Iloilo City Rep. Jerry Treñas yesterday questioned in a press release the latest rule set by the Philippine Airlines which imposes P1,500 fine on passengers who “fail to report in the check-in counter” 45 minutes before the time of  departure.

According to Trenas, this new directive of the PAL management is a gross violation of  the Air Passenger Bill of Rights which has been in effect since 2012.

Under its  memo dated May 7,2013, PAL have imposed a P1,500 fine as “late check -in fee” for  “passengers who reports at the checked-in counter less than 45 minutes prior to departure,” the press release said.

Because of this memo, many passengers are being forced to pay the fine or are left with no choice but to forfeit their flights even if they were already lined up for check-in prior to the PAL's 45-minute deadline.

“Our poor passengers are slapped with the P1,500 fine even if they were were already queued at the check-in counter. PAL's check-in personnel failed to process their ticket before the cut-off because of reasons that are out of the passengers' control so why punish them with such ridiculous fines?,” Treñas was quoted as saying in the press release.

What if the passenger in front of me has so many luggage that needs to be checked-in, is it my fault that it took the PAL check-in personnel too much time to process his ticket? Setting the cut-off on the check-in counter and not on the check-in line is a gross violation of our Air Passenger Bill of Rights, Treñas said.

He said that under Section 3 of the Joint DOTC-DTI Administrative Order no. 01 which provided the legal framework for  the Air Passenger Bill of Rights, “a passenger within the air carrier’s cordoned or other designated check-in area as herein defined at least one hour before the published estimated time of departure shall not be considered late or a no-show, and shall not be denied check-in” and that “the carrier shall exert utmost diligence in ensuring that passengers within the cordoned or other designated check-in area and/or lined up at the check-in counters are checked in for their flights before the check-in deadline.”

“The provisions of the DOTC-DTI directive are self-explanatory. You can't be considered late when your are already in the designated check-in area prior to the 45-minute cut-off period and therefore, it would be illegal and it would be against the law for PAL to be charging any late checked-in fine,” Trenas said in the press release.

He also said that PAL should reimburse or compensate all of their passengers who were forced to pay the P1,500 fine and those who forfeited their air fares because of the  illegal PAL directive as he urged the House Committee on Transportation to conduct a probe about this unlawful PAL memo.

“Ripping-off your clients is certainly not a good way to do business,” Trenas said.*

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