It’s not just the weather that has temperatures and tempers rising in the city. The altercation at the airport over missing luggage has put the spotlight on several issues: the state of budget air travel in the Philippines, the arrogance of airline operators, the arrogance, too, of celebrities, the rules of engagement by the media, and the attraction Filipinos have for anything that involves flying insults, flying fists, and flying kicks.
Flying in the Philippines is now really more fun. You never know when, or what time, you’re going to fly (because of the long queues for takeoff and landing). You never know what you can actually bring on board (there seems to be different rules concerning things like foldable umbrellas or small camera tripods, depending on which airport you’ re using). Add to this the increasing chances of your being bumped off because your flight is overbooked and the increased probability of missing your baggage at your destination because of a confluence of all the above.
I’ve personally (knock on wood) not had my luggage offloaded or missing, at least not in local travel (years ago, it did happen to me on a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong — the carrier gave me a hundred dollars so I could buy necessities and sent my luggage to my hotel the next morning). It can get one really mad ,but it does happen, and so long as airline personnel can explain the situation and inform the passenger what recompense they can expect, it should be acceptable.
However, if you’re at the end of a long-haul flight or been through the trauma of delays and other hassles traveling here puts you through, then emotions can spill over into, first, verbal abuse, then the temptation to take things literally into one’s own hands (gloves optional). Of course, things can get ugly if celebrities with bloated egos and tabloid media people are involved. Throw in the fact that everyone now has a video camera in their phones, then you have a situation that can go viral faster than you can say “the Tulfo brothers.”
The incident spread like wildfire on YouTube and Facebook. Twitter trending speeds were off the charts. It helped, of course, because tweets were involved. Hey, I could not help it myself, and I posted a cartoon quickly drawn in a moment of inspiration. It shows what I titled “Proposed Improvements to NAIA Baggage Claim Area,” showing the addition of a boxing ring next to the concourse. I put it on my Facebook wall and saw the likes and comments quickly come in. FB is really a great way to crowd-source opinions and the mood of the public. With 5,000 friends I’ve managed to accumulate on the social network, it makes for a good way to gauge what people are interested in.
These days, the hot topics have been the impeachment trial, the standoff at Scarborough Shoal while the airport baggage brawl incident has not run its course. For my Facebook post, I eventually got 375 likes, 116 shares, and 51 comments. A sampling of the comments:
From RM: “May I also suggest a NAIA branch of the Regional Trial Court for speedy processing of complaints?”
Frederick A posted: “Arrivals. More fun in the Philippines. The whole episode may have given a boost to all the moribund carriers. Cebu Pacific does inform passengers that its flights on their jet-prop planes do have a weight limit and that luggage is strictly monitored for passenger safety ... offloading, though, should be cleared with passengers to avoid these scenes at arrival. I suggest also that guards should be given Tasers to control really explosive confrontations.”
Jose D proposes: “I suggest that retired boxing referees be hired as security guards.”
Dina D suggests: “ ...how about a seat in the corner ‘time out’ area? A place where you can count to 10 (or 10 million, if needed) so that you don’t implode (or explode) while waiting for your lost luggage?”
Ed S commented: “How about opening a branch of Elorde’s Gym here?”
Nancyabout says, “ ...hahaha, nice layout, but you should make a larger area for group fighting.”
Just to cover the other hot topic of the day, I posted a cartoon of my take on someone’s alleged dollar accounts. One of the top Filipino traits is, of course, our cleanliness, at least when it comes to personal things.
Seriously, though, both the ruckus at the airport and the circus at the impeachment proceedings make my head ache. Let’s have a good laugh but quickly find closure and correctives so both will not happen again.
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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazaren@gmail.com.