January 2nd, 2023
Salceda to CAAP: Certify flight cancellation due to system glitch as “safety reason” for flight cancellations to allow passengers full reimbursement for cancelled flights
House Ways and Means Chair Joey Sarte Salceda (Albay, 2nd district) is asking the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines to certify the air traffic management system power issue which caused dozens of flights in the country to be cancelled as a “safety reason” for flight cancellations, to allow passengers with cancelled flights to be eligible for full reimbursement should they choose to avail of the option.
“It’s the least that the DOTr and the CAAP can do, at this point,” Salceda said.
Under the DOTC-DTI Joint Administrative Order No. 1 s. 2012, “In case the air carrier cancels the flight because of force majeure, safety and/or security reasons, as certified by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, a passenger shall have the right to be reimbursed for the full value of the fare.”
Salceda says that “because this is clearly the fault of the government and not of the airlines, many passengers are unable to avail of basic compensation and accommodation packages such as free hotel rooms.”
“The JAO apparently does not have a provision for when it’s clearly the fault of the administrative agencies,” Salceda added.
“So, the least the CAAP can do is certify this event as a safety reason for cancellation, so that the reimbursement mechanism can be set into motion.”
Update, amend JAO 1 or Air Passenger Bill of Rights
Salceda adds that this system-wide issue, “which is bad enough as it is, and terrible considering the rush to get back to work after the Holidays, should never happen again. I don’t think JAO 1 took it into account, either.”
“So, I am asking my friend Secretary Bautista to look into how the CAAP can compensate passengers hassled by these delays.”
“Passengers pay a terminal fee, and airlines pay fees to the CAAP. They failed both sectors, in this case. And there’s a real financial damage to both passengers and airlines as a result of this failure.”
“There is a clear need to update or change policies to reflect what passengers are entitled to when the government is at fault. There’s also a need to see whether the failure could have been avoided had the CAAP complied faithfully with, say, the State Safety Program for air operations.”
“But beyond these policy changes, we need to hold some people accountable, too – so this never happens again.”
“I mean, I can’t say this is force majeure. You can foresee power outages. You can foresee surges in air traffic. Someone was at fault here,” Salceda added.