08.Junminors travelling alone
I’ve seen films a number of times where kids are allowed to travel by themselves on a bus / plane / ship. I’ve often wondered at how brave these kids under 12 are. Even more amazingly, how the parents can let their kids visit their grandma, say in Chicago, travelling from North Dakota – alone. But I’ve never really wondered whether the companies charge extra for taking charge of minors, until recently.
Hubby’s auntie is originally from Leyte but resides in Cavite. Last summer she let her kids (16 & 11 year olds) take their vacation to their hometown. They travelled by themselves with no hassles. Coming back the older child had to leave early so the youngest was left to travel on his own. Worse, he was to bring a 5 year old cousin with him back to Manila. Yes, yes, how can their elders let them travel alone? Well the parents are both abroad & perhaps the aunties/uncles back home were “confident” the 11-year old was responsible & competent enough. Who knows really, I find it incredible, too.
Anyway the auntie they stayed with confirmed the kids flight with Cebu Pacific. She was told on they will be charged 500 Php per kid for apparently “looking after” the kids. Unfortunately, they were late & they missed their flight. Then the next flight was cancelled. By the time the kids are ready to board the next plane bound for Manila, their auntie was told they owed Cebu Pacific a staggering 3,000 Php!!!
I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the story. I was indignant because of the blatant daylight robbing that happened. How in the world Cebu Pacific can justify 1000 Php for a missed flight is already beyond reason as the kids were not onboard, who did they look after? To charge them again for a cancelled flight is totally absurd as the kids were with their aunt the whole time in the lobby.
I checked Cebu Pacific’s website for details but found no policy for minors travelling alone. The only thing they have was a “1 adult 1 child” policy, which I’m sure is malleable over the phone. I was sorely tempted to contact their customer service but I’m still not sure I want to. See, the family this happened to doesn’t seem fussed. They probably just mentioned how unbelievable it was, but most likely the thought of filing a complaint will not even cross their minds. I mean common if you can let children travel without supervision, you really think they’d have the slightest inclination to stand up to business suited a-holes?
Out of curiosity I checked Phil Airlines’ website, too, in the hope that I’d find some policy there. No chance. Aside from a few bugs on their site’s incompatibility with Firefox, I found nothing else of note.
Do you know if other airlines have policies for letting kids onboard without an adult?
This entry was posted on Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8:00 pm and is filed under consumer issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I think these airline people in the Philippines make up the policy as they go. Customer service isn’t at the top of their list.
hi KK… I think so, too. That’s why I’m really tempted to follow it up.
Usually if kids are travelling alone, their plane tickets would come out to be more expensive. Plus you cannot buy your tickets online, you need to book it with a travel agent or directly to the airline’s reservation office.
I’ve seen a 10 year old girl travelling by herself. And she said she liked travelling alone and she’s done it a lot of times already. I think it build up their confidence.
I was planning to send my 10 year old son to his cousin in NY this summer, but he wasn’t ready to fly alone. So I didn’t push it. Though I am not 100% comfortable with the idea, but how else will he learn to be on his own?
I will have to ask my flying sisters on the additional fee.. I’ll get back to you on that.
They have told me though that in their airline, YPTAs (young passenger traveling alone) are taken care of by cabin crew, and given special assistance throughout the flight. Upon landing at the destination, the YPTA is endorsed to the ground crew which ensures he is accompanied also thru immigration, baggage claiming, and up until the YPTA is turned over to his relatives/sundo. But then, theirs is an award-winning airline, so talagang maganda ang customer service. Sulit naman if ever they charge additional fees for YPTAs… unlike ang ating local airlines… ay naku! So backward talaga!
Cebu Pacific has a very “loose” policy for everything. You ask them and they give you different answers.
I had a terrible experience with them last time when I booked my flight online.
may nabasa na akong istorya na nangyayari nga ito, minors being allowed to travel by plane alone. ako, di ko siguro kakayanin, but that’s just me
hi Jo… I agree with you, just letting your kids go to school alone for the first time builds up their confidence.
hi chateau… I don’t mind paying as long as it’s fair. What really amazed me was the fact that CPA charged them 3 times.
hi febeth… I think that’s really the case, isn’t it. They have no concrete policy that’s why their provincial officers charged the family eventhough the kids didn’t fly because of CPA’s fault.
hi lady cess… Ako willing naman, I just need to gauge if my kid is ready & able.
i have heard of a lot of “not so nice” stories about Cebu Pacific. now, that isn’t a surprise anymore. if i were a parent who would like my minor kids to fly unaccompanied, i would not choose CP, in their current state of perceived inefficiency.
I would trust an 11-year-old to travel alone.. but I wouldn’t let him /her take care of a 5-year-old for an entire flight. Pero baka talagang responsible siya kaya may tiwala ang elders niya sa kanya?
It’s incredible that they ended up being charged P3,000! Hindi ba dapat part yun ng service ng airline? It’s not like they have to hire additional crew for that flight just to take care of the kids.
hi sexymom… I didn’t realise CPA has a bad record.
hi Christianne… Yun nga I’m sure they could get at least 2000 Php back.
The airline people might not have made it clear but bulk of the P3,000 fee may have been for rebooking, and not for “babysitting.” My sister in law and her husband missed a Cebu Pacific flight and they had to pay P2,100 to get on the next one.
hi Carol, hmm that’s a good point, baka nga. I told our auntie to ask her sister to check, just in case they can get part of their money back.