It’s been months since I first made a request to Philippine Airlines to book me a seat to Manila, however, it’s still lockdown Manila-style and seats and flights are limited.
I don’t know what’s the problem in giving me my return seat which I had already paid for when I bought the round-trip ticket.
I was booked to go back on April 4 but the pandemic struck and I got stuck. PAL canceled all their flights and resumed partial operations in mid-June but flights were not consistent. In July, the information we gathered was that flights were being diverted to Cebu because NAIA was overwhelmed. I didn’t want to land in Cebu, and be tested there, so I waited. Oyen had difficulty rebooking her flight too but got help from a friend. Then when it was Edmund’s turn to go home, he spent two to three hours a day on the phone getting so stressed out talking to PAL customer service agents without any clear deal and only getting more confused after each call.
I was advised to delay my return because PAL was giving priority to the 30,000 to 70,000 Overseas Filipino Workers returning home. With PAL’s limited allotment of the number of daily passengers, thousands were unable to return home.
I didn’t want to arrive at the NAIA with thousands of people stranded in an enclosed area for fear of increased covid risk so I waded out in fear again.
I don’t want to triple my wrinkles by spending hours speaking to their call center agents that’s why I am patiently waiting for PAL to contact me to bring me the good news that I have a seat. It’s already mid-November and I am still here, waiting. I am already becoming anxious because I don’t want to get stuck here again.
Please PAL, give me a nice seat asap so I can go home. This is a double lockdown.
