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| Peya's office in World Wide Plaza was shut on the third day of the ticketing scandal (photo by Vir Lumicao) |
By The SUN Staff
The two major airlines serving the Hong Kong to Manila route have stepped forward to extend help to
hundreds of overseas Filipino workers who got caught in a ticketing fiasco
involving Peya Travel.
Both Philippine Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways have
announced plans to send bigger aircraft to Hong Kong
over the Christmas holiday crunch to help Peya customers who were unable to fly
home because they were issued only itineraries and not air tickets.
In addition, Cathay has
started selling so-called “distress tickets” at discounted prices to an
undetermined number of OFWs who got caught in the mess. The tickets, which are
reportedly being sold for as low as $1,300 each, will be for seats that are
still available on Cathay flights departing for Manila from between Dec. 21 to 31.
“For Filipino friends affected by the issues related to a HK
travel agent not affiliated with us, we stand ready to help as much as we can,”
Cathay posted on its Twitter account on Tuesday.
It urged distressed passengers to explore their options by contacting its call
centre at 2747 3333 or use Twitter or Facebook to send a private message.
In its own statement issued a day later, PAL said it would
be using larger aircraft to flight to and from Hong Kong on Dec. 22 and 23, and
on Jan 3 next year...”in order to give the stranded Filipino domestic workers
an opportunity to avail of seats out of Hong Kong.”
The statement quoted PAL’s President and COO Jaime J.
Bautista as saying: “Our hearts go to our stranded countrymen. We hope this
gesture will serve as a means to help a number of them come home to the Philippines in
time for Christmas day.”
Cebu Pacific, another airline with regular daily flights
between Hong Kong and Manila or Clark , has reportedly said it was also looking at ways to
help the stranded Filipinos. However, its flights to the Philippines in
the remaining four days before Christmas are all full.
In the meantime, Peya’s office on the third floor of Worldwide Plaza
For two days previously, Peya’s sales and marketing director
Arnold Grospe single handedly braved the wrath of customers demanding a refund,
or an explanation as to why the agency left them in a lurch at the busiest time
of the year.
The Consulate has also begun taking action, by asking Peya
customers who failed to board flights they were supposed to be on, to come
forward and file a complaint.
As of the close of business hours on Wednesday, a total
of 131 Peya customers had taken heed of
the Consulate’s call.
However, the number of affected passengers is believed to
range from 500 to a lot more, as Peya was a favorite booking agent among
Filipinos in Hong Kong .
Vice Consul Bob Quintin who heads the assistance to
nationals section, said he had talked to both Grospe and Peya owner and
managing director Rhea Donna Boyce, but did not get much.
Quintin said he urged the two to come out and answer queries
to resolve the issue. But the two Peya executives reportedly stuck to their
story that a system glitch had prevented air tickets being issued to their
clients.
Grospe was held for questioning at the Central Waterfront
station Tuesday night, but was released without charges being laid.
Peya Travel subsequently posted an apology on its Facebook
page, and said it was doing its best to help the affected customers. However,
there was no mention of how or when it intends to extend help.
At the Philippine Airlines office in Tsimshatsui East, more
than 100 would-be passengers had their supposed bookings checked, only to be
told their bookings had been cancelled because the payment didn’t come.
A woman who said her flight was booked for Dec 19 inquired
about the next available flight and staff at the PAL counter told her there was
one seat available on Dec 24 but it was business class “and it’s very
expensive”.
Some Filipinas who were called ahead of her bought new
tickets, saying they had to dip deep into their savings, while others said
their employers had given them ticket money again.
Despite the number of unwitting victims in the ticketing
scandal, Hong Kong Police said they were not about to file charges against
anyone.
“The cases were classified as a ‘dispute’ and we passed all
of them to the Travel Industry Council,” the spokesman said.
Other companies have jumped into the fray by offering
various ways to help the affected workers.
TNG, which calls itself as a “cashless remittance agency,
announced it had set up a $500,000 fund for its members who got caught in the
Peya fiasco.
Each TNG member who manages to prove booking their flights
through the discredited agency will be given $1,000 to help them buy the pricey
holiday tickets to the Philippines .
A number of Central-based travel agencies catering to
Filipinos have also stepped forward, offering to help OFWs book their flights.
Among them was Filipino (HK) Travel Services, which urged
affected passengers to visit its office on the third floor of Worldwide Plaza
