Mutual obligations by airline and passenger
Credit to Author: Persida Acosta| Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2019 17:34:39 +0000
Dear PAO,
I bought a plane ticket to Palawan sometime in September 2019 in anticipation of taking a vacation during the November holidays. But upon arrival in the airport, I noticed that the return flight schedule was different from what I indicated to the ticketing agent. Instead, the return flight was scheduled two days late from the date that I told the ticketing agent to input. Indeed, although I remember having been briefly explained as to the process regarding my flight in November, I think they failed to have a recap as to the flight schedule. Because of the delay, I was forced to be absent from my work and incurred pecuniary damages on top of the other consequences of this delay. Can I claim liability from the airline company?
Elmer
Dear Elmer,
To answer your query, we must first determine your rights and obligations as an airline passenger. Pertinently, on Dec. 21, 2012, the Department of Transportation and Communication (DoTC), together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), approved the Joint DOTC-DTI Administrative Order 1 Series of 2012, otherwise known as the “Air Passenger Bill of Rights.” Among others, this issuance seeks to provide full, clear and accurate information to the passengers on the services offered by air carriers and the terms and conditions of the contract of carriage, protection from being bumped off, and right to compensation in case of cancellation or delay of flights.
The Air Passenger Bill of Rights mandates that the airline must inform the passenger in writing of all the conditions and restrictions in the contract of carriage. Precisely, since the purchase of the contract of carriage binds the passenger and imposes reciprocal obligations on both the airline and the passenger. The airline must exercise extraordinary diligence in the fulfillment of the terms and conditions of the contract of carriage. On the other hand, the passenger has the correlative obligation to exercise ordinary diligence in the conduct of his or her affairs.
In light of the above-mentioned mutual obligations on the part of the airline and the passenger, relative to your inquiry, the Supreme Court in the recent case of Manay vs. Cebu Air Inc. (GR 210621, April 4, 2016), penned by Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen, elucidated, viz:
“The common carrier’s obligation to exercise extraordinary diligence in the issuance of the contract of carriage is fulfilled by requiring a full review of the flight schedules to be given to a prospective passenger before payment.
“Nonetheless, even assuming that the ticketing agent encoded the incorrect flight information, it is incumbent upon the purchaser of the tickets to at least check if all the information is correct before making the purchase. Once the ticket is paid for and printed, the purchaser is presumed to have agreed to all its terms and conditions.
“The plane ticket issued to petitioner clearly reflected the departure date and time, contrary to petitioner’s contention. Needless to say, after the travel papers were delivered to petitioner, it became incumbent upon her to take ordinary care of her concerns. This undoubtedly would require that she at least read the documents in order to assure herself of the important details regarding the trip.”
Thus, following the above cited decision of the Supreme Court to your question, indeed, albeit the Air Passenger Bill of Rights provides the duty for the airline to disclose all the necessary information in the contract of carriage; nonetheless, it does not remove the correlative obligation on the part of the passenger to exercise ordinary diligence in the conduct of his or her affairs. Thus, as a passenger you are still expected to read through the flight information in the contract of carriage before making the purchase. If you fail to exercise the ordinary diligence expected of passengers, any resulting damage should be borne by the passenger.
In your case, since you are already in possession of the flight ticket as early as September 2019 for a November 2019 flight schedule, ordinary diligence dictates that you should have read the terms and information provided in your ticket. Hence, your failure to do so would make any resulting damage to be borne by you.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. Please be reminded that this advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.
Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net