo ang mga pasahero.
Ang totoo nyan, talagang naka plano na ang cancellation of flights ng PAL. Grabe talaga ang PAL. Walang puso, mapa empleyado, mapa pasahero. Ask any rank and file employee of any of Lucio Tan’s companies here in the Philippines kung merong masaya na empleyado.??
I wonder why? I wonder why Lucio Tan companies always have labor problems? All 3 unions ng PAL, ALPAP (PAL pilot’s union) went on strike last 1998, PALEA ( PAL ground personnels’s union) labor problems ng 2011, FASAP (union of PAL’s flight attendants) didn’t go on strike yet, but has won a case against PAL, when they were illegally retrenched last 1998.
Haaay naku! What is wrong with the way PAL treats their employees?
Nina Corpus says
Modus Operandi of Kapitan:
http://www.mb.com.ph/node/199549
Allied Bank security chief insists top management banned Tan brother from entering family owned building
jessica says
PAL is unfair!!!!! it is right to blame them….
Giu Rodolfo says
Thanks for posting this! It really helps PALEA’s side. I shared this to my friends who are affected by the spin-off. They said they couldn’t work because their access codes were changed and the flights were cancelled. They were calling out that they were sabotaged, and this is just another piece of the puzzle.
nikka says
Thank you for this. Will repost.
GA Pelina says
I can understand the corporate benefits of out sourcing, but make sure take responsible transistion of an old personnel and not to take advantage of the palace premature comment.
GabbyD says
what is your point here? in what sense is pal being unfair? are u saying they are unfair to strikers? to customers? what?
Apache20111 says
the point is: PAL management is to blame for the inconvenience of the riding public from sept. 27 onward. That there should have been a thorough investigation first before Pnoy issued such ill-advised “economic sabotage” remarks against PALEA.
Jane De La Cruz says
Wow! You obviously DID NOT understand the article. Eh title palang malinaw na malinaw na eh.
Bart Molina says
@GabbyD: PAL has not violated anything. Actually it is all within their rights to cancel all their flights and do not care of pre-booked tickets. Those people don’t have emotions. The wasted time, money and energy in the pre-booking is of no value to PAL. I guess it is the least of their concern anyway since they have long been into it; Plane Always Late, rings a bell? It’s a culture, it’s their nature.
And you are lucky because you never take a plane all your life. All you need is your flying walis-tambo.
Rallie F. Cruz says
Once every information is fed to the computer, goodbye emotions, good bye understanding and goodbye empathy. Computer will give you very exact information that it never have to understand your dire needs not even if it will take life. People inside could no longer be blamed since they have given the responsibility to the heartless computer.
Unless you have someone inside PAL who is a live person and related to you, then that computer can be overridden.
Since PAL seemed to forget what they did before the strike, they find it more convenient to blame the strikers for all the inconveniences that happened. Some valid reasons they may also be able to use against those who led the strikes.
cheezmiss says
wow again!!!!