Stranded advisories

My Boss Miguel Belmonte was kind enough to send me this travel advisory yesterday after lunch and I hope that our readers on the road will get a chance to read this and reconsider or at least realign their travel plans instead of acting like lemmings or lambs to a slaughter of boredom, road rage or worst desperately seeking toilets on a 6 to 12 hour average drive north or south. Miguel’s SMS goes:

“NLEX, SCTEX, and CAVITEX are issuing advisories to motorists to please stagger their journey back to Metro Manila over the period of January 1 to 4 to avoid heavy congestion on the tollways. Pls help us disseminate the advisories for their convenience. We are taking extra steps to alleviate the heavier than expected traffic these holidays”

Miguel added a personal note saying: “It took 12 hours to get to Baguio last December 26. This would help avoid the same motorist nightmare from happening on the way back to Manila.

I thank God for “Unanswered Prayers” (that’s from a song by Garth Brooks) because just like the other 10% of Metro Manila we also thought it would be fun and a great idea to test drive a FOTON Traveller and drive it up to Baguio with my mother who is now 78. By God’s act of mercy there were no rooms and no inns willing to open doors so we decided to spend time with orphans, widows and elderly people and family. I guess that saved us from a 12-hour stop-go-stop drive from Manila to Baguio, pollution and tourist trap prices!

My advice: stay an extra day and chill. The world won’t end in our absence, we just think it will.

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If you failed to receive any presents from Santa Claus this year please don’t assume that you were naughty, or that the Post Office failed to do its job. Be assured that failure to deliver was caused by the air traffic congestion around NAIA further complicated by the mindless and thoughtless executives and authorities in Philippine Aviation particularly but not limited to the CAAP who insists on spending taxpayers money to build a third runaway which is beyond their imagination, funds and abilities. As a result of the air traffic congestion (which is part of the Air-Sea-Land congestion indicator of progress under the PENOY administration) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer developed allergic rhinitis and was found and grounded as unfit to fly.

If you had arrange air cargo delivery for your gifts from Santa and did not receive any parcels please blame officials at the CAB or Civil Aeronautics Board who’s asses should hauled to the Office of the Ombudsman for incompetence if not dereliction of duty. Why so? For starters, they recently claimed their plans to investigate claims of excessive overbooking and various offenses pertaining to the passenger bill of rights. Isn’t it strange that everybody in the airport particularly airline personnel have openly talked about the problem of excessive overbookings, baggage dumping and intentional “No communication with passengers policy” but people in the CAB have to conduct an investigation to determine what is already an observable and admitted fact in the industry?

Today, Saint Joseph Abaya the “Good person naman siya” Cabinet Secretary who’s in charge of the entire Christmas transport disaster will be meeting with his fellow political appointees to talk to executives of a particular budget airlines that is part airline-part ghost organization and talk about the issue of over-booking and related issues such as intentional lack of personnel, lack of counters, dumping baggage and more.

I can already imagine the outcome. The airline executives will use the “Damned if we do – Damned if we don’t” defense for all their violations citing the unusual volume that is merely reflective of the global Christmas season of travel and the fact that such “cut to the bone” style of operations is about getting what you paid for. In fact one spokesperson of the airline already told media: “OVERBOOKING is an ACCEPTED industry practice.”

How reassuring is that? Whether you pay full or promo price, the fact is you paid for a seat. If you don’t fly, you pay a penalty or the ticket is cancelled outright if it’s a promo priced ticket. And if there are no-show seats or the counter is officially “closed” the airline can still sell or offer the seats to chance passengers. Airplanes have to operate within a set number of passenger/cargo weight parameter so it defies logic for the industry to practice overbooking because they can’t violate passenger or weight limitations and they are not like buses or trains where you can allow a “SRO” status or Standing Room Only. Late passengers should be penalized, empty seats sold, but only after the passengers are officially “No Show.” Play Russian roulette with passengers and their paid seats is unfair and illegal.

We’ve all been up this hill built on lies and bullshit and all we got for it was the Passenger Bill of Rights that officials under the DOTC tell us to bring a copy of when we travel by air. For what, to show it to the “extra” or part-time employee of a service provider under contract with the airline but can’t do anything or say anything except “Sorry.” This reminds me of the many times consumers were brushed aside or mocked by fish mongers in the wet market when buyers would quote prices pegged by the DTI, DA or radio and TV. The fishmonger or meat vendors would snap back and say: “Eh di sa radio ka bumili ng galungong” or “Ang diyaryo pambalot lang ng isda”  (Go buy your fish at from the radio / Newspapers are only good for wrapping fish not prices).

To the CAB, CAAP and DOTC officials, one day you will all be out of office and what you will regret the most is not having acted or done the right thing when you still had the power to do so. In the mean time I strongly suggest to travel clubs, offices and members of Congress to form a group to combat the complacency and conspiracy of the airline industry and authorities that undermine our rights. Take them to the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan and let them explain there!

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