PAL, Cebu Pacific, AirAsia cancel flights during ‘enhanced community quarantine’ in Luzon

 

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine Airlines (PAL), Cebu Pacific Air, and AirAsia have canceled selected flights on March 17, following the announcement of a Luzon-wide “enhanced community quarantine” to be imposed by the government amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The lockdown took effect beginning midnight on Tuesday, March 17, and will limit the movement of people going in and out of the region, which counts at least 57 million residents. (READ: What is ‘enhanced community quarantine’ and will it work?)

The Philippines’ major airlines have adjusted their operations ahead of the implementation of the lockdown.

Here are their cancellation announcements:

Philippine Airlines

PAL canceled all domestic flights beginning March 17 until April 12, while international flights will continue to operate until 11:59 pm on March 19.

The airline will announce the status of its international flights from March 20 to April 12 at a later date, as it coordinates with authorities.

It added that the PAL ticketing office at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 will remain open from 2 am to 10 pm daily, 7 days a week, though other ticketing offices in Metro Manila will be closed.

Those with travel and ticketing concerns can call PAL’s hotline at +632 88558888 – but the airline requested to defer requests for rebooking as they deal with a high volume of queries and transactions.

Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific will be suspending all flight operations from March 19 to April 14. Their last day of operations will be on March 18, with flights from Manila, Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Ho Chi Minh, Singapore, Taipei, Bali, and Jakarta.

The airline offered several options for passengers on canceled flights including:

• free rebooking with waived fare difference and change fee
• full travel fund (putting the cost of a ticket in a virtual wallet that can be used as payment towards future bookings within 180 days)
• full refund

Passengers can process their options on the Cebu Pacific website, under the “Manage Booking” tab.

Additionally, the airline offered free rebooking with a waived change fee or full travel fund for those with flights booked between April 15 to 30 who no longer wish to use them.

The airline will be closing all its ticketing offices from March 19 to April 14, but can be contacted online through their website or through their hotlines.

AirAsia

The airline has canceled all domestic flights to and from both the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Clark International Airport until April 14.

They will also be canceling flights from both airports from March 20 to April 14. Its domestic and international flights from Cebu and Kalibo have also been canceled.

The airlines’ recovery flights from Puerto Princesa to Clark will continue as scheduled.

Passengers who are affected by the cancellations are given the following options:

• Free rebooking to a new travel date on the same route within 90 calendar days from the original flight
• Credit account (the fare value will be credited to the passenger’s AirAsia BIG Loyalty account, and can be used as payment for future travel with AirAsia for bookings within 365 calendar days.
• Full refund

For travel concerns, passengers may contact AirAsia’s online support channels, or call the airline’s hotline at +632 87222742. – Rappler.com