Cebu Pacific horror stories are in the air again. On Facebook and Twitter tonight, Cebu Pacific is getting some flak from online denizens for refusing to carry a special child. In this case, a child with global developmental delay.
The reports are sketchy as of yet, but online folks are crying foul to this move by Cebu Pacific which takes pride in its slogan “Now Every Juan Can Fly.” This time around, the budget airline is being compared to its rival PAL (Philippine Air Lines) which reportedly has a more humanitarian policy toward senior citizens and persons with disability.
It appears from the tweets that an unnamed Cebu Pacific flight compelled the special child to get off the plane due to his/her disorder and because there was another special child onboard. They can only accommodate one special child, not two. This of course made the affected parents fume with anger and pass on the word online, and virally.
Cebu Pacific spokespersons could not be reached as of this writing (midnight, Manila time). However, we got to review the airline’s policy on special requests where it stated:
“Acceptance for carriage of incapacitated guests, guests with illness or other guests requiring special assistance is subject to arrangement with us at least three (3) days prior to the scheduled flight. Without prejudice to paragraph 6.1 of Cebu Pacific’s Conditions of Carriage, guests with disabilities who have advised us of any special requirements they may have at the time of booking of the Seat and been accepted by us upon our reasonable determination that we have the necessary facilities and the ability to meet their special requirements shall not subsequently be refused carriage on the basis of such disability or special requirements.”
Important things to note from the policy:
1) special arrangements must be made three days before the flight
2) the airline has reasonably determined they have the necessary facilities and ability to address the special requirements
All I can say is that this is another crisis PR in the making for Cebu Pacific. Unfortunately, I don’t have a horror story to relate in booking or flying CebuPac, except for a one-hour delay or two, and the normal turbulence. However, this can only mean that am not flying much 😀
Take note of Cebu Pacific’s first system wide seat sale, while you’re at it. They’re now offering 50% off on all domestic and international flights as their first seat sale for 2010. Promo valid from January 6 to 8.
just seen it in the news. yay, naka broadcast media na. goodluck sa kanila. mag file daw ng case ang mother ng kid.
now their tagline ” its time everybody flies” doesnt really mean anything at all. F their policy
Yikes. Another bad PR for Cebu Pacific within search engines…tsk.
hindi naman disable yung bata. sayang at sila pa naman ang nangunguna ngayon sa domestic market.
as a parent myself, i feel for the mom of that special child with global developmental delay.
let this bad scenario be a lesson for all of us to treat everyone with utmost respect -regardless of physical, mental, socio-economic status.
Bastos talaga yang Cebu Pacific na yan….
Nabiktima na rin ako ng mga yan. Mga napaka-impractical na “policies” daw nila. Pero ang totoo, gusto lang mamera.
Walang customer service. At akala nila porke’t “budget” airline sila, lahat ng passengers nila indigents and ignorant. How dare them! Baka malaki pa tax ko sa sahod ng mga aroganteng staff nila.
I don’t want to go to details at nagsawa na ako.
Wala din naman gagawin ang management nila. Dahil for them, as long as kumikita, ayos lang, kahit galit na lahat.
At least 2 years na ako di sumasakay sa bulok na airline na yan.
To think, before sila nambastos, napaka-loyal ko.
I’m not a big fan of PAL or ZestAir, pero kitang kita ang difference sa pagpapahalaga ng customers.
Take your pick, would you rather pay para bastusin?
Cebu Pacific has a nonexistent Customer Service. I am still waiting for my refund for a REFUNDABLE Manil-Hong Kong flight I booked and paid for and which I cancelled back in July 2008. Every time I called their hotline, I always got told that that it was fbeing processed with their Accounting Department. When I asked for a number of their Accounting Department, I got at least three numbers with nobody picking up the phone. Either they have a lousy Accounting Department, or that Lance Gokongwei;s company is one big thief.
Not only that, I got my flights delayed for more than 1 hour countless times, flights moved for no reason and being subject to unnecessary rudeness by one flight attendant on a flight from Cagayan de Oro to Manila last September 2009. One time, my flight dates to Naga was messed up by Cebu Pacific and instead of being compensated, we have to pay an additional fees which was more than the price of what we originally paid.
One of my close friends was charged twice on her Credit Card because Cebu Pacific’s site f*cked up and she had to literally go to their office after following through it for four months with no results. Another friend had to wait in the airport for 8 hours – the reason – bad weather conditions; which was strange because Philippine Airlines flights were landing and taking off on schedule.
That’s what Cebu Pacific is – an airline from hell.
PS. The Commission on Human Rights expressed dismay over the discrimination of that mother and her child by the staff of Cebu Pacific. It was on a Hong Kong flight bound for Manila.
Cebu Pacific should take this issue seriously. A special child is different from a mentally ill person.
well.. tama lng yan na kasuhan ang cebu pacific. ginawa din nila sa akin yan dati sa cargo naman ng cebu pacific. namatay ung mom ko here in manila and we need to fly her back to aklan. day before our flight, nagpaschedule na ako and i informed them na may cargo kami na cadaver. ok nmn daw. night before our flight nagtxt ang cebu pacific na may change of time daw madedelay daw instead of 10am (im not sure of the exact time na) 2pm na daw. so i called them up para iconfirm kasi nga may cargo kami, ok nmn daw. the next day, as soon as we arrived sa cargo ng cebu pacific, bigla kami sinabihan hndi sila pwede mag dala ng cadaver kasi mlaking cargo and nag change of aircraft daw! iuwi na lng daw muna namin balik na lng the next day!!!! hndi ako pumayag.. nagdemand ako na ayusin nila. wala silang ginawa. around 430pm, last minute pinalipat kami sa airphil pero hndi na tinanggap kasi late na. kung hndi sila tanga (sorry for the word) pd pla kaming ilipat dapat maaga palang nilipat na kami kasi 10am nsa cargo na kami. kaya napamura talaga ako sa kanilang lahat! wala na akong nagawa kung hndi mag antay ng next day flight. pero nsabi ko sa sarili ko hnding hndi na ako magtitiwala sa cebu pacific..