Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 21) — Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday called on airline companies to hire more customer service agents to answer the concerns of passengers following recent reports of flight inconveniences.
Poe said that airline companies should hire more agents instead of having chatbots to answer customers.
“The airlines should have more representatives to answer calls, in that way, they are also accountable,” the senator said before the Committee on Tourism as it began its probe into the complaints against Cebu Pacific Air.
“Hindi lang di kahon yung sagot. At least ito, ma-explain nila and the airlines themselves will be accountable to tell their representatives what really is going on,” she added.
[Translation: You will not receive canned answers. At least through this, they will be able to explain things well and the airlines themselves will be held accountable to tell their representatives what really is going on.]
The low-cost carrier has been receiving backlash from the public due to incidents of alleged overbooking, offloading, and booking glitches.
Cebu Pacific cited the recent disruptions to the supply chain problems with Pratt & Whitney, the manufacturer of the engines for its Airbus fleet. The airline also noted delays in the deliveries of its aircraft.
“We expressed our sincerest apologies to our passengers for the disruptions and assure you that we are committed to resolving these challenges,” said Cebu Pacific Chief Commercial Officer Alexander Lao.
Website glitch
Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros also raised the complaints of passengers who encountered technical glitches on Cebu Pacific’s website while rebooking their flights.
\”Why not delay muna yung cancellation ng original booking ng passenger? Hangga’t yung rebooked flight ay confirmed via payment,” she said. “There’ s still more room to make your online booking system a lot more consumer friendly.”
In response, Cebu Pacific admitted that the issue has something to do with their website’s design.
“I think there is a part of the flow where if a passenger clicks ‘ proceed’, it commits the changes even before the passenger pays. So we recognize that and we are taking that feedback as well,” said Cebu Pacific Chief Marketing and Customer Experience Officer Candice Iyog.
