House urged to probe ‘unfair’ airline practices

Eight lawmakers on Wednesday urged a committee at the House of Representatives to investigate the supposed “unfair" and “unjust" practices of local airlines. The congressmen filed House Resolution 1634 calling on the House transportation committee to conduct an inquiry on flight delays, flight cancellations and allegedly “exorbitant" penalties for passengers who failed to show up or wished to reschedule their flights. “It seems everyone has their own horror stories to tell relative to their nightmarish experiences with airline companies," Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Seth Frederick Jalosjos, one of the House members who filed the resolution, said in a statement. The other lawmakers who filed the resolution were YACAP party-list Rep. Carol Jayne Lopez, CIBAC party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna, Cebu Rep. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, PBA party-list Rep. Mark Aaron Sambar, Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Romeo Jalosjos Jr., and Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Jonathan Yambao. The lawmakers said they called for the investigation due to “mounting" complaints from their constituents on “questionable and lopsided" airline practices. Among the practices the congressmen want to look into are unannounced flight delays and change of destinations, no-refund policies 24 hours before the flight, delays in the releases of refunds and poor customer service in check-in counters. “It seems that they are penalizing us for every imaginable infraction in our contract of carriage but we get no compensation if they fly late or change flight destinations without informing us," Sambar said. The lawmakers said they aim to craft legislations that will improve airline services to encourage domestic tourism at the end of the probe. - Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK, GMA News